Effect of Gluten-free diet on recurrent aphthous ulceration

Abstract

Ferguson et al. (1976) found that eight out of thirty‐three patients presenting with recurrent aphthous ulceration (R.A.U.) had jejunal mucosal features of coeliac disease; their oral ulceration remitted on a gluten‐free diet. We have studied eighteen consecutive R.A.U. patients using standard haematological and biochemical parameters of malabsorption, including a xylose tolerance test. Twelve of the patients consented to a jejunal biopsy, following which they were placed on a gluten‐free diet for 3 months. They maintained a daily record of the number of oral ulcers and a daily entry for the pain experienced on a visual analogue chart.