Celiac Articles

This page contains medical journal articles and/or doctors' commentaries on the role of mineral deficiencies and other factors in illness, and the value of minerals, vitamins, and a proper diet for healthy living.

Celiac Articles...

Wheat, Gluten and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Investigators describe the case of a patient with a two-year history of adult dermatomyositis. This is a relatively rare form of rheumatoid arthritis that has many skin symptoms. The patient had malabsorption and had celiac disease.

Their observation raises the question of an association between
dermatomyositis and celiac disease as part of a continuum, suggesting that celiac disease may be included within the spectrum of the gastrointestinal manifestations of dermatomyositis and polymyositis.

Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2001 Mar-Apr;19(2):201-3

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:
(©Copyright 1997-2002 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. Web site: http://www.mercola.com. Newsletters are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola. They are not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and they are not intended as medical advice. They are intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.)

This is a very interesting case report that strongly suggests a correlation between the consumption of gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt) and rheumatoid arthritis.

This clearly is not universally true for all patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but I have seen a substantial percentage of the over 2,000 patients I have treated for rheumatiod arthritis improve quite dramatically once they stopped eating gluten. I have seen many go into complete remission by doing this. Although stopping gluten is very difficult to do, it is certainly a reasonable approach to consider for such a devastating illness. Generally improvement is noted in a week or two.

Celiac disease, a form of wheat allergy, doubles your risk of death. The risks are particularly severe if you are diagnosed late in the disease or do not adhere to a strict diet free of gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains.

Celiac disease, also known as celiac sprue or 'gluten intolerance' is a genetic disorder that causes bowel disorders, diarrhea or weight loss because of an insensitivity to gluten. It affects approximately one in 30 people. Patients often develop cancers of the intestines, which is thought to lead to a higher death rate.

Among 1,072 patients diagnosed with celiac disease in Italy from 1962 to 1994, researchers found 53 deaths, compared with an expected 26 deaths in the general population. The leading cause of death was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Relatives of patients with celiac disease did not have a higher than average risk of death, nor did patients who lived three years following diagnosis.

According to the authors, "Prompt and strict dietary treatment decreases mortality in celiac patients."

The Lancet, August 4, 2001; 358: 356-361

Wheat Can Cause Poor Growth and Developmental Delay in Infants

A 15-month-old girl with celiac disease presented with microcephaly and developmental delay. Her head growth resumed when she was off of gluten and returned when she started it again. Additionally she developed a loss of reflexes. All the symptoms resolved when she eliminated gluten.

Pediatrics 2001 April; 138(4):589-92

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:
(©Copyright 1997-2002 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. Web site: http://www.mercola.com. Newsletters are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola. They are not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and they are not intended as medical advice. They are intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.)

Add yet another problem with wheat ingestion. Admittedly this is just a case report in a child with celiac disease. But what most of us don't realize is that sub clinical celiac disease is a HUGE issue. If a child has developmental delay it would certainly seem prudent to apply a gluten free diet.

My experience is that the true incidence is probably much higher still, perhaps on the order of 1 in 10 people. The bulk of us however, even without celiac disease, do NOT benefit from having wheat. It is one of the primary reasons why people get sick in this country. It is amazing how many people's chronic health complaints clear up once they stop the wheat.

Some clinicians believe that no one can digest a protein in wheat called gliaden. Our body attempts to break this protein down by attaching an enzyme to it. This gliaden enzyme complex in a high percentage of people actually stimulates an autoimmune reaction that can cause the full blown syndrome of celiac disease, or more commonly sub-clinical celiac disease which is generally characterized by a variety of chronic health complaints, most of which are intestinal. I have seen many rashes disappear within days, once gluten was stopped.

The moral of the story is that if you have a chronic health complaint try avoiding gluten for two weeks and see if you improve. That approach is certainly far less expensive and more accurate than any diagnostic technique currently available.

"Leaky Gut" Intestinal Protein Linked to Autoimmune Disorders

The small intestine contains billions of cells, which are packed tightly together to keep bacteria, viruses, and other toxins out of the body's tissues. New research findings may have identified the protein that regulates this protective barrier, holding promise for a better understanding of several diseases.

Researchers report that a protein called zonulin appears to be responsible for maintaining the protective barrier in the small intestine, and that high levels of this protein are associated with disruptions in the barrier that allow foreign substances into the body's tissues.

When the researchers purified zonulin from human tissue and tested it on intestinal tissue from monkeys, the protein increased the tissue's permeability, allowing molecules of insulin to pass through the cell barrier. Insulin is not normally absorbed when taken by mouth.

Then the investigators turned their attention to celiac disease, a genetic disorder in which people are unable to eat foods that contain gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains. If they do, the gluten causes a variety of gastrointestinal problems. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder, meaning that the immune system overreacts to a foreign substance, and begins to attack normal cells. In celiac disease, the trigger is the protein gluten. If patients avoid gluten-containing foods, they have no symptoms.

The researchers looked at intestinal tissue from seven patients with celiac
disease and six healthy people. Patients with the disease had higher levels of zonulin and zonulin antibodies. When the celiac disease patients followed a gluten-free diet, their antibody levels returned to normal. The researchers believe that zonulin makes the space between cells larger, allowing gluten and other substances to pass through. Once these allergens get into the immune system, they are attacked by the antibodies which can lead to all sorts of problems.

The Lancet 2000 355:1518-1519

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:
(©Copyright 1997-2002 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. Web site: http://www.mercola.com. Newsletters are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola. They are not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and they are not intended as medical advice. They are intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.)

Maintenance of a strong intestinal barrier is one of the keys to good health. I have heard many traditional clinicians dispute the fact that a leaky gut exists. It is nice to have confirmation of the actual protein that seems to be responsible for causing it. I suspect that in the future there will be a commercial assay that can screen for this important condition.

Generally this is a dynamic condition and when one removes the
offending food the body tends to self-repair status.

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CELIAC ARTICLES