The Connections Between Wheat, Celiac disease, Non-Celiac disease and Mental Health by Psychiatry Redefined

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Psychiatry Redefined is the work of Dr. James Greenblatt, psychiatrist, who is committed to healing mental health issues. 

He writes: "The research on the relationship between the gut and the brain continues to find startling connections and correlations. One condition not often considered as having a relationship with mental health is celiac disease. Normally, celiac disease is considered a cause of intestinal problems due to an inflammatory reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat."

And yet there are strong studies that link eating gluten when one has the condition celiac or non-celiac disease and all sorts of mental health symptoms from depression, addiction, delusions, and frank psychosis. 

Read his article here. It is a four minute read and even highlights the oft missed concept of non-celiac disease, so complicated because there are no biomarkers for this just as serious condition to celiac disease. And twice as common. 

Here is an exerpt: 

Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity

It is also worth being aware that a significant subset of patients that react to wheat do not have classic celiac disease or wheat allergy. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) has only recently been identified as a clinical diagnosis. There aren’t currently any biomarkers to identify patients with the condition. Diagnosis is based solely on improvements from a gluten-elimination diet followed by a gluten challenge.

Estimates for the incidence of NCGS in the general population range from 0.6% to 13%. Digestive symptoms often mirror the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, but mental-emotional symptoms are also prevalent, with anxiety being reported most commonly (Roszkowska 2019). Depression and brain fog may also be symptoms of NCSG, although better studies are needed to fully confirm the relationship with depression.

Conclusion

Celiac disease and NCGS can cause or contribute to mental-emotional symptoms. While testing for celiac disease can be helpful, a subset of patients that do not have celiac disease likely still react to wheat or gluten. When other options have been eliminated, NCGS should still be considered as a potential diagnosis. For a subset of patients with mental illness, gluten elimination may help to provide a reduction or elimination of symptoms.

How I diagnose celiac disease and non-celiac disease: In 2002 Dr. Farrell wrote in Lancet that there is a role for genetic testing. 

I get persons interested in finding out if they are celiac or non-celiac disease to contact www.enterolab.com     and as a minimum order the genetic tests. These include examination for genes for celiac disease and non-celiac disease. 

To your health

Dr. Barbara 

CeliacBrain (TM) is the trademark and copyright of Dr. Barbara Powell. The right of Dr. Barbara Powell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Patent and Designs Act 1988.
Note that all information on these pages is accurate to the best of our knowledge. Information from secondary sources should be double checked before being cited. Information is not meant to be medical advice. Please see your family doctor if you have concerns.

Welcome to Celiac Brain: 400% Increased Risk of Death if Celiac and Un-diagnosed

I have been studying Celiac disease and its other 
manifestation, gluten sensitivity since 1995. I have become aware of its hidden and virtually unknown consequences. And it is very common. I am a physician, practicing since 1977, and have seen the devastating effects of celiac/gluten sensitivity first hand. I have seen remarkable turnarounds of very seriously ill persons when they have been on a diet free of gluten.

This site is to spread the word of its serious and dangerous nature to those interested, whether you are a physician, other health care professional, or a person in need of more information.

I propose to bring to you the newest in scientific research, links to other reputable celiac disease/gluten sensitivity websites, and other helpful articles or news items.

The most important finding I would like to impress upon all people comes from Dr. Joseph Murray from the Mayo clinic and that is the 400% increased risk of death by age 65 in undiagnosed persons with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. This information highlights the need to get a diagnosis as early as possible to allow you to reverse the damage, if possible.

And to relax, if you don't have the genetics for celiac or gluten sensitivity. 


I push for ALL to get tested and as early in life as possible. With proper diet and treatment, one can "buy back your time!" and extend ones healthy life span by decades. See Dr. Murray's video.


400% increased risk of death by age 65 in undiagnosed celiacs
Dr.Joseph Murray and his team from the Mayo clinic reported on a small but significant study they published in 2009. Not only was there an astronomically elevated death rate, but they noticed that there has been a 400% increase in the incidence of celiac disease since 1948.

Listen to Dr. Murray::


So get tested and find out if you are one of the 40% of people that are susceptible. The best testing, in my opinion, is a genetic test found at www.enterolab.com. I don't have any financial benefit from recommending the company. I have found this testing has revolutionized my practice and my ability to help people.

If you find yourself with gluten sensitivity, go on a gluten free diet, or better yet, the Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet. This diet includes healing foods and nutrients that positively affect the main problems: the damaged bowel and the wrong microbiota, "bugs living in the bowel", malnutrition, poor immune system. 

Untreated celiac or gluten sensitivity leads to increased infections, food allergies of all kinds, epilepsy, rashes, depression, 4 times the rate cancer, inflammed intestines, and 12 times risk of autoimmune diseases like type 1 Diabetes.

