Link between Gluten and Autoimmune Disease Getting Stronger

I speak often about autoimmune disease. My fascination stems from a few different factors:

1) The increase of autoimmune diseases in our society is on a downright scary trajectory. 

2) Autoimmune disease sufferers are told "there is no cure for their disease".

3) The treatment for autoimmune is, in my opinion, barbaric and exactly the opposite of what treatment should be. 

4) Research is, more and more, supporting what I feel is the truth and most important, this new approach opens the door to diminishing why autoimmune diseases have increased so dramatically.

Gotta Look to the Gut!

If you follow my blogs or videos, you may have heard that newer research strongly correlates the health of the GI tract with susceptibility to autoimmune disease. This is exciting and promising as compared to those who state "it’s all in the genes" and "if you’re destined, there’s nothing you can do about it". I don’t know about you, but I feel better when I can take action. Being told it’s hopeless, especially when it comes to disease, can be downright depressing. 

Research has linked gluten as being a potential culprit in the weakening of the gut and it’s important resident, the human immune system. This new study, just released last month, gives further support to that premise: that gluten can be an absolute link to autoimmune disease.

New Research Points the Finger at Gluten Causing More Than Just Celiac Disease

The journal that published the paper was Hormone Research in Paediatrics The paper was entitled, "Prolactin May Be Increased in Newly Diagnosed Celiac Children and Adolescents and Decreases after 6 Months of Gluten-Free Diet”.

What’s prolactin? It’s a hormone produced predominantly in the brain (the pituitary gland to be exact) but also in the immune cells of the body...something that wasn’t known up until fairly recently and a key aspect underlying the research we’re about to discuss.

Prolactin is traditionally thought of as the hormone necessary for lactation and therefore only produced when a mom is nursing her newborn. However, that is far from its only function. It’s associated with decreased sex hormones in both men and women and has been proven to have, in fact, over 300 separate actions—that’s one busy hormone! And of course, anything that alters its production would affect the body in a vast number of ways.

A Hormone, When Elevated Signals Autoimmune Disease

What is now understood about prolactin is that it is a marker for autoimmune disease, something that wasn’t known in the past. But research now supports that a number of autoimmune conditions are associated with elevated prolactin levels—specifically rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjogren’s syndrome, type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

What they set out to prove is that the elevation of prolactin was due to the production of increased inflammatory agents in the blood (called cytokines). These particular agents that can be measured in the blood are seen in celiac patients who are not following a gluten-free diet and are decreased when the patients are following a gluten-free diet.  They therefore set out to test this hypothesis by measuring prolactin levels in newly diagnosed celiac pediatric patients. 67 pediatric patients newly diagnosed with celiac disease were compared to 39 healthy control children. As expected, prolactin levels were statistically higher in the celiac patients than in the controls. After 6 months of a strict gluten-free diet the prolactin levels decreased. The researchers felt that the decrease in the inflammatory substances in the blood due to a gluten-free diet accounted for the decrease in prolactin levels, despite the short amount of time on the gluten-free diet. The broader picture to appreciate is that prolactin, as a marker for autoimmune disease, was decreased when a gluten-free diet was initiated. Why?

It is surmised by the researchers to be due to the gluten-free diet decreasing the inflammatory agents in the blood that overstimulate the immune system and thereby can initiate the autoimmune process. In other words, gluten is seen as a direct cause of increasing the levels of the hormone prolactin and thereby increasing autoimmune tendencies. 

Gluten's Link to Autoimmune Disease Seems Concrete

The writing is on the wall as more and more researchers come to the same conclusion. Gluten is not our friend in so many ways and I think we can safely add autoimmune disease to its list of crimes.

Do You Need Help?

Are you suffering from autoimmune disease? Do you have family members with autoimmune disease and you want to prevent it? Whatever category you’re in, it would be a good idea to rule out a problem with gluten. There is zero harm in not ingesting gluten and for many the benefits are positively life-saving. 

The program we use here at HealthNOW in our medical and clinical nutrition departments is a good one. It has stabilized, slowed and evened reversed cases of autoimmune disease. And despite research only recently coming to the conclusion that gluten and gut health is an integral factor in addressing autoimmune disease, this approach has been the foundation of our treatment for well over a decade. We can help you discover if you have a problem with gluten or have a tendency towards autoimmune disease - yes we have a lab test for both! If you wish to improve your health.

