Research published in Revista Española de Enfermedades Digestivas (February 2016; Volume 108, Issue 2, Pages 84–88) examined the effects of a gluten-free diet on bone health in women with celiac disease and osteoporosis. The study included 41 women with a mean age of 46.1 years. Bone densitometry was performed at baseline and again after five years. All participants were placed on a gluten-free diet, and calcium and vitamin D were provided to those who did not meet minimum daily requirements through diet alone.
At baseline, 56.1% of participants had osteopenia and 29.2% had osteoporosis. At the five-year follow-up, 58.9% of women had osteopenia and 28.2% had osteoporosis. While the gluten-free diet did not significantly reduce the overall prevalence of osteopenia or osteoporosis, it was associated with improvements in bone mass, particularly in the spine. Significant improvements were observed in spinal T-scores (p = 0.03) and spinal bone mineral density measured in g/cm² (p = 0.02).
The authors concluded that bone health is often substantially compromised at the time of celiac disease diagnosis, especially in patients with delayed diagnosis. They noted that adherence to a gluten-free diet led to modest improvements in bone mineral density, although low-impact fractures still occurred in approximately one-third of patients during the follow-up period.
