60 Years of Research Links Gluten Grains to Schizophrenia
June 22, 2013
Story at-a-glance
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Research spanning 60 years shows gluten grain consumption leads
to higher prevalence of both neurological and psychiatric
problems, and schizophrenia in particular
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In a recent study, researchers compared the blood work of 950
schizophrenics with 1,000 healthy controls. The odds ratio of
having anti-gliadin IgG antibodies was 2.13 times higher in
schizophrenics, indicating that t the least schizophrenics are
more likely to experience an adverse immune response to wheat
proteins
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The discovery of antibodies to gliadin in the blood of both
celiac disease patients and schizophrenics implies that the
wheat protein gliadin does not break down during digestion,
wheat proteins stimulate auto-immunity, and may cause your
immune system to attack your nervous system
By Sayer Ji
Does the consumption of gluten-containing grains contribute to
psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia?
Believe it or not, this question has been asked for well over 60
years by researchers who stumbled upon evidence that the removal of
gluten from the diet results in improved symptoms, or conversely,
that gluten grain consumption leads to higher prevalence of both
neurological and psychiatric problems.
Reports of the resolution of emotional disturbances after the
institution of a "gluten free" diet exist in medical literature at
least as far back as 1951.1
In 1954, Sleisenger reported to have found three schizophrenics
among a group of thirty-two adults with celiac disease,2
and in 1957, Bossak, Wang and Aldersberg reported discovering 5
psychotic patients among 94 patients with celiac disease.3
The initial recognition that celiac disease, or at least gluten
sensitivity, occurred at a far higher prevalence among
schizophrenics than the healthy, opened up the door to more
elaborate investigations.
Wartime Reduction in Gluten Grain Rations Reduces Schizophrenia
Prevalence
For instance, in 1966, a remarkable epidemiological study was
published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
titled,"Wheat "Consumption" and Hospital Admissions for
Schizophrenia During World War II," which sought to confirm the
possible relationship between schizophrenia and celiac disease by
investigating the reported decrease in the number of admissions to
mental hospitals during some wars.
The author of the study, F. C. Dohan, M.D., looked at the number
of women admitted to the mental hospitals in Finland, Norway,
Sweden, Canada and the United States before and after World War II.
These figures were then compared to volume of wheat and rye consumed
during those two periods. As Dohan explains:
“The percent change in the mean annual number of first
admissions for schizophrenia to the hospital in each of the five
countries from the respective pre-war mean was compared to the
percent change in the "consumption" of wheat and wheat plus
rye."
The results can be view in the figure below:
As you can see above, the percent change from prewar values
during World War II in the number of patients admitted to hospitals
for the first time with schizophrenia in five countries was found to
be significantly correlated to the percent change in the amount of
wheat and wheat plus rye consumed. As gluten grain rations
decreased, so did the worldwide rate of first-time admission to
psychiatric institutions.
Increasing Body of Research Implicates Gluten Grains in
Schizophrenia Pathogenesis
Since then, a number of studies have been published linking the
consumption of gluten-containing grains to schizophrenia:
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Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2011: Persons with
schizophrenia have higher than expected titers of antibodies (7
fold increased prevalence) related to celiac disease and gluten
sensitivity.4
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Schizophrenia Research, 2010: Individual with
schizophrenia have a novel immune response to gliadin distinct
from those with celiac disease (i.e. absence of antibodies to
the transglutaminase enzyme and the HLA-DQ2/DQ8 genetic locus of
susceptibility.5
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Acta Psychiatra Scandinavica, 2006: A review
of the literature found a drastic reduction, if not full
remission, of schizophrenic symptoms after initiation of gluten
withdrawal has been noted in a variety of studies.6
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Biological Psychiatry, 1984: Only two chronic
schizophrenics were found among over 65,000 examined or closely
observed adults in remote regions of Papua New Guinea (PNG,
1950-1967) and Malaita , Solomon Islands (1980-1981), and on Yap
, Micronesia (1947-1948), who do not consume grains. Researchers
noted that when these peoples became partially westernized and
consumed wheat, barley beer, and rice, the prevalence reached
European levels.7
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Science, 1976: Schizophrenics maintained on a
grain-free and milk-free diet challenged with gluten saw
interruption of their therapeutic progress. After termination of
the gluten challenge, the course of improvement was reinstated.8
New Research Confirms Gliadin-Schizophrenia Link
The latest study to confirm the gluten-schizophrenia link was
published this month in the World Journal of Biological
Psychiatry and titled, "Elevated gliadin antibody
levels in individuals with schizophrenia." Researchers
compared the blood work of 950 schizophrenics with 1,000 healthy
controls. They discovered that the odds ratio of having anti-gliadin
IgG antibodies was 2.13 times higher in schizophrenics, indicating
that t the least schizophrenics are more likely to experience an
adverse immune response to wheat proteins.
