Diabetes and Coeliac Disease

[peter_s]

The recent article on this topic linked Coeliac disease only to Type 1 diabetes. My own experience is that I developed coeliac disease over 20 years ago, and have followed a strict gluten-free diet since then. Finally, last year, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. These are all closely linked autoimmune diseases, and in my case clearly inherited from my father. My initial symptoms included both bowel problems and Psoriasis, with psoriatic arthritis. I had had psoriasis since childhood, then developed quite severe psoriatic arthritis when about 37. I needed to walk with a stick. My bowel problems, largely diarrhoea, although alternating with constipation, were, after years of trouble, finally diagnosed as coeliac disease. I went gluten-free, with an immediate improvement in my bowel symptoms, and the near miraculous and unexpected relief of my arthritis symptoms. Within two weeks, they had gone, never to return. This alone should be widely disseminated; I am sure that many arthritis sufferers could be relieved by the introduction of a gluten-free diet. I was surprised at the type 2 diagnosis; I was only slightly over weight (BMI 26.8, none-drinker, none (never) smoker) and I do feel that it is linked to the leaky-gut effect of gluten sensitivity. A Scientific American article a few months ago described the causal link. A gluten-free diet is not to be undertaken lightly; you cannot do it in part. I even reacted badly once to a conventional communion wafer; not much gluten, but enough for a severe reaction. Another downside in the long term is chronic constipation. The link between diabetes and coeliac disease deserves much more research. The incidence of coeliac disease in much greater than the 1 in 300 quoted in the article, and as evidence the supermarkets all offer "free from" ranges now, making it easier for coeliacs, if not easy in absolute terms. They would not do so for 1 in 300. Incidentally, there is one way of avoiding most coeliac symptoms, just by smoking. I don't recommend it, but it probably explains the rise in coeliacs in recent years; smoking has been reduced.

 

[Osidge]

Hi Peter

You may find this paper interesting: http://www.idb.hr/diabetologia/03no4-2.pdf. It appears to conclude that Caeliac Disease is no more prevalent in the Diabetes Type 2 community than in the community at large.

Regards

Doug

 

[pianoman]

There is a new book called "Wheat Belly" from William Davis, MD, a preventive cardiologist who explains that: the wheat we eat today is different from the wheat of 2,000 or even 100 years ago, and has unique ill-effects on the human physiology.

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

Tom Naughton offers a review of the book here... http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2011/08/30/book-review-wheat-belly/