A Must Read:

[mle-ii]

And guess what I ran across in a recent search of PubMed...

Open Original Shared Link

See my emphasis below in bold.

Microscopic colitis demonstrates a TH1 mucosal cytokine profile.Tagkalidis PP, Gibson P, Bhathal PS.

Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia.

Background and aims: Microscopic colitis is an inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology. The aim was to characterize the mucosal cytokine profile of microscopic colitis with a view to understanding its potential pathogenic mechanisms. METHODS: Mucosal biopsies taken at flexible sigmoidoscopy from 18 patients (8 lymphocytic colitis and 10 collagenous colitis) were analyzed for cytokine profile using real time RT-PCR, in comparison to those from 13 aged-matched controls with diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. Biopsies from 6 patients with histologically documented remission were available for comparative analysis. Biopsies were also taken to determine the cellular expression of cytokine and cytokine-related proteins using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Mucosal mRNA levels were 100 times greater for interferon-gamma and interleukin-15, 60 times greater for tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and 35 times greater for inducible nitric oxide synthase in microscopic colitis compared to controls. Apart from a trend for elevated levels of interleukin 10, levels of other TH2 cytokines including interleukins 2 and 4 were too low to be accurately quantified. Mucosal interferon-gamma mRNA levels correlated with the degree of diarrhoea, and returned towards normal in remission. The immunohistochemical expression of cell junction proteins, E-cadherin and ZO-1, was reduced in active disease. No differences were noted between lymphocytic and collagenous colitis for any of the above parameters. CONCLUSIONS: MC demonstrates a TH1 mucosal cytokine profile with IFN-gamma as the predominantly up-regulated cytokine, with concurrent induction of nitric oxide synthase and down-regulation of interferon-fx-related cell junction proteins. This pattern is similar to that in coeliac disease and suggests it might represent a response to a luminal antigen.

Hmmmmm...

I have Microscopic Colitis (Lymphocytic to be more precise), this was determined during a colonoscopy. The standard blood tests I took found no celiac disease, yet there appears to be a link. Whether gluten is the cause in MC/LC who knows, in my case I'd bet quite a lot on that given that I have antibodies to gluten present in stool samples.

Make of it what you will. But someone explain to me how the colon showed inflamation, I show no anti bodies for gluten in my blood, yet I show antibodies in my stool. What is this? I'd call it a gluten allergy or intolerance.

Mike

[andrew1234]

Racheal, JerseyGirl,

I think your points generally make sense and gluten intolerance would definitely be a candidate for research. Especially because there are many people on this board who claim to have seen a dramatic improvement when they went gluten free, and I think you can't ignore the experiences of so many people, even if it doesn't agree 100% with the things I learned in medical school, so what I am trying to say is that if you feel better than who am I to argue with that....

Also I realize that medical science doesn't know a 100% about the human body, probably not even 50%, so if something has not been proven yet doesn't mean it's not true.

[ravenwoodglass]

Racheal, JerseyGirl,

I think your points generally make sense and gluten intolerance would definitely be a candidate for research. Especially because there are many people on this board who claim to have seen a dramatic improvement when they went gluten free, and I think you can't ignore the experiences of so many people, even if it doesn't agree 100% with the things I learned in medical school, so what I am trying to say is that if you feel better than who am I to argue with that....

Also I realize that medical science doesn't know a 100% about the human body, probably not even 50%, so if something has not been proven yet doesn't mean it's not true.

Andrew you might want to consider looking into some of the research that has been done in Europe. You might also want to go into the NIH web site and take a look at some of their more recent findings. They are getting ready to launch a campaign to bring more celiac awareness to the doctors that are here in the US. There is a link to that site in the Publications section of the board. Also check out other celiac web sites you will find many stories similar to the ones here.

