Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Celiac Disease and Depression

I have previously written numerous posts about Associated Diseases or Symptoms of Celiac Disease including Seizures, Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (cancer), Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes, Thyroid Disease and Osteoporosis/Osteopenia. Let's add another one to the ever-expanding list; Depression.

Check out the following article from Celiac.com (written by Dr Vikki Petersen - Founder of HealthNOW Medical Center) on Celiac Disease/Gluten Sensitivity and Depression. Below is an excerpt from the article...
In a study examining blood flow to the brain, 15 patients with untreated Celiac disease were compared to 15 patients treated with a gluten-free diet for a year. The findings were amazing. In the untreated group, 73% had abnormalities in brain circulation by testing while only 7% in the treated group showed any abnormalities. The patients with the brain circulation problems were frequently suffering from anxiety and depression as well.

In addition to circulation problems, other research looks at the association between gluten sensitivity and its interference with protein absorption. Specifically the amino acid Tryptophan can be deficient. Tryptophan is a protein in the brain responsible for a feeling of well-being and relaxation. A deficiency can be correlated to feelings of depression and anxiety.

3 comments:

The Gluten-Free 'Dish' said...

Zach, This is very interesting. My amino acid testing showed tryptophan was deficient. I have never read this relating to Celiac Disease.
Thanks for sharing this post.

HealthNOW Medical said...

Dear Zach,
Thank you for quoting an excerpt from the article I recently wrote for celiac.com. If you could acknowledge my authorship that would be very appreciated. In my recent book, The Gluten Effect, a tremendous amount of research went in to discovering the extent which gluten can destroy health and create disease and this article on depression was one of only many areas which gluten sensitivity affects.

If you wouldn't mind adding my name and link to your post, that would be great.

Thank you and I appreciate all that you in educating the gluten-free community.

To your good health,
Dr Vikki Petersen
Founder of HealthNOW Medical Center
www.glutendoctors.blogspot.com

Zach said...

added - thanks Vikki

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