Oat Sensitivity - Avenin-sensitive Enteropathy

Avenin-sensitive Enteropathy

Gluten-sensitive enteropathy and its common and more severe form, coeliac disease, results in the increased inflammation of the tissues of the small bowel eventually leading to villus atrophy. The disease progresses from increase lymphocyte counts to eventual flattening of the villi and crypt hyperplasia. Originally, oats were believed to cause coeliac disease. However this confusion was largely due to significant contamination of oats with wheat, barley or rye. A recent review of controlled oat tolerance studies indicated only one documented avenin-sensitive enteropathy (ASE) in 165, placing the risk of ASE at 0.6% of coeliac disease population. However, during the controlled studies, 17 candidates dropped out due to symptoms after ingestion of GF oats and were not tested at the completion of their respective studies. As a result, the actual risk of ASE in the coelic disease population may be slightly higher.

Further information: The oat controversy in gluten sensitivity