Lots of new information – but this is something I’ve been talking about for a while… Celiac sufferers have a tendency to take more chances on the weekend with our food.
A new study of 23 patients (so very, very small) on a gluten free diet for 7 years or longer collected stool and urine samples over the course of 4 weeks. The stool and urine samples were collected daily during the week, not on Saturday, and twice on Sunday. They then tested the samples for gluten excreted in the stool and urine. There were a total of 92 samples collected.
As a matter of testing, stool samples are more sensitive to gluten. Urine testing can detect larger amounts of gluten ingested more closely to testing.
In 21 of 23 weekend patients, gluten was detected in their urine. That means 91% of samples contained gluten!! Stool samples collected during the week only showed positive in 11 of 23 patients. Also, the number of positive tests in urine or stool increased over time – so more positive tests in week 4 rather than week 1! Also, whether the patient had symptoms or not was not relevant to whether their tests were positive for gluten.
This is good information and a reminder for those of us that have been on a gluten free diet that we still need to be careful. It also reminds us that we have to be gluten free all the time – not just on weekends. Also that symptoms do not indicate gluten consumption.
Stay vigilant out there and keep yourself healthy.