Gluten is a protein found in the grains of several grass crops, including wheat, rye, barley and their relatives. It is widely used in the food industry as a thickener, stabilizer and filler. Gluten is only partially digested in your intestine, giving rise to protein fragments that can trigger a robust immune response in individuals whose genetic makeup makes them sensitive to gluten. Celiac disease, which is characterized by elevated antibodies to gluten, intestinal damage and abnormalities in various other organs, is a well-recognized gluten-sensitivity disorder. Your nervous system is one of the organ systems that can be adversely affected by gluten.
Wide Ranging Injury
Physicians have known for years that celiac disease can affect tissues outside your gastrointestinal tract. Gluten sensitivity has been linked to disorders of the skin, liver, skeleton, endocrine organs and reproductive system. Neurologic injury associated with celiac disease was first reported in 1966. It has generally been assumed that involvement of these organ systems occurred in conjunction with intestinal damage. However, as scientists learn more about gluten’s effects on your body, it is becoming apparent that gluten sensitivity can disrupt the function of many tissues without necessarily causing intestinal symptoms.
Ataxia
In the February 2011 issue of “Diagnostic Pathology,” scientists at Tokyo Medical University in Tokyo, Japan, reported the case of an 84-year-old woman who developed ataxia – loss of coordination and balance – due to gluten sensitivity. This patient’s symptoms mirrored those of other patients with gluten-sensitive ataxia, several of whom died from non gluten-related causes shortly after their diagnoses were made. Post-mortem examination of these individuals’ brains revealed inflammation and destruction of brain cells that help to control balance and movement.
Hearing Problems
Celiac disease has been linked to hearing abnormalities in pediatric patients, and it probably affects adults, as well. A 2011 study at Ankara, Turkey’s MH Kecioren Training and Research Hospital demonstrated hearing loss and increased “background noise” in 41 children with celiac disease, and a 2007 trial published in the Polish journal “Otolaryngologia Polska” revealed that gluten-related damage to the inner ear persisted in children aged 6 to 18 years despite adherence to a gluten-free diet.
Cognitive Decline
A review of records from patients referred to the Mayo Clinic from 1970 to 2005 identified 13 individuals who developed progressive cognitive decline -– memory loss, difficulties with calculations, confusion and personality changes -– in association with celiac disease. In more than a third of these patients, their mental disturbances developed simultaneously with the onset of celiac disease. Several of these individuals exhibited significant improvement in their symptoms once they adopted a gluten-free diet.
Expanding Horizons
Gluten sensitivity encompasses a spectrum of disorders that range from mild gastrointestinal symptoms through isolated impairment of specific organ systems to a multisystem autoimmune disease. Nervous system involvement includes ataxia, hearing impairment, cognitive decline, seizures and peripheral neuropathies. Evidence suggests that some cases of attention-deficit disorder, learning disabilities, tic disorders, headaches and even schizophrenia could have their origins in gluten sensitivity. As scientists learn more about gluten’s effects on your body, the widespread use of gluten in our food supply might fall under closer scrutiny.
References
- “Lancet”; Gluten Sensitivity: From Gut to Brain; M. Hadjivassiliou, et al.; March 2010
- “Diagnostic Pathology”; Selective Loss of Purkinje Cells in a Patient with Anti-Gliadin-Antibody-Positive Autoimmune Cerebellar Ataxia; K. Nanri, et al.; February 2011
- “Journal for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery”; Audiological Findings in Celiac Disease; H. Karabulut, et al.; 2011
- “Otolaryngologia Polska”; Looking for the Auditory and Vestibular Pathology in Celiac Disease; K. Pawlak-Osińska, et al.; 2007
- “Archives of Neurology”; Cognitive Impairment and Celiac Disease; W.T. Hu, et al.; October 2006
- “Pediatrics”; Range of Neurologic Disorder in Patients with Celiac Disease; N. Zelnik, et al.; June 2004
