Potential of nutraceuticals in celiac disease

ABSTRACT

Celiac Disease (CD) is the most common hereditarily-based food intolerance worldwide and a chronic inflammatory condition. The current standard treatment for CD involves strict observance and compliance with a gluten-free diet (GFD). However, maintaining a complete GFD poses challenges, necessitating the exploration of alternative therapeutic approaches. Nutraceuticals, bioactive products bridging nutrition and pharmaceuticals, have emerged as potential candidates to regulate pathways associated with CD and offer therapeutic benefits. Despite extensive research on nutraceuticals in various diseases, their role in CD has been relatively overlooked. This review proposes comprehensively assessing the potential of different nutraceuticals, including phytochemicals, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, plant-based enzymes, and dietary amino acids, in managing CD. Nutraceuticals exhibit the ability to modulate crucial CD pathways, such as regulating gluten fragment accessibility and digestion, intestinal barrier function, downregulation of tissue transglutaminase (TG2), intestinal epithelial morphology, regulating innate and adaptive immune responses, inflammation, oxidative stress, and gut microbiota composition. However, further investigation is necessary to fully elucidate the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms behind the therapeutic and prophylactic effects of nutraceuticals for CD. Emphasizing such research would contribute to future developments in CD therapies and interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Celiac disease
• dietary supplements
• food intolerance
• gluten-free diet

Acknowledgments

Celiac Disease and Gluten Related Disorders Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran is acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Celiac Disease and Gluten Related Disorders Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.