But the good news is that you’ll probably feel pretty healthy anyway as your small intestine heals.
Once you’re diagnosed with celiac disease and begin thegluten-free diet, your villi generally start to heal.
But after two years, their biopsies showed that only about one-third had intestinal villi that had recovered fully.
MedicalRF.com / Getty Images
After five years, about two-thirds had fully recovered intestinal villi.
Other factors could include genetics, age, and the duration of gluten exposure before diagnosis.
Does all this matter?
It might: the degree to which your small intestine recovers may impact whether you die early or not.
Researchers have found some evidence that celiacs whose intestinal villi don’t heal completely have higherpremature deathrates.
But other studies have not identified such a link.
That’s because even a tiny amount of gluten can impact your healing.
That means not taking chances.
Lebwohl B, Granath F, Ekbom A, et al.Mucosal healing and mortality in coeliac disease.
2011;106(1):145-50.
2010;105(6):1412-20. doi:10.1038/ajg.2010.10
