Gluten Damages the Brain
/Gluten Damages the Brain
Dr Michael Colgan 4 Sept 2013
A ton of recent controlled studies have now proven beyond doubt that
gluten damages the human brain.(1-7) It’s not pretty, and the public
should know. Nevertheless, I am stating the facts from some of the
latest scientific reviews for a different reason.
After my last article on gluten six months ago, parents of a boy diagnosed with Asperger’s
contacted me, because he exhibited symptoms described in my article. I
advised that they request gluten antibody tests by his physician. In a
month his physician had positive antibody results. Now, five months
later, on a gluten-free diet, the lad’s symptoms have disappeared, and
he is entirely healthy. If this article can do that for even one more
child…
People with gluten sensitivity, can develop varying degrees
of cerebellar ataxia, that is, lesions in the cerebellum of the brain
that cause loss of balance, inability to coordinate gait in walking,
loss of coordination of the arms and hands, and even the eyes. They can
also develop migraines, swelling of the brain, epilepsy, dementia,
depression, and symptoms of Asperger’s and ADHD.
The worst part
about these brain malfunctions is that they can occur without any
symptoms of celiac disease, a well-known manifestation of gluten
sensitivity. We now know that brain damage by gluten can occur with or
without celiac disease, and with or without any intestinal symptoms at
all.
The main offenders are wheat, rye, and barley in our food
supply. The cereal grains industry, however, is mammoth business that
has done everything it can to discount the evidence. So most of the
public do not yet know what medical science has known at least a decade.
What I love most about science is that the truth eventually outs.
The light-speed development of the internet makes it increasingly more
difficult every day for vested interests to hide things. We know that
the evidence is getting out there because of the unprecedented growth in
public demand for gluten-free foods.
For example, a gluten-free
trade show in Vancouver in 2013, planned for 5,000 visitors. More than
25,000 showed up, and most could not even get in. In the US alone, the
gluten-free foods industry has grown from small in 2000, to a massive $3
billion a year in 2012.
There is now an explosion of controlled
studies on gluten. One summary paper for example, published in 2012, in
the open-access medical journal, Bio Med Central, Medicine, is a
collaborative effort of 14 universities to highlight the evidence.(1)
We now know for sure that a much larger proportion of the population
suffers from gluten toxicity than previously thought.(2) Because it
manly affects people of European ancestry, many hundreds of thousands of
Americans and Canadians have varying degrees of brain reactions to
gluten. These vary from intermittent headaches and brain fog to full
blown dementia.
Controlled studies show that gluten is a main
offender in the group of disorders now collected under the umbrella of
celiac disease (CD). But it is also involved in many cases of autism,
Asperger’s, and similar disorders, now collectively called autism
spectrum disorders (ASD).(3-7)
Gluten is also involved in many
cases of cerebellar ataxia from damage to motor controls in the
cerebellum of the brain, causing loss of balance, dizziness, and
learning difficulties (3,5)
Gluten is also involved in many cases
of peripheral neuropathy (death of peripheral nerves, leading to one or
several of a large group of disorders). It can also cause herpetiform
dermatitis (herpes-like blistering rash mainly on elbows, forearms, and
knees (3-7)
It has taken 20 years to bring to public notice that
dominant foods, wheat, rye and barley can produce human disease not only
of the gut but also the skin, the peripheral nerves, and the brain.
The most unfortunate aspect of the gluten problem is that a child, or an
adult, can suffer several different manifestations of gluten toxicity
simultaneously, and can easily be mis-diagnosed as suffering from
different disorders.
World expert on gluten toxicity, British
neurologist Dr M Hadjivassiliou, has called for physicians and
neurologists to learn more about gluten-caused disorders, and treat them
promptly before irreversible brain damage occurs. Removing gluten from a
child’s diet is much more successful than doing so later in life.
Changing our food to eliminate gluten is a big problem. Wheat, rye, and
barley, are food staples that have been intensively farmed in the US
for the last 200 years. To legislate change would destroy the
livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people. The only way to convert
farming to crops with low or no content of gluten is to vote with your
pocketbook. Leave foods containing wheat, rye, and barley on the
supermarket shelf. Your brain will appreciate it.
Dr Colgan’s articles are all published on his page www.facebook.com/michaelcolganspage
And on his blog www.drmichaelcolgan.com
1. Sapone A, et al. Spectrum of gluten-related disorders: consensus on
new nomenclature and classification. BMC Med. 2012; 10: 13. Published
online 2012 February 7. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-10-13 PMCID: PMC3292448
2. Bernini P, et al. Are Patients with Potential Celiac Disease Really
Potential? The Answer of Metabonomics. Journal of Proteome Research,
2010; : 101213161430042 DOI: 10.1021/pr100896s
3. Hadjivassiliou M,
et al. Gluten sensitivity as a neurological illness. J Neurol Neurosurg
Psychiatry. 2002 May; 72(5): 560–563.
4. Hadjivassiliou M, et al. Dietary treatment of gluten neuropathy. Muscle Nerve. 2006 Dec;34(6):762-6.
5. Hernandez-Lahoz C, et al. Neurological disorders associated with gluten sensitivity. Rev Neurol. 2011 Sep 1;53(5):287-300.
6. Currie S, et al. Should we be 'nervous' about coeliac disease? Brain
abnormalities in patients with coeliac disease referred for
neurological opinion. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2012
Dec;83(12):1216-21. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2012-303281. Epub 2012 Aug 20.
7. Bushara KO. Neurologic presentation of celiac disease. Gastroenterology. 2005 Apr;128(4 Suppl 1):S92-7.
