If you have celiac disease, an inherited condition that makes you unable to consume the protein gluten in the grains wheat, barley or rye without damaging your intestines, you have to follow a gluten-free diet for life. Most people who start a gluten-free diet do so because their physician has told them they have celiac disease, or because they realized on their own that gluten causes them symptoms such as diarrhea and fatigue. However, gluten may affect more than your digestive system; it's possible you can treat or even cure the skin disease psoriasis through a gluten-free diet.
Psoriasis Basics
It's not clear what causes the skin disease psoriasis, a chronic condition that plagues some people for most of their lives. If you have the condition, you usually suffer from patches of white, dead skin cells surrounded by red borders. These patches of skin, which commonly appear on your elbows, scalp, lower back and knees, may itch or hurt. In about one in every 20 psoriasis sufferers, the skin disease leads to a condition called psoriatic arthritis, which causes painful inflamed joints and can affect your internal organs.
Gluten-Free Diet
To implement a gluten-free diet, you need to eliminate all foods from your diet that contain the protein gluten. This includes obvious gluten-based foods such as wheat crackers, breads and cereals, along with other foods that have gluten in their ingredients, such as canned soups and soy sauce. Although physicians don't recommend the gluten-free diet unless you have proven celiac disease, the diet has gained popularity in recent years for its role in treating conditions such as psoriasis, along with infertility and fatigue. Because of this growing popularity, it's easier to find a wide variety of foods marked "gluten-free," making following the gluten-free diet simpler.
Psoriasis Links
There's evidence that undiagnosed celiac disease may cause some cases of dermatitis. A 2008 study in the "Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology" looked at 67 patients with psoriasis and found significantly heightened levels of antibodies to gluten in those patients. The researchers concluded that there may be a relationship between psoriasis and undiagnosed celiac disease or gluten intake.
Another study, published in 2010 in the "Archives of Dermatology," found an association between non-light beer intake and psoriasis in a group of more than 82,000 female nurses studied over the course of 14 years. Because no other alcoholic beverages seemed to raise the risk of psoriasis, the researchers concluded that the gluten in the beer caused the increased risk.
Considerations
It's still not clear whether gluten can cause psoriasis or whether it contributes to your risk, since research hasn't yet proven a link between gluten consumption, celiac disease and psoriasis. However, if you have psoriasis combined with gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation or abdominal pain, you should ask your doctor to test you for celiac disease. If the test comes back positive, you may find your new gluten-free diet helps control your skin condition as well as your gastrointestinal symptoms. If the celiac disease test comes back negative, you still can talk to your doctor about eliminating gluten from your diet in an effort to control your psoriasis.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Psoriasis; March 13, 2010
- "Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology"; Seriologic Markers of Celiac Disease in Psoriasis; A. Damasiewicz-Bodzek; September 2008
- "Archives of Dermatology"; Alcohol Intake and Risk of Incident Psoriasis in U.S. Women; A. Quershi, M.D.; December 2010
