Management of Celiac Disease by Dr. Sidney V. Haas, A review by Kat

Over at www.scdkat.com , Kat writes a review and a summary of some of the important contents of the book by the Dr's Hass's. It emphasizes the basis of the treatment for celiac disease is a diet, and that diet has to be healing to the digestive tract. The most healing diet is careful not to have the wrong carbohydrates.

 

It is now known as the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and refined by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride as the Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet (GAPS Diet). I have recommended both and only in rare occasions have I seen people thrive on any other gluten-free diet. GAPS diet works on so many different levels: lowers dysbiosis, lowers gut inflammation, heals the lesions, increases absorption of macro and micronutrients, lowers incidence of food allergies, lowers incidence of metabolic syndrome or Syndrome X and the resultant obesity, and so much more.

 

 

I just finished reading the

Management of Celiac Disease by Dr. Sidney V. Haas, the creator of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and his son, Dr. Merrill P. Haas. I found this book really interesting and packed with information. I took pages of notes but hope to summarize a bit more concisely here and then list some things I found most interesting to people following SCD now.

The authors cover a lot of the research on celiac disease up until the publishing of this book in 1951. At the time, gluten was not known to have any role in celiac disease (or maybe even gluten was not discovered yet) so a lot of the research done at the time was in the form of case studies using different dietary methods. It’s no surprise to me that Haas’ diet ended up having the most favourable outcome, since it is inherently gluten-free and provides adequate nutrition for someone recovering from celiac disease. I found this book quite easy to read without having any medical knowledge, so for anyone with celiac who is interested in reading about it, I highly recommend this book. (I bought mine from Digestive Wellness).

Read more at http://www.scdkat.com/2011/05/management-of-celiac-disease/#comment-2490.

 

Celiac Disease Prevents Recovery from Depression

"Undiagnosed celiac disease could be getting in the way of your recovery from depression".
So says Dr. James Greenblatt, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Walden Behavioral Care in Waltham Massachusetts, a psychiatrest and Assistant Clinical Professor at Tufts University Medical School, Department of Psychiatry.He goes on to write in his blog called The Malnourished Mind:

The health consequences of celiac disease, however, extend beyond gastrointestinal issues and may affect every organ system, including the brain.
Other consequences of celiac disease include:

• Anemia
• Anorexia
• Arthritis
• Behavioral changes
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Infertility
• Joint pain and inflammation
• Migraine headaches
• Missed menstrual periods
• Numbness and tingling of the hands and feet
• Osteoporosis
• Seizures and other neurological problems
• Skin lesions
• Tooth decay and discoloration
• Weakness
• Weightloss

Researchers have long observed an overlap between patients with celiac disease and patients who are depressed. Adolescents with celiac disease have a 31% risk of major depressive disorder, while only 7% of healthy adolescents face this risk.
But what does a disease that directly affects the small intestine have to do with a lingering sadness or listless mood? The answer is plenty. The intestinal damage wrought by celiac disease prevents absorption of essential nutrients that keep the brain healthy, especially zinc, tryptophan, and the B vitamins.

I encourage my patients with depression to be tested for celiac/gluten sensitivity disease with either a blood test or the stool tests and genetics offered at http://www.enterolab.com/.

Gluten causes Suicidal ideation in the gluten sensitive person!!!!!!! and other brain diseases.

Gluten has many negative effects on the brain and I found some well written information on the subject including one of the most common neurological diseases associated with gluten sensitivity, cerebellar ataxia online at the Brain Mind Center at Alpha Online, a division of Environmed Research, founded in 1984 at Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Suicidal ideation or the thoughts of suicide and nightmares are symptoms of gluten ingestion in the person with gluten sensitivity and we need to be aware of this.

Here's an excerpt from Gluten and the brain:

Celiac disease is the best studied form of delayed pattern food allergy caused by eating wheat and other cereal grains. A surprising range of disease is triggered by the proteins in these foods, collectively referred to as "gluten". Celiac disease may present as a vague illness, even a mental illness.
Patients often complain of  dysphoria with fatigue, difficulty in concentration, loss of recent memory, irritability, loss of pleasure and interests, often with sleep disturbances. Sleep and dreaming are influenced by food problems. Most people eat their major meal in the evening and snack at night. This food is digested and absorbed during the night and symptoms often emerge as you sleep. Some allergenic effects tend to peak at night - asthma, migraine, body pains, and itching are often at their worst. Sleep disturbances include difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking and nightmares. 

Gluten and Cerebellar Ataxia
One example of specific brain injury from eating gluten is cerebellar ataxia. The cerebellum looks after the coordination and smoothing of movements so that problems here show up as movement disorders. Gluten sensitivity, with or without classical celiac disease symptoms and intestinal pathology, is a treatable cause of cerebellar ataxia. Bushara et al reported: We investigated the prevalence of abnormally high serum immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG anti-gliadin antibody titers and typical human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes in 50 patients presenting with cerebellar ataxia who were tested for molecularly characterized hereditary ataxias. A high prevalence of gluten sensitivity was found in patients with sporadic (7/26; 27%) and autosomal dominant (9/24; 37%) ataxias, including patients with known ataxia. Patients with hereditary ataxia (including asymptomatic patients with known ataxia genotype) should be considered for screening for gluten sensitivity and gluten-free diet trials.

Read more Gluten and the brain:

Books on gluten sensitivity, celiac disease and gluten intolerance syndromes

Here is a list of some books that are available which can help in the understanding of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. Be aware, however, that the research is uncovering new information at a rapid pace and some parts of some books may be out of date. I recommend also reading on-line news letters to keep up to date, such as http://www.celiac.com/  or www.glutensensitivity.org . Also www.beyondceliac.blogspot.com and www.scdkat.com
I use Dr. Campbell-McBride’s book as a diet manual after the initial diagnosis of gluten sensitivity or celiac disease. I find people who do a specific carbohydrate diet or GAPS diet (Paleo without gluten) initially, do the best.