To Your Health
Dr. Barbara (TM)
CeliacBrain (TM) is the trademark and copyright of Dr. Barbara Powell. The right of Dr. Barbara Powell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Patent and Designs Act 1988.
Note that all information on these pages is accurate to the best of our knowledge. Information from secondary sources should be double checked before being cited. Information is not meant to be medical advice. Please see your family doctor if you have concerns.

Celiac and Blurred Vision: Get Checked for Macular Degeneration

Thank you for reading my blog entries. I hope you find the information helpful. If you do, and if you haven't subscribed by the button on the right, I suggest you do subscribe as this will ensure you get the most recent entry automatically to your email address. I will post as often as I can. 

Celiac disease is an abnormal autoimmune disease of the connective tissues. It can be triggered any time and leads to damaged intestines and malabsorption. And over 200 medical conditions. 

The most difficult nutrients to absorb are fat soluble vitamins such as vitamin D, A, E and K. These vitamins can evaluated on testing and people with celiac commonly have low levels. Macular Degeneration has been shown in many peer reviewed research to respond to nutritional measures and to lifestyle changes. Especially to the addition to the diet of carotenoids such as lutein, and zeaxanthin: yellow fat soluble vitamins, and zinc.

Yellow absorbs blue light from our environment which is important as blue light damages the retina and reduces our ability to make melatonin (thereby interrupting good sleep). There is a high concentration of lutein and zeaxanthin in the macula of the eye which supply yellow to absorb blue light. What if one has poor absorption and poor concentrations of yellow lutein and zeaxanthin in the back of the eye. That may lead to blue light damaging the retina. And when part of the retina called the macula is damaged, there is the slow deterioration of ones central vision, the point where ones vision is most exact. Peripheral or side vision is spared, but one finds it more difficult to read, write, drive, and recognize faces. This damage might look like the deposit of drusens ( see below)  and this is called macular degeneration or sometimes referred to as ARMD.  

In the end, if you have tested positive for celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, change your diet to one  grain free, sugar free, legume free diet called GAPS, and take fat soluble vitamins and omega 3 high supplements. One may need the help of digestive enzymes as the pancreas ( also affect by the connective tissue issues) often can't make enough digestive enzymes to digest the food nor can the liver make enough bile. If in doubt get tested for markers of malnutrition, vitamin A, D, E and K levels and inflammation markers like CRP-HS. 

People with Celiac disease have higher risks of other risk factors for ARMD such as:

- higher risk of high homocysteine (from higher risk of having MTHFR variations, and low vitamin B12 from antibodies to the parietal cells of the stomach, so absorption is impaired, or low folate levels)

-higher rates of microvascular impairment and poorer circulation, in this case affecting the eyes. 

-higher rates of addiction such as smoking, and smoking is an added risk for the development of ARMD.

-higher rates of oxidative stress and free radicals because of higher rates of MTHFR variations which causes the formation of free radicals that damage.

-higher rates of inflammation from high omega 6/3 ratio (not getting and absorbing enough omega 3's), genetics, but also gluten ingestion whether by choice or accidental. Gluten free packaged foods have a higher rate of contamination, for example 40% of GF breakfast cereals are contaminated. I recommend a grain free diet. 

If you should find yourself having visual difficulties, don't wait!  Make an appointment to be  examined by a specialist in eye health. 

If you are interested in an introduction to Macular Degeneration, I found a good article written by Dr. Grossman at https://www.naturaleyecare.com/eye-conditions/macular-degeneration/

Here is an exerpt: 

Macular Degeneration (ARMD, or MD)

Blindness is not inevitable for people who have ARMD. There is a large amount of peer review research showing ARMD to be a nutritional and lifestyle responsive eye disease, meaning that you can stabilize and possibly even improve your vision with healthy lifestyle choices.

Most people with ARMD have dry macular degeneration. In dry macular degeneration tiny, yellow drusens develop. Drusens are accumulations of fatty, yellow material that form in the macula and people with ARMD have more and larger drusens than what is common with aging. They are thought to be comprised of waste proteins and lipids (oily material) that begin to accumulate due to poor circulation and waste-flushing in the eye. Antioxidants are important for the normal waste-clearing process. The drusen slowly crowd, distort, or break the cells in the macula leading to deterioration and resulting in blurred vision. Because drusen also include immune-system regulating molecules, it is thought that they are part of the immune system.3

The second type of macular degeneration is the "wet" form, (also known as choroidal neovascularization) in which new blood vessels begin to develop near the macula, causing fast and serious vision loss. Wet macular degeneration can result from progression of dry macular degeneration, left untreated, and affects about 10% of macular degeneration patients.

If AMD is found first in one eye, the other eye follows the same progression. This is because the nutrient deficiencies and other system-wide problems would exist in both eyes but manifest in one eye before the other..

...end of exerpt.

Read the whole article which covers: gender, prescription drugs linked to MD, Pathology, symptoms, causes, biochemistry and lifestyle issues. 

