Published in January in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and called “Celiac Disease in Women With Infertility: A Meta-Analysis,” the study looked at results of the many studies and found women diagnosed with an explained infertility were 3.5 times more likely to have also been diagnosed with celiac disease than women who had no trouble conceiving. That was based on examining three studies of 449 women in total.
They examined five other studies of 422 women with unexplained infertility and found those women six times more likely to have celiac disease. Dr. Govind Makharia, a professor at All India institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, one of the researchers, told Reuters in a story by reporter Lisa Rapaport that taking steps to treat celiac disease may be advisable.
“There isn’t strong evidence to say that celiac disease causes infertility,” he told Rapaport in an email. “But there are many anecdotal experiences where women with infertility have conceived after being diagnosed with celiac disease and put on a gluten free diet.”
Celiac disease, also known as coeliac disease, is a small intestine illness that has no known cure beyond sticking to a gluten-free diet.
The conclusion of the study said “Celiac diseased is more prevalent in women with ‘all-cause’ infertility and ‘unexplained’ infertility than that in general population.”
