Last week, we talked about the role of blood sugar and how having too much circulating blood sugar levels can predispose someone to acquiring Alzheimer’s. This week, we shall talk about the brain’s enemy number two – gluten.
We have all heard the term ‘gluten’ before, but what does it mean? Gluten is simply a protein composite made up of two types of protein – gliadins and glutenins. Aside from the usual sources of gluten like grain based food such as breads and pastas, it is also found in many other foods such as mayonnaise, tomato sauce, processed meats and even beer and vodka. It can even be found in moisturising creams, shampoos and conditioners and vitamins.
This makes life challenging for people who with gluten sensitivity, which can be described as the body’s increased immune response to gluten which occurs in genetically susceptible people. Upset stomaches, bloating, headaches, constantly getting sick are some of the common symptoms found. Now add neurological signs of possible dystonia, tremor, incoordination and visual disturbances to that list.
The most extreme form of gluten sensitivity can be diagnosed as coeliac disease. In Australia, about 1 in 30 Australians get coeliac disease but you only develop it if you have a genetic susceptibility. However, only about 20% of people who have this susceptibility are diagnosed, which means that there are about 330,000 of us who don’t know we have it (Coeliac Australia). Furthermore, people with coeliac disease can have no overt gastrointestinal symptoms at all, or may only experience fatigue which is a fairly non-specific symptom.
According to Prof Marios Hadjivassiliou, a world renowned researcher into gluten sensitivity and neurological impairment, he has studied forms of idiopathic ataxias (a type of movement disorder that is of unclear origin) and has found that some of these people have gluten sensitivity, which is diagnosed as gluten ataxia. He then put these patients on strict gluten-free diets and their signs and symptoms immediately abated. (Hadjivassiliou et al., 2010)
Why does gluten do this? It has been proposed that gluten sensitivity triggers a heightened response that leads to inflammation around the body, with the nervous system most vulnerable to this effect (Ford R, 2009). He also goes as far to say that gluten harms the nervous system even if there is no evidence of coeliac disease. Excuse the pun, but that’s certainly food for thought.
So as you can see there is a pattern starting to emerge. Excess carbohydrates in the form of processed and ready to eat foods that drive up blood glucose and introduce gluten-associated inflammation have be silently attacking our brain and nerve cells without us knowing, even we seem healthy and not having apparent signs of gluten sensitivity. My thoughts are is that we should definitely pay close attention to our bodies and not dismiss anything too lightly.
With enemies the brain must find allies. Next week, in the final of our 3-part series, we will talk about a powerful protein that helps in our brain’s defences.
Resources:
About Coeliac
Castro, J. (2013). What is Gluten? Retrieved 12th June 2014 from http://www.livescience.com/39726-what-is-gluten.html
Coeliac Australia
Hadjivassiliou, M., Sanders, D.S., Grünewald, R.A., Woodroofe, N., Boscolo, S. and Aeschlimann, D. (2010) Gluten sensitivity: from gut to brain. The Lancet Neurology, 9(3), 318 – 330, doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(09)70290-X
Ford, R. (2009). The gluten syndrome: a neurological disease. Medical Hypotheses. 73, 438-440. Retrieved from http://lloydchiro.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/09/The_gluten_syndrome__A_neurological_disease.pdf
