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Subject:
From:
Lisa S Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 14 Feb 1996 15:02:33 EST
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Subject: Gluten may play role in nerve disease, study finds
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 10:40:21 PST
ACategory: international
Slugword: HEALTH-GLUTEN
 
  LONDON (Reuter) - People with mysterious neurological
ailments such as lack of coordination or muscle weakness may
need to inspect their dinner for a cause, doctors working in
Britain said Friday.
  They found strong links between unidentifiable neurological
disturbances and a sensitivity to gluten, which is found in
wheat, rye and barley.
  A severe sensitivity to gluten, found in coeliac disease,
can cause damage to the intestine. Coeliacs cannot absorb
certain nutrients and vitamins and the disease is associated
with neurological problems. Sufferers must avoid all wheat, rye
and barley products -- including flour, bread and pasta -- for
their entire lives.
  Dr. Marios Hadjivassiliou and colleagues at the Royal
Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield decided to test people with
undiagnosed neurological symptoms to see if they had a
sensitivity to gluten.
  They found that 57 percent of those with neurological
problems of unknown cause also had antibodies to gliadin, which
is a component of gluten. Sixteen percent of them had coeliac
disease, a much higher level than normally found.
  Five percent with diagnosed disorders such as Parkinson's
disease had the antibodies, while 12 percent of a group of
healthy controls had them, they reported in the Lancet medical
journal.
 ``This seems to be much commoner than people think,''
Hadjivassiliou  said in a telephone interview.
 ``Up to at least one in 250 people may well have coeliac
disease. If you include people that have anti-gliadin
antibodies, who may not necessarily have coeliac disease but
have gluten sensitivity, then the numbers get even higher.''
  He said most of the patients with the anti-gliadin
antibodies did not have other symptoms of coeliac disease such
as poor absorption of vitamins.
  He said the anti-gliadin antibodies may mistakenly take
neural tissue and attack and destroy it. This would explain why
some coeliacs do not get better even when they stop eating
gluten -- sometimes the nerve damage could be permanent.
  ``The next step is to see if we eliminate these antibodies
from these people, by sticking to a gluten-free diet, see what
happens to their neurological illness,'' Hadjivassiliou said.
  In any case, Hadjivassiliou recommended that doctors test
for gluten sensitivity in patients showing up with unexplained
neurological problems. ``It's a very easy test to do, a very
useful screening test,'' he said.

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