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Can a Food Allergy Cause Lupus?
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| 1/20/2005 |
Healthnotes Newswire (January 20, 2005)—Some people who have been diagnosed with
systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may really be suffering from an intolerance
to the gluten in their diet, reports the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
(2004;63:1501–3). In the study, three patients who had been treated for SLE for
years no longer experienced symptoms or abnormal laboratory tests and were able
to discontinue their SLE medications after removing gluten from their
diet.
SLE is a serious and sometimes fatal autoimmune disease in which
the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues. The word “lupus” is Latin for
“wolf,” and “erythematosus” means “redness.” Together these terms refer to the
reddened lesions resembling a wolf bite that appear on the face of people with
SLE. Common manifestations of SLE include fever, weight loss, arthritis,
nervous-system problems, and, in some cases, heart and kidney damage. Drug
treatment for SLE includes prednisone (a steroid drug similar to cortisone) and
other powerful medicines that suppress the immune system. These drugs may reduce
the damage caused by SLE, but they do not cure the disease or even, in many
cases, adequately control it. In addition, drugs used to treat SLE can cause
side effects such as osteoporosis, cataracts, or increased susceptibility to
infection.
A few research studies have suggested that food allergy is a
contributing factor in some cases of SLE, but most doctors do not consider
allergy when evaluating SLE patients. The new study presents case reports of
three patients previously diagnosed with SLE who were found to have antibodies
in their blood against gliadin, a protein present in gluten-containing foods
(primarily wheat, oats, barley, and rye). Based on that finding, as well as
other tests results, the patients were advised to try a gluten-free diet, which
resulted in marked improvement in each case.
Doctors frequently equate
gluten intolerance with celiac disease, an intestinal disorder in which
ingestion of gluten leads to diarrhea, weight loss, abdominal pain, and other
problems. The authors of the new study point out, however, that gluten
sensitivity can affect many different parts of the body besides the intestines
and that some people who become ill from eating gluten do not have celiac
disease. For that reason, testing negative for celiac disease does not
necessarily rule out gluten sensitivity. The authors suggest that a blood test
for antigliadin antibodies can be used to identify gluten intolerance,
regardless of whether or not a person has celiac disease.
The results of
this study must be considered preliminary and should be confirmed by additional
research. Even if confirmed, the findings do not suggest that all, or even most,
cases of SLE are caused or aggravated by gluten or other foods. Nevertheless,
the study opens a potentially successful new approach to treating a common and
difficult-to-treat disease. Recent studies have shown that most people with
gluten intolerance (at least those with celiac disease) can safely include oats
in their diet, as long as they avoid the other three grains.
Source: http://www.numarkpharmacists.com/nw04/can_food_allergy_cause_lupus200105.htm
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