Featuring Dr. David Israel, BSc, MD, FRCPC

Duration: 1 minute, 20 seconds

Celiac disease impacts several organs not just the intestine.

But it does impact the intestine and effects poor absorption. So, one who is not keeping the diet would not have a good absorption of ingredients such as calcium. This over time may affect bone mineralization and bone density.

Some people also would develop problems with the immune system and autoimmune disease which can impact on the liver, the thyroid and other organs. So those are complications that are long-term that we don’t feel immediately if we have an indiscretion in the diet but accumulate over a period of 15 to 20 years. And it is important to keep the diet with a view that impact of indiscretion is a long term one.

The risk for those long-term complications would be much less for people who are followed closely at least annually by a physician or a dietitian and that has been shown in many studies. So please, don’t just do the diet on your own but keep in touch with a dietitian or your family physician to monitor your diet.

Presenter: Dr. David Israel, Pediatrician, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Pediatrician