Gluten can impede growth - is your child short?

Lots of parents bring their children to see me because of short stature: that means they are shorter than expected.

Classically, short stature is seen in children with celiac disease. It is usually attributed to nutritional deficiency.  However, this cannot be the usual reason – because most of the children I see are not nutritional deficient – they are not loosing weight, and they have no bowel damge, although they have evidnce of gluten sensitivity.

So why are they short?  Some of them come from short families – so they are genetically short.

But more likely, gluten and the immune response to gluten is adversely affecting the activity of growth hormone.

http://journals.lww.com/jpgn/Fulltext/2010/12003/Short_Stature_and_Catch_up_Growth_in_Celiac.11.aspx

A recent paper comes to this conclusion: “short stature is one of the most common clinical manifestations of CD and should be considered in all children with short stature. Catch-up growth is observed on gluten-free diet (GFD), mostly in the first 6 months from diagnosis [if this is due to a nutritional deficiency]. The absence of catch-up growth requires the evaluation of compliance and endocrinological evaluation. Patients should be tested for GH reserve, particularly if the test for anti-pituitary antibodies (APA) is positive.”

Many research groups report a dysfunction of the endocrine growth axis in children with CD.  And likewise with gluten sensitivity.

Every child with suspected growth issues needs to be checked out for celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.  In these children a gluten-free diet might make a big difference.

Dr Rodney Ford

http://www.DrRodneyFord.com

A big “NO” for a gluten “homeopathic remedy”

I have been sent this query from one of my medical colleagues:

“Have you heard of this product? Apparently it's homeopathic. They make some amazing claims. I'm being asked about this and wanted to know if you had any experience/thoughts.”

The link: http://glutenfreesoyfree.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/possible-solution-gluten-intolerance/.

My reply: “Yes, interesting stuff, however I remain the skeptic.

I have seen this product advertised on the Internet. I have spent some time looking at the website. They claim that this is a “one time treatment” and that once you have taken the course of capsules that you will be able to eat gluten from then on.

I think that this is most unlikely. I am surprised that they are looking at changes in the IgA-anti-gliadin levels.   This is the stool test from enterolab.   I do not have any experience using this assay.

I would be very surprised if someone with celiac disease could start eating gluten after a course of these tablets.

Their conclusion is: ”Although much  more  work  needs  to  be  done  to  prove  the  efficacy  of  this  remedy,   this  pilot  study  indicates  that  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  ingredients  in  this  preparation   may  be  useful  in  helping  the  estimated  the  20  million  people  in  the  United  States   who  have  Gluten  Intolerance.”

They are making a big claim with almost no data.  I would like to see this tested on someone with full celiac disease and see what happens to the celiac markers over a year.  I am sure that very few celiacs would agree to take gluten again.

I would not recommend this product for my patients.

Gluten does a lot of bad things and taking a homeopathic “remedy” for this seems fool-hardy.”

Stay off gluten - the message from me is go ZERO gluten - do not fool yourself with any "quick fix". "If it looks too good to be true - then it IS too good to be true." 

So it is a big “NO” from me.

Cheers Rodney

www.DrRodneyFord.com

Gluten sensitive vs celiac - as serious?

Asked: "Would a person with non-celiac-gluten-sensitivity as serious a condition as celiac disease?"

Answered: "Good question. They are both serious diseases. Celiac sufferers get gut damage from gluten that can be seen by a microscope (called villus atrophy) and they are more likely to get mal-absorption of vitamins and minerals. 


However, gluten-sensitive people can get severe symptoms anywhere, and get extremely sick from gluten - but they do not get the gut tissue damage. As yet there is no single test that is accurate enough to make a diagnosis on all gluten-sensitive people. Often relies on a trial of GF foods." 


Both groups need the same treatment - zero gluten


http://www.drRodneyFord.com
Author of The Gluten Syndrome

Dr Peter Green validates The Gluten Syndrome. http://www.northbayceliacs.org/petergreen.html

Dr Peter Green is Director, Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. At a talk on November 11, 2010, U.C. San Francisco Medical Center, Dr Peter Green says: ”There is a whole spectrum of gluten sensitivity. For example, 80% of ADHD have high antibodies to gluten (AGA, antigliadin antibodies). They do not have celiac disease.”

“None of us was designed to eat wheat. Our digestive enzymes have not been developed to digest wheat.”

“Also IBS sufferers also have gluten sensitivity.”

I have been investigating and studying the Gluten Syndrome for the last 15 years. It is now gratifying for this condition to be accepted by my colleagues working in the celiac/gluten fields.

