diagnosis of celiac disease should be firmly established before commencing treatment with a gluten-free diet for several reasons. the gluten-free diet is a lifelong and tedious commitment that should not be taken lightly. it is more costly than a normal diet and has significant social implications for dining out. patients with irritable bowel syndrome may experience improvements in bloating abdominal pain and diarrhea with a gluten-free diet. these patients may be misdiagnosed as having celiac disease. without confirmation of celiac disease by small intestinal biopsy they may be unnecessarily committed to lifelong gluten restriction. a gluten-free diet can lower blood antibody levels and allow the small intestine to lose the typical appearance of celiac disease complicating subsequent efforts at making a firm diagnosis of celiac disease.
why is it important to accurately diagnose celiac disease?