Gluten may seem to be a fairly innocuous substance. Often found in modern BROWS grains - barley, rye, oats, wheat and spelt - gluten can end up in many expected and unexpected places. For those with celiac disease (an autoimmune disease affecting roughly 1-2% of the population) or gluten sensitivity, navigating simple tasks such as eating out or buying lip balm can become challenging (not, I might add, impossible). To make matters worse, some people don't understand that the effects of celiac disease, while not immediately visible, can be serious. Celiac disease can lead to deficiencies in iron, folate and Vitamin D, malnutrition, dental enamel defects, bone mineral density problems and severe gastrointestinal symptoms. Children may not grow. In a recent study, however, it seems that being sensitive to gluten, but not a celiac, may be related to schizophrenia.
Published in 2010, the study looked at 471 individuals - 129 who had recent onset psychosis, 191 with multiple episode schizophrenia and 151 controls without a history of psychiatric disorders. They then measured levels of gliadin IgA, gliadin IgG, deamidated gliadin IgG, atissue transglutaminase IgA, and tissue transglutaminase IgG antibodies - technical jargon for different markers than may be related to gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. The results showed that both those with recent onset psychosis and multiple episode schizophrenia had elevated levels of certain markers (in a statistically significant way)compared to controls.
The increases couldn't be explained by gender, age, race, or cigarette smoking. What is more interesting is that the increases were not the same as those seen in celiac disease. This may suggest that the immune system is still reacting pathologically, just in a different way to celiacs. Hence gluten may be contributing to the psychosis associated both with the multiple episode schizophrenia and the recent onset psychosis.
Does this mean that the cause of psychosis is gluten? All mental illnesses are complex, multi-factorial conditions and what happens in one person does not necessarily happen in another. What it does mean, however, is that attempting a healthy gluten free diet (not living solely on D'Lush biscuits - yum) is definitely worth trying. Remembering it takes a minimum of 3 months to clear the brain and that any gluten consumed can put you back at square one, if you're going to try it - plan and prep.
Need some resources:
http://www.theallergymenu.com/ - a fabulous website for all sorts of allergy info and recipes
http://shepherdworks.com.au/ - Sue Shepherd has some fantastic information at this site, and her recipe books are fabulous
The journal articles used:
Dickerson, F., Stallings, C., Origoni, A., Vaughan, C., Khushalani, S., Leister, F., . . . Yolken, R. (2010). Markers of Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Disease in Recent-Onset Psychosis and Multi-Episode Schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 68(1), 100-104. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.03.021 - this is the main article
Rodrigo-Saez, L., Fuentes-Alvarez, D., Perez-Martinez, I., Alvarez-Mieres, N., Nino-Garcia, P., de-Francisco-Garcia, R., . . . Lopez-Vazquez, A. (2011). Differences between pediatric and adult celiac disease. Revista espanola de enfermedades digestivas : organo oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Patologia Digestiva, 103(5), 238-244. Available free to view at http://www.grupoaran.com/mrmUpdate/lecturaPDFfromXML.asp?IdArt=4619631&TO=RVN&Eng=1
Published in 2010, the study looked at 471 individuals - 129 who had recent onset psychosis, 191 with multiple episode schizophrenia and 151 controls without a history of psychiatric disorders. They then measured levels of gliadin IgA, gliadin IgG, deamidated gliadin IgG, atissue transglutaminase IgA, and tissue transglutaminase IgG antibodies - technical jargon for different markers than may be related to gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. The results showed that both those with recent onset psychosis and multiple episode schizophrenia had elevated levels of certain markers (in a statistically significant way)compared to controls.
The increases couldn't be explained by gender, age, race, or cigarette smoking. What is more interesting is that the increases were not the same as those seen in celiac disease. This may suggest that the immune system is still reacting pathologically, just in a different way to celiacs. Hence gluten may be contributing to the psychosis associated both with the multiple episode schizophrenia and the recent onset psychosis.
Does this mean that the cause of psychosis is gluten? All mental illnesses are complex, multi-factorial conditions and what happens in one person does not necessarily happen in another. What it does mean, however, is that attempting a healthy gluten free diet (not living solely on D'Lush biscuits - yum) is definitely worth trying. Remembering it takes a minimum of 3 months to clear the brain and that any gluten consumed can put you back at square one, if you're going to try it - plan and prep.
Need some resources:
http://www.theallergymenu.com/ - a fabulous website for all sorts of allergy info and recipes
http://shepherdworks.com.au/ - Sue Shepherd has some fantastic information at this site, and her recipe books are fabulous
The journal articles used:
Dickerson, F., Stallings, C., Origoni, A., Vaughan, C., Khushalani, S., Leister, F., . . . Yolken, R. (2010). Markers of Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Disease in Recent-Onset Psychosis and Multi-Episode Schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 68(1), 100-104. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.03.021 - this is the main article
Rodrigo-Saez, L., Fuentes-Alvarez, D., Perez-Martinez, I., Alvarez-Mieres, N., Nino-Garcia, P., de-Francisco-Garcia, R., . . . Lopez-Vazquez, A. (2011). Differences between pediatric and adult celiac disease. Revista espanola de enfermedades digestivas : organo oficial de la Sociedad Espanola de Patologia Digestiva, 103(5), 238-244. Available free to view at http://www.grupoaran.com/mrmUpdate/lecturaPDFfromXML.asp?IdArt=4619631&TO=RVN&Eng=1
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