[trents]

I think Andrew might have a valid point about the "intolerance" terminology. I read a book recently on food allergies/intolerances/sensitivities. The author had a section on the terminology related to pathlogic food reactions and she assigned "gluten sensitivity" to celiac disease. I think "gluten sensitivity" is a better handle than "gluent intolerance" for the reasons Andrew suggested. Having said that, it is true that words will have whatever meaning society assigns to them, whether by formal and intentional definition or by common usage. They have no intrinsic meaning.

Steve

[Canadian Karen]

Racheal, JerseyGirl,

I think your points generally make sense and gluten intolerance would definitely be a candidate for research. Especially because there are many people on this board who claim to have seen a dramatic improvement when they went gluten free, and I think you can't ignore the experiences of so many people, even if it doesn't agree 100% with the things I learned in medical school, so what I am trying to say is that if you feel better than who am I to argue with that....

Also I realize that medical science doesn't know a 100% about the human body, probably not even 50%, so if something has not been proven yet doesn't mean it's not true.

We're just the tip of the iceberg........

I firmly believe that there are millions of people walking around with either celiac disease, gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity and haven't a clue as to why there have all these different ailments that are unexplained.....

I also firmly believe that the current knowledge of celiac disease, gluten intolerance and gluten sensitivity is also just the tip of the iceberg. This is such an untapped source of possible explanation for a myriad of ailments, and the research has only begun to uncover it. I truely believe that within the next 5 - 10 years, there will be not only an explosion of diagnoses of gluten difficulties, but an explosion of research and breakthroughs....... That's my dream, and I'm sticking to it!!!

Karen

[mle-ii]

I agree, but I'd bet we'll also add casein and soy to that list as well. We'll see.

[GravStars]

This article is completely bogus. I am afraid this guy just wants to sell the "alpha program" to as many unsuspecting people as he can. First of all he states that the prevelance of celiac disease is 1% of the population. In fact research says that it's not higher than 1/250.

"In 1998, Alessio Fasano and colleagues tested blood samples from a blood bank to develop a reference point for the prevalence of celiac disease in the United States. They found that of 2,000 samples, 1 in 250 exhibited celiac-specific antibodies. In a much larger, nationwide prevalence study also led by Fasano (in which we participated), it was determined that of 13,000 participants, the rate of celiac disease in the healthy population exceeded 1 in 200. According to these projections, about 0.7 percent of the US population has celiac disease."

from: Open Original Shared Link

0.7 is pretty close to 1%, an easy round-up. maybe not entirely accurate, but not too far off.

[rumbles]

Intolerance vs. sensitivity:

Intolerance is the correct word. Intolerance refers to an inability. Sensitivity in medicine is often used to refer to the outcome and accuracy of test standards, as in a certain test has a high sensitivity rate. It often is also used for a symptom known as light sensitivity; normally a by product of certain ailments, it is a symptom often not of major focus in the medical community.

The people that call themselves gluten intolerant share some or many of the symptoms of those diagnosed with celiac disease or DH, with symptoms alleviated by the absence of gluten in the diet. Due to either negative test results, or having not undertaken testing for various personal reasons (including cost, insurability, etc.), they lack the diagnostic label celiac disease. These people and the gluten-related issues that they deal with should not be minimalized by trying to change their status from an inability to a sensitivity.

Many of us know how hard it is to get family and friends (and sometimes people in the medical community) to understand the significance of diagnosed celiac disease; imagine how hard it would be to convince others that you have a serious condition if it were called a sensitivity. Please save the word sensitivity for tests and toothpaste.

(A message to Andrew1234: thank you for understanding.)

[trents]

Jersey girl,

You seem to be making a distinction between celiac disease and "gluten intolerance". I'm not sure I buy that. Perhaps you should explain what the difference is in your mind. I use these terms (though I prefer "gluten sensitivity" to "gluten intolerance") synonymously.

Although "sensitivity" may seem a little too milk toasty as a handle for our disease, I don't like "intolerance" because it suggests GI distress caused by an inability to break a food substance down. That is not the mechanism involved with celiac disease. I also note that the technical medical term most often used is "gluten sensitive entoropathy".

Steve