New light shed on gluten intolerance

[Guest guest]

New light shed on gluten intolerance

Medew and Amy Corderoy

January 27, 2011

LARA Mainka used to love getting stuck into a piece of crusty white bread, but

about 10 years ago it started to make her feel sick within about 30 minutes of

polishing it off.

''It would make me feel as though my stomach was eating itself. It was a really

strong, burning pain,'' she says.

After a few years, the problem became so bad that Ms Mainka saw her doctor.

Blood tests were ordered, as well as a colonoscopy to see if she had coeliac

disease, a condition defined as permanent intolerance to gluten, a protein found

in wheat, rye, barley and oats.

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But when the tests came back negative, Ms Mainka's doctor shrugged his

shoulders, leaving her confused.

''It was so frustrating. I thought, 'What do I do now?' The doctor suggested I

try a gluten-free diet to see what happened, but it wasn't until I started

listening to friends and other people around me that I decided it was worth a

go.''

Ten years on, Ms Mainka, 42, has finally been told she is gluten intolerant

without having coeliac disease. And doctors think there may be a lot more

Australians in a similar position.

Gibson, professor of medicine at Monash University and Eastern Health,

said he recently discovered the diagnosis when he set out to correct the

''almost unbelievable'' lack of research into gluten intolerance with a study

involving Ms Mainka.

He and his team fed 34 study participants - all of whom had been proven to not

have coeliac disease - identical-seeming bread and muffins, with half containing

gluten.

Nearly 70 per cent of the volunteers who ate the gluten said their symptoms were

not adequately controlled, reporting pain, bloating, problems going to the

toilet and extreme tiredness.

''These symptoms have a big impact on quality of life,'' Professor Gibson said.

''But conservative medicine has not been so good at dealing with this because we

haven't had any evidence [about it].''

Many patients turned to naturopaths and other alternative practitioners, but

this came with its own problems.

Professor Gibson said it was difficult to recruit participants for the study

because it was common for people to have been put on a gluten-free diet by

alternative practitioners who had not confirmed or disproved the existence of

coeliac disease through a colonoscopy.

About 218,000 Australians are thought to have coeliac disease, but many more

experience gastrointestinal symptoms, which could be linked to gluten.

While it was safe to test people who suspected they might have an intolerance

with some gluten, it could hurt people with coeliac.

Professor Gibson will now focus on trying to identify how common non-coeliac

gluten intolerance is, why it occurs and if low levels of gluten can be eaten

safely.