Dr Rodney Ford
Visit the eClinic for a second opinion
http://www.DrRodneyFord.com
Author of: The Gluten Syndrome

Gluten sensitivity is real

Gluten sensitivity is real

10 Feb 2011 My response to The Gazette Montreal Dear Sir, Gluten-sensitivity: a medically proven entity. So I was disturbed to read the piece by Brian Dunning “Is gluten really something that most people should avoid?” I am also a “skeptoid”. However, my reading recent medical research has convinced me that gluten-sensitivity is indeed a common and serious entity. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, has confirmed the presence of gluten-sensitivity in the absence of coeliac disease. They set out to determine whether gluten ingestion could induce symptoms in non-celiac individuals. It did. (Biesiekierski JR et al, Am J Gastroenterol. 2011 Jan 11. “Gluten Causes Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Subjects Without Celiac Disease: A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial”). Six years ago, Dr. Marios Hadjivassiliou, Consultant Neurologist, wrote in the British Medical Journal: “published literature supports the contention that gluten sensitivity represents a diverse spectrum of which coeliac disease is just one part.” (Gluten ataxia: science versus conviction). The entity of gluten-sensitivity has been validated by many others, including Prof A Fassano, celiac expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA. Last year he said: “A category of people appear to be sensitive to gluten without having full-blown celiac disease. For them, symptoms may be less typical, involving depression, mental fogginess, mood swings and behavior changes.” Gluten-sensitivity is recognised to be ten times more common than coeliac disease. Fassano goes on to say: “Previously, gluten sensitivity was diagnosed mainly by ruling out celiac disease and wheat allergy in people with symptoms. But researchers are evaluating antibodies to gliadin, a gluten component, as a possible biomarker. About 7% of the population has these anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA); intriguingly, so do 18% of people with autism, and 20% of people with schizophrenia.” Yes, gluten-sensitivity is a common and important medical condition that requires treatment with a strict gluten-free diet. Yours sincerely Dr Rodney Ford. M.B., B.S., M.D., F.R.A.C.P. Paediatric Allergy & Gastroenterology Specialist The Children’s Clinic and Allergy Centre. Author of “The Gluten Syndrome: Is wheat causing you harm?” http//:www.DrRodneyFord.com

No gluten hoax

Steve Edwards wrote a blog “Gluten hoax” - gluten free for dummies.
http://steve-edwards.blogspot.com/

This is my response.

Yes indeed, the gluten-free debate is raging hot. There are “believers”, and there are “non-believers”, and then fortunately there are the facts so we can be scientific about the problem. Whether gluten sensitivity exists or not is a matter of data, not belief.

Of course, with any food related diet, there will be a fringe /fad elements. This does not matter. This does not influence the facts. Our world is not simply black and white: there are many grey areas in our experience that require reasoned thought.

When it comes to gluten, undisputedly it does harm some people – however, the unanswered question is how big the problem might be. A survey this year shows that up to 25% of the USA population is either going gluten-free or substantially reducing their gluten intake. Interesting, and some of this food-behaviour will have a fad element. But, many of these people will genuinely have gluten-sensitivity.

Gluten sensitivity is only now being systematically investigated by the medical science community. The celiac-disease-doctors have now recognised that gluten does in fact severely affect many non-celiac sufferers. Most doctors dealing with gluten sensitivity estimate the problem to affect at least 10% of the population. Dr. Alessio Fasano, director of the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, figures that up to 7 or 8% of the U.S. population have some kind of sensitivity to gluten.

Eventually, the proportion of gluten-affected people is likely to be much higher. Currently, gluten-sensitivity can be tested for by AGA (Anti-Gliadin-Antibody) tests (also known as the IgG-gliadin test). However, this test is not widely available. More accurate and more sensitive tests for gluten sensitivity are currently being developed. When these are in use, the picture will become clearer.

Research evidence shows that gluten has a hand in triggering mental illness, autoimmune disease, skin problems and gut disease. As yet, the burden of gluten on the population has not been properly quantified.

Therefore, to launch a tirade about gluten-free being a fad and to ridicule people adopting a gluten-free life-style is, to my thinking, an uniformed approach. When you have had a chance to look at the data (for instance the work by Hadjivassiliou M , “Gluten sensitivity: from gut to brain”, Lancet Neurol. 2010 Mar;9(3):318-30) perhaps you will be in a position to write another more thoughtful piece.

Thank you for raising this controversy
Cheers, Dr Rodney Ford.

Guten Sensitivity causes job loss

Does Gluten Sensitivity causes job loss? Absolutely!
Gluten intolerance/sensitivity/celiac is debilitating to so many people. And of course, these people are unaware that gluten is the root cause of their "illness". And this is because there is so much misunderstanding about gluten harm.
Education is the only way forward - and this will be mostly achieved by the gluten-free community speaking out.
Talking about a gluten-free planet gets people's attention!
Cheers Rodney Ford.