<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
I apologize to the list for this being a very late summary to a
question and responses that date from late September. I got about a
dozen replies to my original question to the list asking if anyone
else was suspicious of a connection between eating corn and getting
canker sores.
I've asked questions of the list before about the connection between
various foods and canker sores, but several of the responses this
time seem to be from persons who have not been on the list long, and
are genuinely surprised to read that gluten intolerance can be
associated with canker sores. I also had responses from people who
are not celiacs, and this is a change from earlier questions I have
posted.
Some respondents were very confident that they know what causes their
canker sores. In my own case, I have been sleuthing this question
for nearly seven years, and until only the past few months have I
thought that I may finally have learned the comprehensive reasons why
I get these sores.
As I mentioned in my original post, it is gluten, primarily, that
causes me to get canker sores. I also am sure that a mild anemia I
had all my life was caused by gluten (I am age 64). The anemia
disappeared when I eliminated gluten from my diet four years ago, as
did most of the canker sores. My experience has been very good since
eliminating kernal corn (I don't think that things like corn starch
or corn syrup cause canker sores for me) and learning how to deal
with injuries to the mucous membranes of the lips or the cheeks
caused by my teeth or by sharp foods. In fact at the moment I am a
whole month completely free of the sores. Halleluliah!
**************
*Leading off, here is a response from a dentist who is surprised to
hear that celiac disease can have canker sores as a symptom. This
indicates to me that dental and periodontal educators may have some
serious curriculum-tweaking to do!
"Just came from a dental meeting and spoke to a periodontist with
close to 30 years of experience. The correlation between ulcers and
CD was something that he has not seen in the literature. On Friday
when he will be at the dental school, he will discuss with the head
of oral pathology.
I practice dentistry and the correlation between corn and apthous
ulcer/canker sores is just not in the literature. However, since
being diagnosed myself with CD only 2 weeks ago. I have had canker
sores over the past 20 years but there is nothing in the dental
literature (and I have certainly researched this in the past) and I
was diagnosed due to mild anemia. If you don't mind sharing, were
you symptomatic with the mild anemia prior to your diagnosis? I
have eliminated gluten from my diet obviously but I certainly have a
hard time believing that I will have none of these products in the
future. Was the adjustment tough for you as well and have you every
strayed in the past 5 years?"
[I don't think I had any particular symptoms of anemia except that
blood tests always came back showing I had it, and I even had a GI
series to see if there was anything bleeding inside. When I was a
teenager, our family doctor was very worried that the anemia was
progressing to leukemia. Thanks to my wife's careful shopping and
great cooking ideas, the adjustment to gluten free eating hasn't been
a problem at all for me. I suppose if there is any problem it is in
eating at restaurants. I avoid sauces and soups and gravies no
matter what the waiter or waitress tells me!]
*************
*************
Now for the summary of the responses:
*One respondent seems to have had success preventing canker sores by
eliminating corn from his diet:
"Very interesting! I had the same experience. I determined that
corn was definitely the major cause of my canker sores. Like you, it
improved with the gluten free diet, but I still got them. It soon
became clear that corn was the direct cause. I eliminated corn and
all corn products, now I don't get them at all."
* All posts for product information must include the applicable country *
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