Books:
The Gluten Connection by Shari Lieberman PhD
Dangerous Grains by Drs. Braly and Hoggan.
The Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, neurologist and PhD in Nutrition.
Healthier Without Wheat by Dr. Stephen Waggen
The Gluten Effect by Drs. Richard and Vikki Petersen
And
Cereal Killers by Dr. Ron Hoggan-2010


To your wellness and happiness.

Celiac Disease in Northern India More Common Than Previously Believed

There is a great misconception that the incidence of celiac disease varies from one ethnic group to another, being highest in the Irish. The truth is the incidence seems to be constant between races, about 1% of the population. In my opinion celiac disease is one manifestation of gluten sensitivity and some professionals believe the incidence for gluten sensitivity is around 1 in 20.

Here is a report that shows the incidence of celiac disease in northern India is near 1%. That means that celiac disease is more common than is recognized in India, and that rates are about the same as in other parts of the world, not lower, as conventional wisdom has held.

More evidence that physicians and health care professionals and the general population need to be more suspicious that health issues may be caused by gluten sensitivity or celiac disease.


Jefferson  Adams, over at celiac.com reports:
The research team set out to accurately estimate the prevalence of celiac disease in a specific Indian community. The team gathered data using a structured questionnaire administered via door-to-door visits. The questionnaire provided socio-demographic data and basic screening for features of celiac disease, such as chronic or recurrent diarrhea, and Anemia.

For children, the questionnaire included additional factors, namely short stature (linear height below 5th percentile for age) and failure to thrive/gain weight. All test subjects with positive blood screens and 10% of screen negative individuals were called for anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody blood tests.

All those with positive blood tests were invited to undergo endoscopic biopsy. The team diagnosed celiac disease on the basis of a positive blood screens, the presence of villous atrophy and/or response to gluten free diet.The team contacted 12,573 people in all. A total of 10,488 (83.4%) (50.6% male) agreed to participate. Screening showed 5,622 (53.6%) positive results. Of those who screened positive, 2167 (38.5%) submitted to anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody blood tests. The team also tested 712 (14%) subjects who had tested negative.

The data showed an overall sero-prevalence of celiac disease was 1.44% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22 1.69) and the overall prevalence of celiac disease was 1.04% (95% CI 0.85 1.25).

Source:

• Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, March 2011 / DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1746.2010.06606.x

Read more here at celiac.com

Pneumococcal vaccine indicated if a person is celiac/gluten sensitive

A gluten free diet alone does not seem to change the rate of death in those diagnosed with celiac disease according to a report by UK researchers in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

In the last ten years there has been an increase in the numbers of people being diagnosed with celiac disease. Intuitively, one would expect this increase in diagnosis to be followed by a decrease in celiac-related deaths. The idea being that earlier diagnosis means earlier treatment with gluten-free diet, and, ideally, less associated conditions and deaths. But according to this study, there has been no change in the mortality rate.

Jeffery Adams of celiac.com reported that researcher Dr. Matthew J. Grainge, of the University of Nottingham, told Reuters Health that his team "found that people with celiac disease have a 37% increase in all-cause mortality compared with the general population."

The study published at Am J Gastroenterol; January 18, 2011.revealed a significantly increased all-cause standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of 1.37. This was higher for men (SMR, 1.86) than for women (SMR, 1.10). Study subjects had higher rates of death from cancer (SMR, 1.61) digestive (SMR, 2.19) and respiratory diseases (SMR, 1.57) compared to the general population. In all, there were 21 deaths from respiratory diseases, 11 of those from pneumonia.

According to the research team, this data supports current guidelines recommending pneumococcal vaccination for people with celiac disease.

In conclusion, the researchers note that the results may offer doctors "an opportunity to reduce mortality following pneumococcal infection by increasing the uptake of vaccination against this pathogen as vaccination rates are currently well below 50%."

I believe the problem lies in thinking that celiac disease is a gastroenterologic disorder more like a food allergy like being allergic to carrots.

In fact celiac/gluten sensitivity is an autoimme connective tissue disorder based on genetics and those with the genetics have tissues that have peptides in their structure that look like wheat. If one becomes allergic to wheat then the antibodies may attack the connective tissues. One is immunocompromised.

I treat people with celiac/gluten sensitivity with a grain free diet and a programme to identify already damaged connective tissues, damaged genetics such as MTHFR, hormone inbalances, infections, heavy metal toxicity and pre-cancers. And treat accordingly.

More research is necessary to determine if pneumococcal vaccination will, in fact lower the death rate.in persons with celiac disease. Other research with Hepatitis B vaccine has shown not all celiacs respond favourably to vaccination.

But in the mean time, it is an option while one works on strengthening the immune system.

Warning Signs of Celiac Disease

Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity can mimic many different diseases and, I have discovered through fifteen years of researching and managing patients, it is best to test everyone. In Japan and Italy they test all children before the age of 6 because they are aware of the high morbidity and mortality that comes with undiagnosed celiac/gluten sensitivity.

On Hartke is online I found an informative article on the warning signs of celiac disease and a video interview of  Dr. Peter Jo that's well worth watching. Dr. Peter Jo is a Reston, Virginia based chiropractor and certified nutritionist who is knowlegeable on the subject.

Read more about what he has to say about celiac disease, testing, the in's and out's and more at his blog.


I repeat myself when I say that  I use Dr. Kenneth Fine's lab called http://www.enterolab.com/ for testing.