Hi Jim,

Symptoms of some cases of psoriasis can be cleared by a gluten free diet, but it might be useful to test for celiac disease and non-celiac
gluten sensitivity before beginning a trial diet.  And, if you don't test before beginning the diet, you are unlikely to ever get accurate
test results in the future. The testing even before beginning the diet is not 100% accurate but it can provide some very valuable information.
For instance, if she tests positive for celiac disease and years later develops learning disabilities or begins to stutter, or has seizures, or
experiences pseudo-hallucinations, you can be pretty confident that she is getting some gluten in her diet. There are also some metabolic
changes that the celiac patient is more susceptible to, such as impaired cellular glycolysis, which may explain the apparent contradiction in
celiac-associated obesity in the context of a condition of malabsorption. If positive,  celiac testing can be an important key to
her future good health, as well as an indicator that she should remove gluten from her diet now.

I'm also not sure that you are fully correct in saying that the  psoriasis and the molluscum are of different origins. In genetically
susceptible individuals, the opioids from gluten reach the HPA axis, where they downregulate natural killer cell activity. It is natural
killer cells that provide our first line of defense against foreign invaders and cells with aberrant DNA. Since molluscum is a manifestation
of a viral infection, her natural killer cells would be her first line of defense against them.  Thus, if the psoriasis is a manifestation of
celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and the psoriasis is gluten-induced, then the underlying cause is the same.

That being said, when studied, I believe it is only about 25% of cases of psoriasis that were connected underlying cases of celiac disease. The
study I am remembering is quite old. It was conducted when the diagnostic criteria were different and more cases of celiac disease were
missed. Nonetheless, I am convinced that only a sub-group of cases of psoriasis are caused by gluten.

If you still have a copy of Dangerous Grains, you might revisit pages 78, 109, and 131 for a quick overview of the inhibition of NK cells.
Also, I'd be happy to send you a copy of my 'Wheat, rye, and barley proteins as aids to carcinogens' paper from about 1998. Please don't be
alarmed. While the main thrust of my comments on NK cell activation and function are related to cancer, NK cells act as surveillance and
destruction agents for cells that have been invaded by viral agents as well. (This is something of an oversimplification and I'd be happy to
discuss it further if you are interested.)

best wishes,
Ron

On 21/01/2011 10:40 AM, Jim Swayze wrote:
>  My six year old daughter has had molluscum on her trunk for a few months. We were advised by the doctor it would fade on it's own. And it has, thank goodness.
>
>  But now she has what appears to be plaque psoriasis, which I know has a different etiology than moluscum, on her upper trunk and on her left upper arm.
>
>  Any thoughts?  I am the only one in the family who eats paleo.
>
>