<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
>Date:  Sat, 09 Mar 1996 14:14:23 -0500
>From:  Don Wiss <[log in to unmask]>
>
>At 10:50 AM 3/9/96 -0800, you wrote:
>
>>In my Celiac Disease laden family there is an incidence of Parkinson's
>>Disease.  Is this just a coincidence or could gluten be involved?
>
>This was posted to the list recently. If you do a search on the word
>Parkinson you will find that it has not been discussed here in the past. Don.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Gluten may play role in nerve disease, study finds
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Copyright (c)1996 Nando.net
>Copyright (c)1996 Reuter Information Service
>
>
>LONDON (Feb 8, 1996 8:00 p.m. EST) - 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.