The Celiac Disease of Mental Illness

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Toward the end of this article, see... "Before going gluten-free [a possible] Misdiagnosis of Fibromyalgia." Carlene

The Celiac Disease of Mental Illness

(derived in large part from a lecture V. Croxton, M.A. summer 2002)

Although often referred to as "wheat allergy," Celiac Disease (also called Celiac Sprue) is not an "allergy" but rather an intolerance to the protein in gluten, a substance found in wheat and other grains. For susceptible people, gluten injures the small intestinal lining (called "villi") that takes in nourishment. The mental disorders that Celiac brings to a child and adult are due to both the malnutrition caused by the damage to the small intestine and to the by-products of gluten metabolism.

Professor F. C. Dohan of the University of Pennsylvania was the first researcher to use this concept, beginning in the late 1960's. He quoted from earlier researchers in his article published in The Biological Basis of Schizophrenia (Hemmings, ed; MTP Press; London, 1980).

Celiac disease may present with psychiatric symptoms, which, in association with other symptoms, may be of diagnostic help... Kaser (1961) described celiac children as showing definite symptoms in all cases. The children are conspicuously quiet, turned, inward, often weepy, often discontented or surly and apparently lack all joy in living. They can take on negativistic and schizoid characteristics and may execute ceaseless stereotyped movements. ley wrote in 1959: many (adult celiacs) showed extreme obsessional neuroses, suffering delusions, frequently believing they had cancer. Paranoid ideas were also frequent and many were considered psychotic or near psychotic.

In the 1960's and 70's it was thought that there were only about five infants out of 10,000 born with this strongly genetic disorder. The idea that that very small could account for many of the large number of schizophrenics in the general population did not appear reasonable. So the "celiac model" for explaining the development of schizophrenia did not catch on. The incidence of this disease has changed, however, and estimates now are stated to be as high as 1 in 250 in the American population