Discover Your Health!

We can help you discover if you have a problem with gluten or have a tendency towards autoimmune disease - yes we have a lab test for both! If you wish to improve your health—contact us for a FREE CONSULTATION.  Call (408) 733-0400 to schedule. 

If you are not local to us, our DESTINATION CLINIC treats patients from across the country and internationally. We will help you find the underlying root cause!

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

To your good health,
Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Celiac Disease vs. Gluten Sensitivity—Are They Different?

70-80% of Medical Research is Funded by Pharmaceutical Companies

We live in a society where medical treatment efficacy is gauged by two major standards:

1) Make a diagnosis, then

2) Find the drug best suited to treat the symptoms associated with that diagnosis

Fully 70-80% of all medical research is funded by pharmaceutical companies. Where does celiac disease fit into this paradigm? Celiac disease is considered to be a rare disorder and there is no drug to treat it. You can imagine where that puts it on the hierarchy of most medical practitioners.

In addition, the “face” of celiac that most doctors are taught, is a patient presented with chronic diarrhea and severe weight loss. Is it any wonder that little emphasis is put on its diagnosis? Once the patient with severe weight loss has been ruled out for cancer and other serious diseases, then their doctor might consider celiac disease.

What’s the Difference Between Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity?

In my opinion, very little. The problem we have encountered is that celiac disease is the only manifestation of gluten sensitivity that medicine has been able to diagnose. And not very well at that—considering it takes the average celiac patient as long as 10 years before they're even given the proper diagnosis.

So what is the problem?

Is it that something considered rare is not often looked for?  Partially.

Is it because there's no drug to treat it, so there's no “easy fix”?  Partially.

Is it the fact that the only treatment for it is a dietary change—and no one really wants to “condemn” a patient to never eating wheat, rye or barley again?  Definitely!

Is Celiac Disease Just a Subset of Gluten Sensitivity?

Celiac disease is just the tip of the iceberg of the greater issue called “gluten sensitivity”. 

In this case, the tip is 1/40 of the whole iceberg—because research has been telling us that while celiac disease affects 1% of the population, gluten sensitivity’s incidence is anywhere from 7% to up to 40%. 

Estimates vary widely. But even conservative estimates take it right our of the “rare” category with higher estimates putting it squarely in the category of obesity which is considered to be an epidemic!
 
The Problem with “Diagnosis”

The “gold standard” for diagnosing celiac disease has been a positive intestinal biopsy that reveals severe degradation of the surface of the small intestine. But damage has to occur for many years before such a test is positive, not to mention all the secondary problems that have likely arisen during that time. Yet we wait and wait for that positive test during which time it's considered “perfectly good medicine” to tell a patient to continue eating gluten if their test is negative!

Is It Malpractice?

I have been saying that, within the decade, the current protocols being used to diagnose and treat celiac disease will be looked upon as malpractice. Is that too strong a statement? I don't think so. 

Do we wait for a patient to have a heart attack before we assess risk factors for cardiovascular disease? Of course not!

So why is it acceptable to allow a patient to get to the point of severe atrophy of their intestine with concomitant malabsorption, inflammation, and risk of autoimmune disease before we make a diagnosis? It isn't!

Gluten Intolerance Puts You at Risk for Many Severe Diseases

I've been working with gluten sensitive patients for around 20 years and even co-authored a book on the subject, "The Gluten Effect". What I have come to find out through research and clinical experience has taught me that we have an obligation to our society to change our procedures and strategies.

We are creating many ill patients by missing the diagnosis of gluten sensitivity.

Such things as: obesity, depression, anxiety, fatigue, migraines, IBS, and autoimmune disease (such as arthritis, lupus, diabetes, thyroid disease, and osteoporosis) are all implicated with gluten sensitivity. The list is long and growing as we learn more.

Everyone Should Be Screened

I believe everyone should be screened for gluten intolerance, which includes both celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. It involves a simple lab test which should be evaluated by an experienced clinician. The reasoning behind this is that interpretation of these tests requires some experience and it's often not a simple “yes” or “no” proposition.

Most researchers and clinicians prefer also using a blood test, although the efficacy of saliva testing has been validated. Personally, I use blood and saliva testing both for my patients, with a stool test recommended for those living too far away to come into the office.