If you are diagnosed with macular degeneration, follow your specialists advise about lifestyle, protecting your eyes from harmful light waves and nutritional supplementation. There seems to be a roll to increase the microvascular circulation of the eye with herbs, acupuncture, laser, and microcurrent stimulation (as described in the book by Dr. Edward Kondrot). 

To your health

Dr. Barbara 

 This is thanks to Dr. Hertoghe on the subject of Longevity.

 Something to pay attention to if you are interested in healthy longevity.  Thank you for reading my blog. If you share the blog please mention that you can get the next new entry automatically to your email address if you subscribe. 

Are you ready to learn thought-provoking information?   | Did you know that men over 48 with high hostility are 10 times more likely to die, which can mean 30 years less life? | Did you know that the two greatest factors that explain why some people become centenarians are positive psychological attitudes and a low-calorie diet? | Did you know that by improving your emotions and your psychological attitudes you can live 10 to 20 years longer, while improving the diet 5 to 10 years longer?  | Did you know that men reporting high levels of worry are twice as likely to have myocardial infarction and have 50% more risk of dying from myocardial infarction ?   | Did you know that without cortisol people die within 24 hours with severe hypoglycemia and a severe drop in blood pressure?   | Did you know that testosterone therapy and even more growth hormone therapy may help to substantially live longer?   | Did you know that estrogen therapy may help women with breast cancer live considerably longer? | Did you know that maintaining optimal kidney function is a factor in long life?

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is among the most healthiest natural oils- Suzy Cohen

I believe extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is among the most healthiest natural oils you can consume. There are so many benefits of EVOO. It has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer and of stroke. I don't recommend the use of vegetable oil, rapeseed oil, canola oil or even organic canola oil. I do recommend olive oil, grape seed, avocado, tea seed and pumpkin seed oil. I am also a fan of good quality butter. 

When it comes to buying EVOO though you do have to be a wise shopper because it is hard to find real, 100% EVOO. See my article on this subject here.

Buying pure EVOO is especially important if you are trying to follow a Mediterranean diet because much of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet is from the EVOO.

To find out more about the benefits of EVOO see this exerpt from Suzy Cohen's article:

Olive Oil Reduces Cancer and Risk of Stroke

Olives are something I’m fanatic about. I’ll eat any kind, any flavor, and time of day or night! I’m obsessed with them.

Olive oil is the liquid fat which comes from the olive tree. It is extremely high in oleic acid, which is known to reduce blood pressure. It also contains a good amount of natural vitamin E, carotenoids and oleuropein. That compound has strong anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects.

Olives are fruits, and both the fruit and the oil have medicinal benefits. The main active ingredient in olive oil is oleic acid, some phenols and squalene.


Extra virgin olive oil or EVOO is sometimes referred to as cold-pressed. This type of oil is higher quality, better flavor and lower acidity than plain olive oil. When you see “extra virgin” on the label, that means something good. It means that the oil was mechanically pressed out of the olives, as opposed to using a bunch of chemicals to extract it. When the oil is squeezed and pressed from the olives mechanically, the vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids are not destroyed.


As far as the phenols go, the main ones are hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein. I give you their names so you can look up all the medical(TM) research at pubmed, and see all the incredible studies that prove pharmacological value when it comes to activities. These include:

To find out what studies have shown about the links to improved health and longevity see the rest of the article here.  What I really like about EVOO is it's link to reducing the risk of cancer and stroke. 

To Your Health

Dr. Barbara (TM)

Celiacbrain.blogspot.com (TM)

Can Blood Pressure Medicine cause Celiac Disease?

The evidence is mounting that certain BP meds do cause enteropathy. If on a blood pressure medicine one develops diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or weight loss you should be aware it may be "drug induced" celiac sprue. And by changing medicines, the problem may go away. 


Read Dr. Osborne's expose. 

To Your Health 
Dr. Barbara (TM)
CeliacBrain.blogspot.com (TM)

Cold or flu? Top Ten Natural Anti- Viral Agents, Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors

Since people with gluten sensitivity and celiac disease are considered "immuno-compromised", meaning they get infections more easily than the next person, it is a good idea to have a few tricks and tools to get over an infection. 

The most common infections are viral, like colds and flu's.

Here is a report from the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors on the top natural anti-viral agents. Use three or four of them at the same time to counter a cold or flu. And if you are not getting better or have worsening symptoms, see your doctor. 



Winter is the time of year when we seem to be particularly vulnerable to all kinds of illnesses that are caused by viruses including colds, flu and cold sores. A virus is not to be confused with bacteria, which causes infection. Viruses are tiny bits of nucleic acids that contain information and use your body’s cells to create more copies of themselves.

There are very few treatments, allopathic or natural that can kill a virus outright, as usually a virus must run its course. However the list of natural remedies here come as close to stopping a virus in its tracks as Mother Nature can get.

COLLOIDAL SILVER

Silver has been utilized as a medicine since ancient times to treat scores of ailments, including the bubonic plague.

See the rest of the article here:

To Your Health

Dr. Barbara (TM)

Celiacbrain.blogspot.com (TM)