In my last post I wrote and quoted about the gut and brain connection.  Having been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder and allergies to gluten, soy and dairy I started looking for more information that my allergic condition could relate directly to my diagnosis of Bipolar.  I haven’t had the biopsy of my intestine to show definitively that I have Celiac disease, but just assume that I can never have gluten again.  Even if you don’t have Celiac disease you should remove gluten from your diet because it affects your brain chemistry and has a narcotic affect on your brain.  Anything that affects the body and brain affects mental health.  People didn’t develop dietarily to encompass a diet that includes grains.  We were hunter gathers up until around 10,000 years ago and didn’t cultivate wheat, etc for consumption.

Below are some excerpts that link gluten/wheat to brain chemical imbalance.  I ordered a number of books that I found while researching and hope to post more about the connection of gluten to mental illness.  Whatever affects your gut, affects your brain.  Below it is mentioned that about 1 and 100 people have Celiac Disease (CD) and that at least 1 and 10 people have gluten intolerance.  I think it is higher and that all people should remove gluten from their diets.  Whether you have Bipolar or suffer from depression removing gluten from your diet can have a positive affect.

Here is some information about Celiac disease.

http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/41/1689/celiac-disease/

Per The Celiac Disease Foundation, celiac disease is defined as follows:
“A lifelong autoimmune intestinal disorder, found in individuals who are genetically susceptible. Damage to the mucosal surface of the small intestine is caused by an immunologically toxic reaction to the ingestion of gluten and interferes with the absorption of nutrients. Celiac Disease (CD) is unique in that a specific food component, gluten, has been identified as the trigger. Gluten is the common name for the offending proteins in specific cereal grains that are harmful to persons with CD. These proteins are found in all forms of wheat (including durum, semolina, spelt, kamut, einkorn, and faro), and related grains, rye, barley and triticale and must be eliminated.”

From Celiac.com comes an easy to read definition:
“Celiac disease, also known as gluten intolerance, is a genetic disorder that affects 1 in 133 Americans. Symptoms of celiac disease can range from the classic features, such as diarrhea, weight loss, and malnutrition, to latent symptoms such as isolated nutrient deficiencies but no gastrointestinal symptoms. The disease mostly affects people of European (especially Northern European) descent, but recent studies show that it also affects Hispanic, Black and Asian populations as well. Those affected suffer damage to the villi (shortening and villous flattening) in the lamina propria and crypt regions of their intestines when they eat specific food-grain antigens (toxic amino acid sequences) that are found in wheat, rye and barley.”

“There does seem to be a quantifiable link between celiac disease and certain mental conditions, primarily autism and schizophrenia, but bipolar disorder is also mentioned. Depending on the study you come away with a “chicken or egg” feeling. Is celiac disease caused by the mental condition, or is the mental condition caused by, or aggravated by, celiac disease? Or is it not a mental condition at all, but other problems caused by the intolerance of the body to the gluten?  It is certainly true that celiac disease causes vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and even neurologic problems. Because of the damage to the lining of the small intestine, the body may not able to absorb all it’s nutritional needs. This includes the absorption of certain medications, which for us can be a huge concern.”

 A very well written and researched piece about wheat/gluten and its affects (‘The Dark Side of Wheat - New Perspectives on Celiac Disease and Wheat Intolerance’)    http://www.sott.net/articles/show/205172 where we find that wheat actually has a narcotic affect on people:

“The Roman appreciation for wheat, like our own, may have had less to do with its nutritional value as "health food" than its ability to generate a unique narcotic reaction. It may fulfill our hunger while generating a repetitive, ceaseless cycle of craving more of the same, and by doing so, enabling the surreptitious control of human behavior. Other researchers have come to similar conclusions. According to the biologists Greg Wadley & Angus Martin:

"Cereals have important qualities that differentiate them from most other drugs. They are a food source as well as a drug, and can be stored and transported easily. They are ingested in frequent small doses (not occasional large ones), and do not impede work performance in most people. A desire for the drug, even cravings or withdrawal, can be confused with hunger. These features make cereals the ideal facilitator of civilization (and may also have contributed to the long delay in recognizing their pharmacological properties)."”

http://www.celiac.com/articles/1085/1/Gluten-Causes-Brain-Disease-By-Prof-Rodney-Ford-MB-BS-M D-FRACP/Page1.html

The brain/nerve hypothesis
“"The symptoms from gluten occur through its action on the nervous system".