What if the test is equivocal? What if it’s in the gray “suspicious but not confirmed” area? The TRUE gold standard test is evaluating a dietary change—it's called elimination and provocation. Eliminate gluten completely from your diet for a minimum of 30 days and see how you feel. If you notice a change, that is considered a positive test.

We are committed to spreading the word about gluten and are here to help you, your family and friends. Patients come to see us from around the country and internationally.  

Our clinic is in Sunnyvale, California. Please let us know if you want to visit. Or call to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION: (408) 733-0400.
I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,
Dr. Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN

IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of HealthNOW Medical Center

Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

A Gluten Free Diet Helps Type 1 Diabetes

It has long been understood that two autoimmune diseases, celiac disease and type 1 diabetes are related. They share common genes and the incidence of celiac disease is higher among type 1 diabetics. There have been some anecdotal reports regarding children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes who were put on a gluten-free diet soon after their diagnosis and for a period of two years or more didn’t require any insulin. The thought was that the gluten-free diet effectively halted the progression of the diabetes, at least for the duration of the study.

Studies of mice have shown that despite utilizing a genetic strain of mice that was strongly in-bred to increase the risk of type 1 diabetes, 2/3 of the mice did not develop the disease when a drug was administered to prevent leaky gut. This study was performed by Dr Alessio Fasano and his team. Dr Fasano, Director of the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, is one of the world’s acclaimed researchers in the area of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

Leaky gut is associated with the initiation and continuation of autoimmune disease and Dr Fasano’s work with these genetically predisposed mice shed a great deal of light on the power of an undamaged gut lining to effectively forestall  development of a genetic condition, in this case type 1 diabetes.

A study out of Immunology, dated August 22, 2012,  is titled “Dietary gluten alters the balance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in T cells of BALB/c mice”. The title is a mouthful but here is what the researchers out of Denmark found:

Their initial premise was based on the idea, as I mentioned above, that dietary modifications, specifically a gluten-free diet, could reduce the  risk of developing type 1 diabetes. The question they posed was, “How did this occur?”

They discovered that wheat gluten induced the production of pro-inflammatory chemicals called cytokines that would damage the intestinal lining and immune tissues of the small intestine. More importantly, a gluten-free diet didn’t just neutralize the negative effects just mentioned, but it actually caused the production of anti-inflammatory chemicals that would provide protection for the immune system and gut. So, while gluten is a known bad guy, a gluten-free diet doesn’t just take the negative away, it actually induces a positive, healing response.

Clinically, we frequently see this with patients here at HealthNOW Medical. As soon as we meet a patient with any history of autoimmune disease, we quickly test them for celiac disease and gluten sensitivity via lab tests and a 30 day elimination diet. If we discover any negative immune reaction to gluten, we begin a strict gluten-free diet.

Happily, we often see stabilization, if not reversal, of their autoimmune disease. We support the gluten-free diet with our other protocols for normalizing gut permeability (healing a leaky gut) and strengthening the immune system. Taken together this program yields excellent results.

I hope you found this information helpful If you know anyone suffering from an autoimmune disease, please show them this post. Gluten could be a component in worsening their disease while a gluten-free diet could be a positive influence in their journey to improved health.

Need Help? We're Here for You! 

If you felt as if I was describing you above, you are not alone. As I mentioned earlier, adrenal fatigue/exhaustion is almost epidemic. If you would like assistance and don’t have a clinician whom you feel can assist you, consider contacting us for a FREE Health Analysis. We are a Destination Clinic and treat patients from across the country and internationally. We would be delighted to help you as we have been doing so for over two decades.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Gluten Sensitivity Research Findings – What Went Wrong?

Every once in a while a study is released that just makes no sense. Certainly researchers know the liability of a study that goes wrong or a hypothesis that just doesn't add up once the results are tallied. That’s just part of being a researcher. But other times a study is just poorly designed and executed.

Misleading results can become a problem when it gives people the wrong idea about their condition, in this case gluten sensitivity.

The Columbia University Celiac Disease Center, headed by Dr Peter Green, presented their research at the American College of Gastroenterology meeting. Their intention was to discover the percentage of the population suffering from gluten sensitivity. Their ‘findings’ were that 0.55% of the population suffered from this condition. That would mean that about half of the number who suffer from celiac disease, have gluten sensitivity. This goes in the face of research by Dr Alessio Fasano and his team from the Maryland Center for Celiac Research, who placed that estimate at 7% - fourteen times higher than the Columbia researchers.

