Can Celiac Disease Present Along With Childhood Obesity?

Celiac disease is an autoimmune, gluten-induced enteropathy with a prevalence of 1-1.5% in Western populations. It may present with classical gastrointestinal symptoms, non-gastrointestinal symptoms or as an asymptomatic disease. Cases of childhood obesity in gluten sensitive enteropathy have been recently reported. The study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the rate of overweight and obesity prevalence in a large sample of celiac children in comparison to non-celiac group, and to investigate the weight dynamics following gluten-free diet. Among 390 patients, 68 (17.4%) (29 boys) were overweight or obese at diagnosis. Gluten-free diet did not shown a beneficial effect on weight. The study demonstrates comparable rates of overweight and obesity in celiac versus non-celiac population.