I propose that gluten-sensitivity is a brain condition. Each and every organ in your body has some form of brain/nerve control. I propose that gluten can injure the delicate nervous networks that control your guts functions. A malfunction will subsequently lead to all of the gut symptoms that have so well been described. In addition, gluten can also directly affect brain function, which leads to the primary neurological symptoms that are so commonly seen with gluten-sensitivity.[…]

I propose that gluten-sensitivity is a nerve disease. There is a gigantic network of nerves that controls every function that your gut is programmed to do. There are as many nerve cells in your gut as there are in your head! (about 25 billion nerve cells). I call it your tummy brain (or gut brain). Your tummy brain can be directly damaged by gluten reactions. This is the cause of so many sore tummies and bowel troubles.[…]

Reactions to gluten have recently been documented to be extremely common. About one-in-ten people (as ascertained by blood donor studies) have high levels of gluten antibodies in their blood. My clinical studies have arrived at this same high number of gluten-sensitive people. Others have data to show that it is even more prevalent.”

http://www.glutenfreedietbook.com/articles/index.php?article=21

“But CD has other symptoms apart from wind, stomach pains and constipation or diarrhea. Other signs can include depression and other psychological problems. CD sufferers also report sensations ranging from "brain fog" to extreme depression, paranoia and even hallucinations in extreme cases, occurring when they have been exposed to gluten (even in extremely small quantities). […]

Both clinical depression and the even more devastating bipolar disorder (aka manic depression) have also been linked with a similar reaction between areas of the brain called, appropriately, gliads and gliadin or its peptides in the bloodstream. As previously mentioned, CD itself is often associated with neurological disorders. In fact, the Department of Neurology, Tampere University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland reported that as many as 7% of CD patients in their care were detected because of neurological symptoms, most commonly neuropathy, memory impairment and cerebellar ataxia. "In these patient groups screening for coeliac disease with serological antibody tests helps to find patients who may suffer from this disease," they state.”

http://www.celiac.com/articles/21758/1/Gluten-Sensitivity-and-Depression/Page1.html

“After the digestive tract, the most commonly affected system to be affected by gluten is the nervous system. It is thought that depression can be caused by gluten in one of two ways.  

The first area addresses the inflammatory changes gluten can cause. A gluten sensitive individual’s immune system responds to the protein gliadin.  Unfortunately, that protein is similar in structure to other proteins present in the body, including those of the brain and nerve cells. A cross reactivity can occur whereby the immune system “confuses” proteins in the body for the protein gliadin.  This is called cellular mimicry and the result is the body attacking it’s own tissues with inflammation resulting. When inflammation happens in the brain and nervous system, a variety of symptoms can occur, including depression. Research shows us that patients with symptoms involving the nervous system suffer from digestive problems only 13% of the time.  This is significant because mainstream medicine equates gluten sensitivity almost exclusively with digestive complaints.”

http://www.restorativeremedies.com/GlutenIntolerance.aspx

“The vicious cycle of gluten intolerance is not limited to immunological and inflammatory disturbances, it also has a profound effect on various metabolic pathways and intestinal ecology.

The majority of individuals with gluten intolerance have problems with absorption of vitamins and minerals even in the absence of clinically visible inflammation in the intestinal wall. The most common problems include iron deficiency, zinc and copper deficiency, malabsorption of vitamins D and A as well as folic acid deficiency.

Changes in intestinal microflora associated with gluten intolerance result in disbacteriosis and candida (yeast) overgrowth.” […]

“Gluten intolerance can also affect cognitive processes. It has been demonstrated that gluten-derived peptides (gluteomorphin or gliadomorphin) specifically interact with certain brain cell nuclei. Furthermore, consumption of gluten can affect blood flow in the brain's frontal lobe.

The role of gluten intolerance has been hypothesized in the following cognitive and mental disorders:

• Autism
• Bipolar disorder
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• "Brain Fog"
• Schizophrenia”

 http://ehealthforum.com/health/topic25636.html  From a person that posted:

“there is a connection here. i am on a total gluten-free diet, in addition to soy and dairy. i notice that when i eat gluten, in about half a day for the next 2-3 days, my moods are unpredictable and extreme. soy brings out my irritability. as soy metabolizes, it mimics estrogen, which messes up your whole hormone process. as lithium had killed my thyroid, soy was just the poison icing on the cake. dairy makes me sluggish.

i went from on meds for close to 6 years to not having a one by changing my diet. doesn't mean it will work for you. there is a connection. maybe not for everyone.

maybe, just MAYBE bipolar is a series of symptoms brought out be (1) genetic material leading to neurochemical imbalance (2) and extreme and socially-unaccepted allergic reaction or (3) a combination thereof.

i went from close to 10 antipsychotics, antidepressents, mood stabilizers a day to maintaining my mood with this diet modification. i have never been healthier. it's been about 2 years now. maybe the reason the drugs never worked for me was because the bipolar i had stemmed more from the diet side, and if i watch the diet, then all is well.

my GP wrote me off as complaining about too many side effects. after shopping around for a new MD who didn't subscribe to the, 'mental health patients need to suck it up and stop whining so much' school, i found out i was clinically anemic, B-vitamin deficient, D-vitamin deficient, poor liver function, and low in a few other minerals/vitamins as well. after letting my digestive tract heal with avoiding gluten, i have been able to absorb nutrients from food again, and the deficiencies have cleared up. my lithium haze has lifted, the extra antidepressant weight is slowing peeling off.”

Tags: Gluten Bipolar Depression Wheat

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