Celiac Male’s Gluten-Free Diet Profile: Comparison to that of the Control Population and Celiac Women

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to analyze the body composition and dietary profile of Spanish celiac men and to compare them to control men and celiac women from our previous studies. Forty-two celiac men (31.5 +/- 11.9 years) were recruited and anthropometric measurements were taken. Analysis of energy consumption, macro-and micronutrient intake and food frequency consumption was carried out. Celiac men were more overweight and obese than celiac women, but less than the control population, reporting the same energy intake and macronutrient distribution. Most micronutrient deficiencies in celiac men were not directly related to a gluten free diet; these were also observed for the entire population. The least adherence to Dietary Reference Intakes in women was reported for iron, iodine, potassium and selenium, whereas magnesium intake was higher than in men. Among celiac participants (both genders), cereal, vegetable and legume consumption was poor and meat intake was contrastingly excessive. In conclusion, the dietary profile of celiac men is as unbalanced as that of control men but slightly more than that of celiac women. General nutritional education should be given to both general and celiac populations, and specific advices to celiac men, in order to decrease the risk of celiac disease-related pathologies.