Gliadin is the alcohol soluble complex of proteins found within
what is known colloquially as gluten (the term is misleading as
wheat technically contains over 23,000 different proteins,
not one), and is considered the primary
immunotoxic class of proteins in wheat. For instance, in celiac
disease, a genetically mediated immune process unfurls where upon
exposure to gliadin, the enzyme tissue transglutaminase modifies the
protein, and the immune system cross-reacts with the small-bowel
tissue, causing an inflammatory reaction that results in the
destruction of the intestinal villi.
The discovery of antibodies to gliadin in the blood of both
celiac disease patients and schizophrenics implies several things:
- The Wheat Protein Gliadin Doesn't Break Down During
Digestion: Undigested wheat-derived macromolecules can
act as antigens, provoking an antibody-mediated immune response,
particularly if they get through the intestinal lining and into
the blood. The fact that antibodies to wheat protein gliadin can
be found in the blood indicates that it is not being fully
broken down into constituent amino acids.
- Wheat Proteins In the Blood Stimulate Auto-Immunity:
The presence of gliadin in the blood also indicates intestinal
permeability. It turns out that gliadin has been found to
up-regulate the protein zonulin in the gut of those either with
or without celiac disease, which essentially opens
"pandora's box" of intestinal permeability, and subsequent
autoimmunity.
In another essay, we also described the intestinal permeability
generating effects of wheat lectin, also known as Wheat Germ
Agglutinin (WGA) – [see Opening Pandora's Bread Box]
- Wheat Protein May Cause The Immune System To Attack
the Nervous System: Anti-gliadin antibodies appear to
cross react with neurological self-structures, which may explain
how they contribute to schizophrenia. A study published in 2007
in the Journal of Immunology found that anti-gliadin
antibodies bind to neuronal synapsin I, a protein found within
nerve terminal of axons, which the study authors believe may
explain why gliadin contributes to "neurologic complications
such as neuropathy, ataxia, seizures, and neurobehavioral
changes."
Another example of anti-gliadin antibodies possibly
contributing to the formation of autoantibodies against
neurological self-structures is in autism. A 2004 study in
Nutritional Neuroscience found that children with
autism show antibody elevations against gliadin and cerebellar
(brain) proteins simultaneously. In other words, wheat proteins
may simulate antibodies that cross-react, resulting in
neurological damage.
Learn more on the topic by reading our article: Wheat: A
Missing Piece In the Autism Puzzle
Just a Problem for Schizophrenics? There Is One Surefire Way to Find
Out...
A broader question is also raised by this research. Since
anti-gliadin antibodies are found in approximately 27 percent of the
population, and as high as 57 percent in those suffering from
neurological dysfunction of unknown causes,
is it then possible that gluten-containing grains are adversely
affecting the mental health of the world at large, perhaps mostly on
a subclinical basis?
We actually explored this possibility in greater depth in our
essay The Dark Side of Wheat, focusing on the Roman
empire's use of the wheat-based economy as a form of both cultural
and biological imperialism.
Certainly we can say that wheat adversely affects the physical
health of far more than present day conventional medical estimates
which focus on celiac disease and food allergies to wheat. We have
indexed over 200 adverse health effects of gluten-containing
grains
, with 20 adverse 'modes of toxicity' described thus far.
Interestingly, top on the list is neurotoxicity, with 23 articles
describing this effect available to view here: Wheat
Neurotoxicity Link
.
There are likely far too many variables to ever point to
gluten-containing grains as a singular cause of psychiatric
problems, malaise, mania, addiction, depression, schizophrenia, etc.
However, one thing is sure. Your first hand experience is as
valuable as a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized human
trial. And so, if you remove them from your diet, and you feel
better, and health conditions, both physical and mental, improve,
then there is no better proof than that!
About the Author
Sayer Ji is the founder and director of GreenMedInfo.com and an
advisory board member at the National Health Federation,
an international nonprofit, consumer-education, health-freedom
organization. He co-authored the book Cancer Killers: The
Cause Is The Cure, and is working on another one with Tania
Melkonian titled EATomology: An Edible Philosophy of Food.
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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