Intestinal Permeability, Nutritional Status and Quality of Life in Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is defined as an autoimmune enteropathy with malabsorption of gluten protein. In recent studies, it has been stated that in individuals diagnosed with celiac disease, intestinal epithelial barrier integrity is impaired. Increased zonulin concentration in blood is considered as an indicator of increased intestinal permeability. Gluten-free diet is the only treatment of celiac disease. Adherence to gluten free diet provides decreasing of intestinal permeability however gluten free diet has different aspects on nutritional status and health related quality of life in people with celiac disease. The aim of this study is to determine nutritional status, intestinal permeability and quality of life in people with celiac disease. In the study,it primarily hypothesized that celiac patients noncompliant to gluten-free diet may have increased circulating levels of zonulin and increased intestinal permeability compared to celiac patients compliant to gluten-free diet.