Echoes from the AOECS General Assembly 2019

November 23, 2019

The AOECS Board

The Association Of European Coeliac Societies (AOECS) held its 33rd Annual General Assembly between the 27th and 28th September 2019 and the Association nominated Prof. Scerri as a Board Member for a further three year period.

Whilst thanking Prof. Scerri for the continuous support to the Association for a long period of time, we take this opportunity to wish him every success on the AOECS Board during the coming three years.

CYE

The Coeliac Youths of Europe (CYE) is the Group for youths under 30 years of age within AOECS and we are pleased to state that James Grima, apart from being a Committee member of our Association, also forms part of the CYE Board.

It is worth highlighting that James’ contribution to CYE has, in the past, been a determining factor in the successes achieved by CYE and we wholeheartedly wish him further successes in this post.

News from scientific presentations

It is impossible to include details of all the presentations given during the scientific conference held on the first day of the General Assembly; however, we felt it was important to highlight the following points that came to light during these presentations:

  1. The prevalence of coeliac disease ranges between 0.5 – 1.5% with most cases still remaining undiagnosed.
  2. In some western countries (e.g. Italy and the USA) an increase in the prevalence of coeliac disease has been recorded in the last decades.
    To date, scientists admit that they do not know why this is happening. In their opinion, understanding the reasons for these changes may help to implement strategies for primary coeliac disease prevention.
  3. Exposure to gluten is unavoidable
    This sad but irrefutable scientific fact makes us feel the need to emphasise, for yet another time, that it imperative that everyone scrupulously adheres to the gluten free diet and that, when eating out, very detailed enquiries are made on the food ordered.