The proponents and opponents of countless fads constantly bicker back and forth over their entrenched positions on the internet. The question of gluten, wheat, and their effect on health is old and heated. The doubters of gluten’s negative impact on health have long dismissed this staple of the American diet as having any contribution to illness outside of those with confirmed celiac disease. They tell their patients to eat whatever wheat and gluten that they want regardless of what autoimmune, allergic, or inflammatory disease they may exhibit. This study severely undermines this entrenched disbelief in the contribution of wheat to at least multiple sclerosis while leaving the gluten question for another day.
Multiple sclerosis affects almost 3 million people worldwide with over 300 thousand in the US experiencing this disorder. The disease results from our immune system attacking the myelin layer of insulation covering nerves. This damage leads to myriad neurological symptoms and eventually to death as the nervous system degrades over time. In some this is more rapid and in other very slow over many years with long periods of disability.
Many other studies have implicated gluten, one protein in the list of proteins found in wheat, as a contributing factor in leaky gut, thyroid disease and other autoimmune conditions besides the well-known celiac disease. In this study from Gut, a different protein was identified as triggering GI inflammation and increasing multiple sclerosis symptoms. Amylase trypsin inhibitors were found to cause the gut inflammation without the presence of gluten when fed to the experimental mice. Prior research had demonstrated that this group of proteins could stimulate immune cells called dendritic cells in the gut through toll-like receptors.
They researchers used a very commonly employed model called experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE). By causing autoimmune inflammation in the mice brains and then monitoring the changes after exposure to the wheat protein, they could determine that the protein increased both gut and brain inflammation in these EAE mice. They also performed a study in patients with multiple sclerosis in which they decreased the amount of wheat in the test subjects’ diets by 90 (not all the way to wheat-free). They found that the number of inflammatory cells were lower on the lower wheat diet and the reports of pain for those on the lower wheat diet were significantly improved.
As we continue to care for autoimmune patients in our office, we will continue to employ dietary modifications like gluten free or wheat free. Numerous studies indicate that foods play a role in these conditions and dietary changes can make a big difference. Helping patients live healthier more abundant lives requires addressing these factors along with other nutritional support while avoiding excessively restrictive diets that may eating a burden rather than a joy as God intended.
Original Article:
Zevallos VF, Yogev N, Hauptmann J, et alDietary wheat amylase trypsin inhibitors exacerbate CNS inflammation in experimental multiple sclerosisGut 2024;73:92-104.
Thanks to
Medical News Today. Avoiding wheat could lessen inflammation and pain in MS. By Katharine Lang. January 30, 2024. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/avoiding-wheat-could-lessen-inflammation-alleviate-ms-symptoms
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
