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  • Jefferson Adams
    Jefferson Adams

    By Jefferson Adams •

    What's the Relationship Between Celiac Disease, Gluten Sensitivity and Epilepsy?

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    Reviewed and edited by a celiac disease expert.

    Researchers report on rates of epilepsy in patients with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity and vice versa, along with characterizing the epileptic syndromes presented by these patients.

    What's the Relationship Between Celiac Disease, Gluten Sensitivity and Epilepsy? - Image: CC--Alejandro Hernandez.
    Caption: Image: CC--Alejandro Hernandez.

    Celiac.com 10/01/2018 - A team of researchers recently set out to establish the rates of epilepsy in patients with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity and vice versa and to characterize aspects of the epileptic syndromes presented by these patients.

    The research team included Thomas Julian, Marios Hadjivassiliou, and Panagiotis Zis. They are variously affiliated with the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience University of Sheffield in Sheffield, UK; and the Academic Department of Neurosciences Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Sheffield, UK. 


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    The team conducted a systematic computer-based literature search on the PubMed database, and gathered information on rates, demographics and epilepsy phenomenology. Patients with celiac disease are nearly twice as likely to have epilepsy as the general population. Celiac disease is twice as common in epilepsy patients as in the general population. Researchers still need to do more studies to assess rates of gluten sensitivity in epilepsy patients. 

    The data indicate that the prevalence of celiac disease or gluten sensitivity is higher for certain epilepsy scenarios, including childhood partial epilepsy with occipital paroxysms, adult patients with fixation off sensitivity (FOS) and those with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with hippocampal sclerosis. 

    Epilepsy in the context of gluten-related disorders is a syndrome of celiac disease, epilepsy and cerebral calcification (CEC syndrome), which is frequently described in the literature. The good news is that gluten-free diet helps to control epilepsy in 53% of cases, either reducing seizure frequency, enabling reduced doses or even termination of anti-epileptic drugs.

    Patients with epilepsy of unknown cause should receive blood tests for markers of gluten sensitivity, and may benefit from a gluten-free diet.

    Read more at: Springer.com


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  • About Me

    Jefferson Adams

    Jefferson Adams is Celiac.com's senior writer and Digital Content Director. He earned his B.A. and M.F.A. at Arizona State University, and has authored more than 2,500 articles on celiac disease. His coursework includes studies in science, scientific methodology, biology, anatomy, medicine, logic, and advanced research. He previously served as SF Health News Examiner for Examiner.com, and devised health and medical content for Sharecare.com. Jefferson has spoken about celiac disease to the media, including an appearance on the KQED radio show Forum, and is the editor of the book "Cereal Killers" by Scott Adams and Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.

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  • Related Articles

    Gryphon Myers
    Celiac.com 10/29/2012 - Celiac disease with epilepsy and cerebral calcifications, also known as CEC, is a rare form of celiac disease that is accompanied by occipital epilepsy. Past studies have suggested that the neurological symptoms could be the result of a folate deficiency, as folate levels are typically low in patients suffering from CEC. However, a recent case report indicates that as with other neurological gluten-related diseases (such as gluten ataxia), there may be some correlation between CEC and TG6 autoantibodies, indicating that the disease is autoimmune in nature.
    The case study focuses on a four year old boy who suffered from 30+ minute long complex partial seizures every two to three days. He was given antiepileptic drugs (carbamazepine, sodium valproate, levetiracetam), but these only slightly helped reduce seizure frequency. After one year, MRI and CT scans revealed bilateral occipital calcifications over parieto-occipital regions of the brain. The patient also suffered from chronic diarrhea: endoscopy and biopsy confirmed villous atrophy and patient tested positive for antibodies associated with celiac disease. His folate levels were also markedly low.
    After being placed on a gluten-free diet, the patient's symptoms, including seizures, cleared within two weeks. After the seizures had ceased, the patient was given folate supplements, and taken off antiepileptic drugs. Gluten challenge caused a relapse of all symptoms. At the time of the report, the patient had been gluten-free and seizure-free for 18 months, and showed improved behavior and reading and writing abilities.
    Because the patient responded so well to gluten-free diet treatment before being given folate supplements and all symptoms resumed during gluten challenge, it would seem that the neurological symptoms of CEC are the result of immune mechanisms rather than vitamin deficiencies or malabsorption. Most CEC patients have low folate levels; folate deficiency was previously thought to play a causative role in the disease, but this case study brings that conclusion into question. Furthermore, the patient tested positive for TG6 autoantibodies, which are associated with gluten ataxia (another gluten-related disease with neurological symptoms, which are an autoimmune response).
    More studies are required, but this case study suggests that gluten ataxia is not the only gluten-related disease with autoimmune neurological manifestations.
    Source:
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22845673
    Jefferson Adams
    Celiac.com 06/11/2014 - A new study provides strong evidence for an autoimmune cause for a significant number of epilepsy cases, and that screening autoimmune patients for epilepsy and vice versa may be helpful in making more complete diagnosis.
    The team used insurance claims data from more than 2.5 million members of a national health insurance provider to examine the relationship between epilepsy and 12 autoimmune diseases: type 1 diabetes mellitus, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, Graves' disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome, Sjögren syndrome, myasthenia gravis, and celiac disease.
    Patients with an autoimmune disease faced a nearly four-fold higher risk for epilepsy (odds ratio [OR], 3.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.6 - 4.0; P < .001). The elevated risk was consistently observed across all 12 autoimmune diseases, and was especially high in children (OR, 5.2; 95% CI, 4.1 - 6.5; P < .001).
    The data showed that 17.5% of patients with epilepsy also had an autoimmune disease. In about 70% of epilepsy patients, the autoimmune diagnosis came first. Seizures tended to occur within the first 1 to 2 years after diagnosis of an autoimmune disease.
    The results of the study prompted lead investigator Kenneth Mandl, MD, MPH, from Intelligent Health Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, to remark that health professionals “need to expand our thinking when it comes to clinical management of these conditions.”
    The research team further added that the “potential role of autoimmunity must be given due consideration in refractory epilepsy” so that they do not overlook treatable causes for epilepsy
    Source:
    JAMA Neurology, March 31, 2014.
    Jefferson Adams
    Celiac.com 10/03/2016 - It's hard for researchers to figure out the exact rate of celiac disease, in part because the disease so often presents a range of atypical symptoms. Most people with celiac disease suffer from classic gastrointestinal symptoms, but many patients may also be asymptomatic or have extra intestinal symptoms.
    A team of researchers recently set out to assess celiac disease rates in patients with epilepsy, align with determining the effect of a gluten-free diet on seizure control in these patients. The research team included Homayoon Bashiri, Darioush Afshari, Nosrat Babaei, and Mohammad R. Ghadami. They are variously affiliated with the Department of Internal Medicine, and the Sleep Disorders Research Center at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in Kermanshah, Iran.
    For their study, the team assessed patients with epilepsy in Imam Reza and Farabi Hospitals, Kermanshah, Iran. The team first screened patients screened based on results of immunoglobulin A antiendomysial (IgA) antibodies. In patients with positive screens for IgA antibodies, the team took 2–3 endoscopic small bowel biopsies from the distal duodenum to confirm celiac-related changes.
    People with celiac disease received a gluten-free diet for 5 months, during which time the researchers regularly recorded patient seizure activity. Of the 113 patients with epilepsy, the team diagnosed seven patients (6%) with celiac disease.
    After 5 months of instituting a gluten-free diet, 6 patients had their seizures completely under control, and were able to discontinue anti-epileptic drugs. In one patient, dosage of anticonvulsant drugs was cut in half, seizures were also controlled.
    These results showed that about 6% of epileptic patients were positive for celiac disease, and that these patients see significant improvement in seizure control on a gluten-free diet.
    Source:
    Adv Clin Exp Med 2016, 25, 4, 751–754
    Dr. Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.
    Celiac.com 11/10/2016 - So far, 2014 has been a challenging new year for me. I was reminded of some events that happened almost fifty years ago. Based on that reminder, I resolved to contact a former girlfriend, both to suggest that she get testing for celiac disease, and to apologize for some insensitive things I said and did when I was 17. She was a year younger than me and one grade behind me in school. She was very slender and exceedingly self-conscious about having what she called "a chest like a boy". (She may have been experiencing delayed development, as is sometimes seen in celiac disease.) Every new place we visited, she went looking for the washroom as soon as she could. Movie theatres, restaurants, libraries, everywhere we went, she found the washroom first. She even did that the first time she was at my mother's house, which occasioned an uncharitable comment from my mom.
    Pat was also troubled by some microscopic hair that was growing on her upper lip. It sounds silly now, but these things were important to her at the time. I remember telling her that nobody could see her "moustache" without a magnifying glass. Nonetheless, she put Nair on it and, for at least one day, had the brightest red upper lip I have ever seen. She said it was too sore to put makeup on, so it really drew a lot of unwanted attention. Until meeting my wife, I never knew anyone who was as honest about who she was. I regret that I didn't appreciate her as much as I should have, but that was partly due to my age.
    Time passed, way led onto way, and life happened. Forty nine years later, there I was, looking for her on Facebook and other social media. I tracked her through old phone numbers, family members, and I even searched the title on her parents' home. I was full of excitement about re-connecting with my old friend, a person with whom I had shared those last innocent days of adolescence. Our friendship had been cut short because her dad was transferred to a city more than 600 miles away, and she was annoyed with me because I had said and done some insensitive things. We never even wrote to each other. I used to talk about her with my students, explaining our mutual fascination with literature. I thought about her often, but never, until this year, considered contacting her.
    After about a month of searching, I eventually found her. Much to my dismay, I was almost a year too late. She had passed away on March 10th of 2013, at the age of 64. At the time of her death, she was in the process of being evaluated for Parkinson's disease. She was at home when she experienced her last, massive seizure, which resulted in brain death. Both of her daughters are heartbroken over Pat's sudden, unexpected passing. Already a widow, Pat had left this world before I took the time and made the effort to be in touch with her again. I was filled with sadness, disappointment, and regret when I first reached one of her daughters and confirmed that she was the person I had known. I still wonder, if I had gotten in touch a decade earlier, would she still be alive? Would a gluten-free diet have helped her? I'll never know, but the relevant literature does seem to suggest that a gluten-free diet may have helped (1, 2).
    Then, a week or so ago, I received an email from a concerned mom. Her athletic, teen-aged son was recovering from a brain concussion he had sustained. His friends who had sustained similar concussions, at other times, reported having recovered more quickly. His mom began to wonder if her son's slow recovery could be the result of his celiac disease, despite more than a decade of strict compliance with the diet. I didn't know. I could only offer the suggestions that he try daily supplementation with medium chain triglycerides, and a ketogenic diet, as they seem to have stopped my life-long tremors. I also suggested that he try avoiding dairy and soy as well, based on research I did 14 years ago for my grandson.
    This concerned mom also mentioned, "I generally find doctors are dismissive of the idea that celiac is linked to any issues outside the digestive tract, unless it's malnutrition-related, and they tend to think everything should be hunky-dory if you just follow the gluten-free diet." She went on to say that "It gets kind of old being thought of as the silly, overprotective mom."
    Neurological researchers have long known about a correlation between a variety of neurological ailments and gluten sensitivity, with or without celiac disease (3). We also know that neurological symptoms are commonly found among more than half of patients with celiac disease (4). Also, despite modern diagnostic protocols and technology, we are still seeing some overlap between celiac disease and both amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (5) and multiple sclerosis (6) as well as other neurological illnesses. For instance, the increased presence of the gene named Parkinson's disease 7 (PARK7) has been found in the duodenal mucosa of untreated children with celiac disease and may be implicated in the alteration of the permeability of their intestinal barriers (7). This further suggests an important link between gluten sensitivity and Parkinson's disease. This gene may predispose to the appearance of this most distressing disease later in life.
    Many people with celiac disease continue to experience neurological symptoms, despite compliance with a gluten-free diet. This may suggest that the neurodegenerative dynamics, once initiated by gluten ingestion, may continue, either in the absence of gluten or in response to trace amounts of gluten (10). I also started to wonder if the cellular and immune system clean-up processes that follow brain injuries might initiate some of the same damaging autoimmune processes in the brain? They might also occur in response to other dietary factors which may trigger autoimmune dynamics that mimic reactions to gluten, or maybe there is some other, unknown factor that triggers the brain damage.
    One research group on the leading edge of the investigation of gluten sensitivity in relation to neurological illnesses reports that, "Incomplete elimination of gluten from the diet may be enough to abolish gastrointestinal symptoms with recovery of the small bowel mucosa but is insufficient to arrest the state of heightened immunological responsiveness resulting in neuronal injury" (10). So, when it comes to even tiny amounts of gluten, they may be enough to perpetuate gluten induced neurological illnesses. There may also an agent in the environment that is causing a cross reaction. This area really needs more investigation, as baby boomers threaten alarmingly increased rates of all forms of dementia.
    We already know that people with celiac disease are at much greater risk of developing neurological diseases than the general population (13). These ailments range from headaches to learning disabilities to movement disorders to tic disorders, to seizures, to sensory disorders (4) and many who have non-celiac gluten sensitivity also experience a high rate of neurological disease (3). Does that also mean that young athletes with celiac disease will take longer to recover from head injuries?
    Does it also mean, given the slow acceptance of gluten as a factor in many common neurological illnesses (11) that people like my former high school flame will never be told about the neuro-protective benefits of a gluten-free diet or a ketogenic diet? Surely, resistance to the well established data showing neurological manifestations of gluten sensitivity as a scientific fact (12) is more emotional than rational. A gluten-free diet and/or a ketogenic diet should be offered to those people regardless of whether their neurologist is either resistant to, or not staying current with, his/her professional literature. But they cannot offer what they do not know or have developed some bias against. Dr. David Perlmutter has done an excellent job of getting the word out to the general public, with his recent book titled Grain Brain, but there is much more work to do.
    People who are gluten sensitive, and are therefore at greater risk of developing neurological disease, might be well advised to look carefully at the benefits of a high fat, ketogenic diet, and the benefits of supplementing with medium chain triglycerides and Omega 3 fatty acids (14). Equally, they might be well advised to avoid the pro-inflammatory omega 6 and omega 9 fatty acids, as well as limiting the amounts of polyunsaturated fats they eat, which are also pro-inflammatory 14). I find that I feel my best when I am in mild, diet-induced ketosis (about 15 mg/dl as measured in morning urine, with Ketostix, which are inexpensive and available at most drug stores). There are a number of good books that explore the fine points of a high fat, ketogenic diet. These include The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Volek and Phinney, The Ketogenic Diet by Lyle McDonald, and many others.
    Finally, when considering a gluten-free diet for neurological ailments, it is important to recognize that 20 parts per million may be far too much gluten to consume. The maximum threshold to qualify as gluten-free under the United Nations Codex Alimentarius Commission and many other regulatory agencies, including the FDA, is 20 parts per million. Without further research, especially in the field of neurology and gluten sensitivity, we will never know what, if any, levels of gluten are safe to consume.
    Regardless of the nature of your neurological ailment, whether it is Parkinson's disease, or seizures, or multiple sclerosis, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or brain cancer, or almost any other kind of cancer (15), or even if you are just slow recovering from a neurological injury, the positive results of dietary interventions might offer you a whole new lease on life.
    Sources:
    http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/770593 Currie S, Hadjivassiliou M, Clark MJ, Sanders DS, Wilkinson ID, Griffiths PD, Hoggard N. Should we be ‘nervous' about coeliac disease? Brain abnormalities in patients with coeliac disease referred for neurological opinion. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2012 Dec;83(12):1216-21. Matheson NA. Letter: Food faddism. Am J Clin Nutr. 1975 Oct;28(10):1083. Zelnik N, Pacht A, Obeid R, Lerner A. Range of neurologic disorders in patients with celiac disease. Pediatrics. 2004 Jun;113(6):1672-6. Brown KJ, Jewells V, Herfarth H, Castillo M, White matter lesions suggestive of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis attributed to celiac disease. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2010 May;31(5):880-1 Batur-Caglayan HZ, Irkec C, Yildirim-Capraz I, Atalay-Akyurek N, Dumlu S. A case of multiple sclerosis and celiac disease. Case Rep Neurol Med. 2013;2013:576921. Vörös P, Sziksz E, Himer L, Onody A, Pap D, Frivolt K, Szebeni B, Lippai R, GyÅ‘rffy H, Fekete A, Brandt F, Molnár K, Veres G, Arató A, Tulassay T, Vannay A. Expression of PARK7 is increased in celiac disease. Virchows Arch. 2013 Sep;463(3):401-8. Hadjivassiliou M, Grünewald RA, Lawden M, Davies-Jones GA, Powell T, Smith CM. Headache and CNS white matter abnormalities associated with gluten sensitivity. Neurology. 2001 Feb 13;56(3):385-8. Hadjivassiliou M, Sanders DS, Grünewald RA, Woodroofe N, Boscolo S, Aeschlimann D. Gluten sensitivity: from gut to brain. Lancet Neurol. 2010 Mar;9(3):318-30 Hadjivassiliou M, Grünewald RA, Davies-Jones GA. Gluten sensitivity as a neurological illness. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2002 May;72(5):560-3. Tengah P, AJ Wills. Questions and Answers About the Neurology of Gluten Sensitivity. Pract Neurol 2003;3:354-357 Hadjivassiliou M, Grünewald R. The Neurology of Gluten Sensitivity: science Vs conviction. Pract Neurol 2004;3:4, 124-126. Hadjivassiliou M, Grünewald R. Gluten sensitivity as a neurological illness. Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. May 2002; 72(5): 560–563. http://www.omegascience.org/product_ingredients/coconut_oil.aspx Paoli A, Rubini A, Volek JS, Grimaldi KA. Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2013 Aug;67(8):789-96

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