<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Hoggan recently posted a summary of replies he received to a post
regarding brain fog in Celiacs.  In this list he wrote.

> Steven also estimated a 10% absorption rate for these opioids,
> assuming =
> their molecular size to be similar to that of morphine. He went on to =
> assert that a developed tolerance to this drug would result in a
> dosage =
> level would be unlikely to cause brain fog. (While his estimates of =
> daily gluten consumption may be accurate, they do not account for
> dairy =
> proteins, which also have opioid sequences, and the absorption
> estimate =
> appears very conservative.)
>

Let's be clear on this.  There is no credible evidence that has been
presented that there is any opiate effect in the brain related to
gluten ingestion.  Hoggan's post implies that I looked at his data and
estimated 10% of opioid peptides that were present were absorbed.  The
implication that I agreed in any way with his opiate hypothesis is very
misleading.  That estimate was in the context of hypothetical
discussion of generation of opioids.  The only study I have seen on
this was a bench experiment sent to me by Hoggan where after chemical
processing a large amount of gluten, peptides that had the ability to
bind opiate receptors in a dish in the lab were detected in very small
quantities.  There are no studies that I have found that look at this
in people.  Additionally, Hoggan ignored issues that were raised on
whether other enzymes in the body would further degrade proteins,
antibody binding and clearance from the bloodstream, efficiency of
production of opiates in the stomach when all of digestion is
considered, and dose issues which end up being less than a milligram of
morphine equivalent dose even assuming all of the problems with the
hypothesis are not true.

A summary of eMails to me by a number of people, including the eMails
Mr. Hoggan referred to, can be found at
http://www.napervillegi.com/celiac/wheatopiates.html

The issue of foggy brain is clearly something a lot of celiac patients
have experienced.  However, there is little reason to imagine it is an
opiate effect.  What drives it remains to be determined.

Stephen Holland, M.D.

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*