Staying Healthy

A Swedish study has found that coeliac (celiac) disease is associated with tuberculosis, report Reuters and The British Medical Journal. The full report is available here.

The study found that patients diagnosed with coeliac disease were more likely to suffer from tuberculosis. 14,335 coeliacs were compared with almost 70,000 non-coeliacs, using records of hospital discharges between 1964 and 2003.

“The risk of TB in patients with CD was increased 3-4 fold … a diagnosis of TB more than doubled the risk of CD.”

The researchers suggested that vitamin D could be the link between the two illnesses, because coeliac sufferers can have a deficiency of the vitamin because of their restricted diet, and difficulties absorbing the vitamin. Vitamin D is important for immune system response.

So what can you do?

Sunshine is a significant source of vitamin D – so go outside for a while (but not so long that you get sunburn, obviously).

Eat more of salmon, mackerel, tuna fish, sardines, eggs or fortified milks and margarines. If you can bear it, cod liver oil is very high in vitamin D … you see, your great-grandmother was right all along.

Update: Recent funding for research projects at Monash University includes funding to investigate whether coeliac disease causes a loss of coordination or cognitive impairment.

The American Journal of Physiology has published an article about a new enzyme which breaks down gluten molecules as well as the T cell stimulatory peptides that cause celiac disease. This enzyme was originally developed for commercial food processing, but works best in the same kind of environment as the human stomach.

The research team think that there is now a realistic chance that eating this as a supplement would cause the gluten in the meal to degrade in the stomach before reaching the small intestine, which – as you know – is where the damage is done. Clinical trials are the next likely step.

We’ve been here before, of course, with the announcement of a potential ‘pill’ for coeliac disease – apparently the last one failed because it was deactivated by the level of acid in the stomach, and pepsin, which is found in the human stomach. And though this enzyme apparently works very quickly, in theory breaking down the large gluten molecules into smaller pieces before they could leave the stomach, would this be acceptable for very sensitive coeliacs? And what about the longer term risks of leaving coeliac disease untreated – will these risks be eliminated by using this enzyme? I shall look forward to the results of the clinical trials with great interest – and wonder who is going to volunteer to be a guineapig.

In the meantime, the only way of treating coeliac disease is with a diet free from wheat, barley and rye.

A quick update – the rosacea is looking a lot better – my skin is looking significantly less red, and the spots are virtually all cleared up.

My psoriasis is improving, though not yet gone. I haven’t used any lotions or potions on it while trying the experiment of being gluten free, and the lesions are still there, though softening and shrinking. No doubt, since I’ve been living with psoriasis for decades, it will take longer to clear anyway.

Now, this makes the genetic question about the coeliac disease that my daughter has rather interesting. We’ve always assumed that my husband was the ‘carrier’ since he has a relation who has coeliac – but if I am also sensitive to gluten, then perhaps it was a combination of both of us.

Of course, the other thing we don’t know is whether it is giving up gluten or lactose that is doing the trick. I’ll give this a little longer, and then perhaps try reintroducing one or the other, to see what happens.

If you’re considering going gluten free / dairy free for psoriasis or rosacea, I can recommend it … it’s not that difficult (though it would be nice to share a pizza with my husband) and seems to have an effect – for me, anyway. Worth a try, I’d have thought.