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have shown that if you have celiac disease, the earlier in life you go on a gluten-free diet, the lower your risk of developing associated autoimmune diseases. And sometimes symptoms of other autoimmune diseases, like multiple sclerosis, improve on a gluten-free diet.
Some of the mood disorders associated with gluten sensitivity and celiac disease include
✔ ADD (attention deficit disorder) or ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
✔ Autism
✔ Bipolar disease
✔ Depression
Because gluten sensitivity and celiac disease affect the small intestine, nutritional deficiencies usually develop. These can include
✔ Specific vitamin and mineral deficiencies
✔ Anemia
✔ Osteoporosis
✔ Osteopenia (low bone mineral density)
✔ Osteomalacia (soft bones)
Some neurological conditions are associated with gluten sensitivity and celiac disease, including
✔ Epilepsy and cerebral calcifications
✔ Brain and spinal cord defects (in newborns born to mothers with celiac disease who are eating gluten)
✔ Neurological problems, such as ataxia, neuropathy, tingling, seizures, and optic myopathy
Several other conditions are commonly associated with celiac disease, including
✔ Cancer (such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma)
✔ Down syndrome
✔ Internal hemorrhaging
✔ Organ disorders (of the gallbladder, liver, spleen, or pancreas)
✔ Tooth enamel defects
✔ Cystic fibrosis
Understanding How Gluten Affects Behavior
You’re probably not going to get too far in a court of law pleading, “The wheat bread made me do it!” But gluten is sometimes guilty when it comes to affecting behavior and moods.
Gluten can affect your behavior in many ways. Some behavioral manifestations of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease can include
✔ Inability to concentrate or focus
✔ Attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) type behaviors
✔ Autism
✔ Depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and mood disorders
✔ Irritability
✔ Lack of motivation
Dietary interventions for developmental and behavioral disabilities have been the topic of many heated discussions for decades. One of the most remarkable things about the gluten-free diet is that it seems to play a role in reversing autistic behaviors – at least in some cases.
Several credible double-blind, placebo-controlled studies are underway at reputable universities to study the relationship between gluten and autism. The results of these studies are eagerly anticipated and will most likely have a dramatic affect on the way pediatricians view the disorder.
Gastrointestinal problems seem to be more prevalent in people with autism than in the general public – do they have a higher incidence of celiac disease? No one has studied that. Is there a connection? Maybe. The scientific community believes that there’s a genetic basis for autism. But interestingly, there seems to be a nutritional component.
The most popular diet promoted as a “cure” for autism is a gluten-free, casein-free diet (casein is the protein found in milk). No one claims that this works in all cases; nor do they say it’s truly a cure. But if a dietary intervention protocol could actually improve autistic behaviors, wouldn’t that be amazing? Some say it can. Just a short time ago, the evidence was largely anecdotal, but now the “Defeat Autism Now!” protocol recommends that every autistic child be placed on a gluten-free, casein-free diet for at least three months.
In some autistic children, gluten and casein are turned into a sort of drug that the brain makes, much like morphine. Essentially, many autistic children are “drugged” on wheat and milk products, as if they were on a morphine drip.
Basically, when people with autism eat gluten and casein, they get a high off of the foods, and they become addicted. This “high” is similar to the one experienced by opiate users, and it may account for some of the typical traits found in autistic kids, such as repetitive movements like head banging and spinning, being withdrawn, and having a fascination with parts of objects (like fixating on one part of a toy rather than the toy itself).
Results on the gluten-free, casein-free diet vary. Some see improvement within a week, some within a year, and others see no improvement at all. Even in those who report behavioral changes, the changes themselves vary. Some people with autism are able to sleep through the night, others become more verbal and interactive, and some are completely “normalized” on the diet.
People with celiac disease have a higher incidence of mania, seizures, and other neurological problems. In addition, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and a variety of mood disorders can sometimes be associated with or exacerbated by gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. Some journal articles even list these disorders as symptoms of celiac disease, and these conditions sometimes improve on a gluten-free diet.
Schizophrenia has been associated with celiac disease since the 1960s, when it was first noted that restricting gluten and dairy led to improvement in some institutionalized patients. Interestingly, the same opiate-like chemicals found in the urine of autistic people are often found in schizophrenics.
Some investigators have noted that the incidence of schizophrenia is higher in places where wheat is the staple grain than where people normally eat non-gluten-containing grains. In one study done in the highlands of Papua, New Guinea, where little or no grain is consumed, only two people out of 65,000 adults could be identified as chronic schizophrenics. In the coastal area, where wheat is consumed more, the prevalence of schizophrenia was about three times higher.
Chapter 3
Taking a Closer Look at Celiac Disease
▶ Introducing a frequently occurring genetic disease
▶ Looking into causes of celiac disease
▶ Discovering the who and why
▶ Listing the range of symptoms to look for
Gluten sensitivity and celiac disease are similar in many ways: symptoms, treatment, and maybe even some of the testing methods. But because gluten sensitivity hasn’t been well defined and celiac disease has, this chapter focuses on celiac disease.
Exposing One of the Most Common Genetic Diseases of Mankind
Three aspects of celiac disease make it uniquely contradictory and intriguing. These factors interrelate, inviting a closer look at this complex condition:
✔ Celiac disease