<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Hogan posted that the fog of celiacs is due to opioids grom gluten.  I
wrote Ron, who sent me the citation.   The article can be found at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/
query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=372181&dopt=Abstract&holding
=f1000

Problems I have with concluding that any mental obtundation is due to
gluten derived opiates is related to dose issues and habituation to
narcotics.  In the article 7 mg of peptides is derived from 50 grams of
gluten.  Assuming equal yield in synthesis in the stomach as was
achieved in vitro, and if 10% of the protein makes it through the gut
then you have a 0.7 mg dose reaching the bloodstream.  The article used
several measures of milligram potency.  The CNS specific assay showed a
potency on the order of Morphine Sulphate.  Even 7 mg of MS given over
the course of a few hours is not that much, and less is likely to have
made it into the bloodstream.  Additionally, chronic narcotic use
induces tachyphylaxis through upregulation of the morphine receptors,
so chronic exposure should be tolerated without CNS effects.   Given
these issues is it reasonable to infer that patients are affected by
opiate effects?

Any thoughts from the group?

Stephen Holland, M.D.

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *