Is Zonulin a Marker for Niacin Issues in People with Leaky Gut Syndrome, NCGS and/or Celiac disease?

[Posterboy]

To All,

I came across this Old Live Journal blog a few years ago doing research on Zonulin and/or Niacin to see if I could find a "Metabolic link" to Pellagra in Celiac disease and I never had a good opportunity or chance to use it......but thought it was research worth discussing so I thought I would start a thread about it to see what others thought about it?

https://alobar.livejournal.com/2930798.html#%2F2930798.html

Could Zonulin be the body's way to tell the body it needs more Niacin?

This researcher seems to think so and the research seems to indicate.....and I tend to agree with it/them what do others think about this?

quoting from the blog post...

"For a number of years I have mentioned some articles talking about gluten and corn protein having the effect of opening up the permeability

of the intestines WHEN (and only when) the animals were niacin deficient at the time of exposure."

And also a little lower in the blog post see this quote...

"Jon Pangborn and I have had conversations about a shift that may have occurred since he began looking at plasma amino acid profiles years ago and saw many with elevated tryptophan. I don't see elevated tryptophan that much, but I do see a lot of reports (20%) that don't have a figure for tryptophan. I think this is because it was not detected, although I WISH the labs were clearer about SAYING that instead of just leaving it blank. One reason for my suspicion that the blank field means "not detected" is that I've seen repeat tests from some children, and on other tests, they had measurable tryptophan but it was very, very

low. Regardless, tryptophan was above the mean in only about 15% of my database, and below the mean in 81% of the ones where there was a number there. That is nothing like a normal distribution! So, maybe there is something about having low niacin that suddenly makes peptides from gluten (and to some extent corn zein) become signalling molecules, and the raised level of zonulin may just be a "reasonable" response to that signal. In other words, this (Zonulin) might be a "Plan B for niacin" signal. You will see, in the first article below, they did find low plasma tryptophan in people with celiac disease and an altered low neutral amino acid to tryptophan ratio."

He was remarking about this study in Celiac children...

Entitled "Plasma precursor amino acids of central nervous system monoamines in children with coeliac disease.....American spelling Celiac disease.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1773952/#:~:text=A significantly lower ratio of plasma tryptophan to,children and was more pronounced in untreated children.

Here is the full abstract for anyone who wants to read it.

Abstract

"Some children with coeliac disease show behavioural disorders such as depression and other signs which have been correlated with reduced central monoamine metabolism. We have therefore investigated the brain availability of the monoamine precursors tryptophan and tyrosine in 15 untreated children with coeliac disease and 12 treated children with coeliac disease as well as in 12 control children. Significantly decreased plasma concentrations of tryptophan were found in untreated children (mean (SD) 13 (4) mumols/l, p less than 0.001) compared with treated children (31 (13) mumols/l), and in both groups of coeliac children when compared with control children (81 (22) mumols/l). A significantly lower ratio of plasma tryptophan to large neutral amino acids (tyrosine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, and phenylalanine) was also observed, which could indicate impaired brain availability of tryptophan in coeliac children and was more pronounced in untreated children. The impaired availability of tryptophan could produce decreased central serotonin synthesis and in turn behaviour disorders in children with coeliac disease."

I would be interested what people think.....is impaired tryptophan metabolism in children with celiac disease proof enough for you to convenience you that at least at  a "Metabolic" level Pellagra is occurring in Celiac disease going undiagnosed?

This same metabolic maker of impaired tryptophan metabolism has also been found in adult Celiac's as well!

I hope this is helpful but it is not medical advice.

Posterboy,

[Scott Adams]

It's an interesting connection, and points to niacin deficiency as a possible trigger for leaky gut, and perhaps even celiac disease in those who are genetically susceptible. 

[Dtoc]

On 7/8/2022 at 6:44 PM, Posterboy said:

To All,

I came across this Old Live Journal blog a few years ago doing research on Zonulin and/or Niacin to see if I could find a "Metabolic link" to Pellagra in Celiac disease and I never had a good opportunity or chance to use it......but thought it was research worth discussing so I thought I would start a thread about it to see what others thought about it?

https://alobar.livejournal.com/2930798.html#%2F2930798.html

Could Zonulin be the body's way to tell the body it needs more Niacin?

This researcher seems to think so and the research seems to indicate.....and I tend to agree with it/them what do others think about this?

quoting from the blog post...

"For a number of years I have mentioned some articles talking about gluten and corn protein having the effect of opening up the permeability

of the intestines WHEN (and only when) the animals were niacin deficient at the time of exposure."

And also a little lower in the blog post see this quote...

"Jon Pangborn and I have had conversations about a shift that may have occurred since he began looking at plasma amino acid profiles years ago and saw many with elevated tryptophan. I don't see elevated tryptophan that much, but I do see a lot of reports (20%) that don't have a figure for tryptophan. I think this is because it was not detected, although I WISH the labs were clearer about SAYING that instead of just leaving it blank. One reason for my suspicion that the blank field means "not detected" is that I've seen repeat tests from some children, and on other tests, they had measurable tryptophan but it was very, very

low. Regardless, tryptophan was above the mean in only about 15% of my database, and below the mean in 81% of the ones where there was a number there. That is nothing like a normal distribution! So, maybe there is something about having low niacin that suddenly makes peptides from gluten (and to some extent corn zein) become signalling molecules, and the raised level of zonulin may just be a "reasonable" response to that signal. In other words, this (Zonulin) might be a "Plan B for niacin" signal. You will see, in the first article below, they did find low plasma tryptophan in people with celiac disease and an altered low neutral amino acid to tryptophan ratio."

He was remarking about this study in Celiac children...

Entitled "Plasma precursor amino acids of central nervous system monoamines in children with coeliac disease.....American spelling Celiac disease.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1773952/#:~:text=A significantly lower ratio of plasma tryptophan to,children and was more pronounced in untreated children.

Here is the full abstract for anyone who wants to read it.

Abstract

"Some children with coeliac disease show behavioural disorders such as depression and other signs which have been correlated with reduced central monoamine metabolism. We have therefore investigated the brain availability of the monoamine precursors tryptophan and tyrosine in 15 untreated children with coeliac disease and 12 treated children with coeliac disease as well as in 12 control children. Significantly decreased plasma concentrations of tryptophan were found in untreated children (mean (SD) 13 (4) mumols/l, p less than 0.001) compared with treated children (31 (13) mumols/l), and in both groups of coeliac children when compared with control children (81 (22) mumols/l). A significantly lower ratio of plasma tryptophan to large neutral amino acids (tyrosine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, and phenylalanine) was also observed, which could indicate impaired brain availability of tryptophan in coeliac children and was more pronounced in untreated children. The impaired availability of tryptophan could produce decreased central serotonin synthesis and in turn behaviour disorders in children with coeliac disease."

I would be interested what people think.....is impaired tryptophan metabolism in children with celiac disease proof enough for you to convenience you that at least at  a "Metabolic" level Pellagra is occurring in Celiac disease going undiagnosed?

This same metabolic maker of impaired tryptophan metabolism has also been found in adult Celiac's as well!

I hope this is helpful but it is not medical advice.

Posterboy,

this is so enlightening, thank you!! I was fearful of niacin, yet once I overcame that fear, the results were/are amazing! I feel so much 'lighter' not only in my gut, but my mind and overall well being also. I wish someone had recommended this when I was kid 60 yrs ago, lol!