December 12, 2016

Roman philosophy Lucretius once said ‘one man’s food may be another man’s poison’. Ever wondered the impact of eating dairy or gluten has on your multiple sclerosis or other brain disorder? Researchers are starting to look at the impact of diet on chronic disease. So, let’s have a look at a 2014 paper.

The prevalence of antibodies against wheat and milk proteins in blood donors and their contributions to neuro-immune reactivities published in Nutrients 2014 6(1) pages 15-36 (DOI 10.3390/nu6010015) by Vojdani Aristo, Kharrazian Datis, Mukherjee P.S.

What if there was a relationship between Coeliac Disease or Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity and autoimmune conditions such as:

  • Type 1 Diabetes
  • Arthritis
  • Thyroiditis
  • Neuro-automimmune such as gluten ataxia
  • MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS.

After considering 400 blood samples, the authors looked for the percentage of those that were positive for wheat or mile protein isotype antibodies.

Even more interesting, early consumption of cows milk led t risk for autoimmune conditions such as:

  • Coeliac Disease
  • Crohn Behaets
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Mid rheumatoid artritis in rabbits
  • type 1 Diabetes

The results suggest that exposure to common dietary antigens may influence composition and function of MOG (mylelin oligodendrocytes glycoprotein) during the course of multiple sclerosis.

It demonstrated that cerebellar and MOG peptides which are known to be important autoantigens in gluten ataxia and multiple sclerosis can cross-react with wheat and milk proteins. Results of this study suggest that for a small percentage of the population, gluten and/or milk proteins can cross the gut mucos to stimulate antigen-specific immune response.

But, it also finds that the result is difficult to predict because of a complex interplay between genotype, timing, level of exposure, the health of the gut and the blood brain barriers.

So, I guess I need to do some more reading. To that end I recommend the following papers:

  • Vojdani A; Permutter D Differentiation between Coeliac Disease, non-Coeliac gluten sensitivity and their overlapping with Crohn’s disease: A case series Case Rep Immunol 2013 (DOI 10.1155/2013/248482)
  • Shor DB-A, Barzilai O; Ram M; Izhaky D, Porat-Katz BS, Chapman J, Blank M, Anaya JM, Shoenfeld Y Gluten sensitivity in multiple sclerosis: experimental myth or clinical truth Annual New York Academy Science 2009
  • Guggenmos J, Schubert AS, Ogg S, Andersson M, Olsson T, Mather IH, Linington C Antibody cross-reactivity between mylen oligodendrocytes glycoprotein and the milk protein butyropbilin in multiple sclerosis Journal Immunol 2004