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I received many responses to my question about whether or not there is
any connection between Parkinson's and CD. Some folks said no, and many
folks said they were also curious. This was the only factual response I
received and I find it very illuminating:
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Gluten may play role in nerve disease, study finds
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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.
Hadjivassilou et. al. "Does cryptic gluten sensitivity play a part in
neurological illness?" _The Lancet_ 1996; 347: 369-371.
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Title
Does cryptic gluten sensitivity play a part in neurological illness?
Author
Hadjivassiliou M; Gibson A; Davies-Jones GA; Lobo AJ; Stephenson TJ;
Milford-Ward A
Address
Department of Neurology, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK.
Source
Lancet, 347: 8998, 1996 Feb 10, 369-71
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Antigliadin antibodies are a marker of untreated coeliac
disease but can also be found in individuals with normal small-bowel
mucosa. Because neurological dysfunction is a known complication of
coeliac disease we have investigated the frequency of antigliadin
antibodies, as a measure of cryptic gluten sensitivity, and coeliac
disease in neurological patients. METHODS: Using ELISA, we estimated
serum IgG and IgA antigliadin antibodies in 147 neurological patients
who were divided into two groups. There were 53 patients with
neurological dysfunction of unknown cause despite full investigation
(25 ataxia, 20 peripheral neuropathy, 5 mononeuritis multiplex, 4
myopathy, 3 motor neuropathy, 2 myelopathy). The remaining 94 patients
were found to have a specific neurological diagnosis (16 stroke, 12
multiple sclerosis, 10 Parkinson's disease, 56 other diagnoses) and
formed the neurological control group. 50 healthy blood donors formed
a third group. FINDINGS: The proportions of individuals with positive
titres for antigliadin antibodies in the three groups were 30/53,
5/94, and 6/50 respectively (57, 5, and 12%). The difference in
proportion between group 1 and the combined control groups was 0.49
(95% CI 0.35-0.63). Distal duodenal biopsies in 26 out of 30
antigliadin-positive patients from group 1 revealed histological
evidence of coeliac disease in nine (35%), non-specific duodenitis in
ten (38%), and no lesion in seven (26%) individuals.
INTERPRETATION:
Our data suggest that gluten sensitivity is common in patients with
neurological disease of unknown cause and may have aetiological
significance.
Language of Publication
English
Unique Identifier
96169974
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