That’s a rather large discrepancy. Who’s right? Well, let’s look at the design of this study and see what you think.

The study was performed by having people answer questions about whether or not they had ever been diagnosed with celiac disease. If they:

1.      Had been tested for celiac disease and the test was negative, and

2.      If they chose to follow a gluten-free diet despite that negative test, then

3.      They were labeled as ‘gluten sensitive’ by this study.

Of the almost 8,000 people who participated, 49 fit the criteria and from this was derived the 0.55% prevalence estimate.

Does that sound comprehensive to you?

Do you think there are people who have determined they are gluten sensitive who never received a celiac test?

Do you think that there are likely many people who are gluten sensitive and have no idea that they are, and therefore have never been tested for anything relating to gluten?

Does it seem wrong that absolutely zero diagnostic tests were performed on these people? I would wager that many hundreds of those 8,000 individuals likely fit the gluten sensitivity diagnosis. But, once again, they remain undiagnosed.

Knowing that we are TERRIBLE at diagnosing celiac disease and that a full 95 to 97% of those suffering with the disease remain undiagnosed, does it make sense to predicate a study on only those who HAVE been tested and are found negative?

If you think the study is poor, you’re in most excellent company. Dr Alessio Fasano stated that the study was “extremely biased” and “not informative”.

Why do I bring this up? Because it concerns me that anyone hearing this study result and wondering if they are truly gluten sensitive, might abandon the idea because the condition seems so rare. It does often happen that I meet people who ‘know’ they react to gluten but go back to eating it because they have received no formal confirmation and it’s ‘easier’ to just eat it again.

It might ‘seem’ easier, but living with poor health and avoidable disease is anything BUT easy!

Don’t listen to the results of this study. Gluten sensitivity research is in its infancy. We have much to learn. But I can guarantee you this – the incidence of gluten sensitivity is NOT less than the incidence of celiac disease. And, it’s likely 10x or more. Time will tell, but I’ve been working with patients for a long time and I know how often I find it and how often it creates miraculous changes in a patient’s health status.

Do you or someone you know suffer from poor health? Would you like to find out if gluten is playing a role in your health problems? If so, consider calling us for a free health analysis (408-733-0400) – we’re here to help!

Our destination clinic treats patients from across the country and internationally. You don’t need to live locally to receive assistance.

Need Help? We're Here for You! 

If you felt as if I was describing you above, you are not alone. As I mentioned earlier, adrenal fatigue/exhaustion is almost epidemic. If you would like assistance and don’t have a clinician whom you feel can assist you, consider contacting us for a FREE Health Analysis. We are a Destination Clinic and treat patients from across the country and internationally. We would be delighted to help you as we have been doing so for over two decades.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

New Book on Gluten Intolerance Released!

I am very happy to announce the release of my e-Book entitled: "Gluten Intolerance - What You Don't Know May be Killing You".

Get Your Free Copy

The book is available free of charge to all new members of our HealthNOW website beginning today. Simply go to our home page here and become a member. Then follow the instructions for downloading the e-Book and enjoy!

This 20 page e-Book is easy to read and full of vital information for those who are gluten intolerant or suspect they may be. Some of the sections include:

• Vital facts about gluten intolerance

• A 'Self Test' to help you determine if gluten intolerance is affecting your health

• What you can and can't eat on a gluten free diet (including some little known data)

• What is a leaky gut and how to heal it

• The secondary effects of gluten that can cause continued ill health despite being gluten-free

I Don't Want You To Be a Statistic

I have written this book for you, your friends and family.  The sad facts are that we only diagnose 5 out of every 100 individuals suffering from celiac disease. And those wait an average of 10 years before receiving a diagnosis.

Those suffering with gluten sensitivity have it even worse. The most conservative estimate puts gluten sensitivity incidence at 10 times that of celiac disease. Considering that celiac is the most common life-long disorder in the US and Europe, that makes gluten sensitivity extremely common. But do we diagnose it efficiently?  Far from it. It is likely that 98% of those suffering from gluten sensitivity remain undiagnosed and suffering... needlessly.

If you have friends or family whom you think would enjoy the new book, please refer them to our website (www.healthnowmedical.com) where they too can become a member and download it. Membership has its privileges and we will continue to provide special benefits that you will be alerted to as they are made available.

Tell Me What You Think

Please give me your feedback and comments once you have read the book. I very much would like to hear back from you.

Here at HealthNOW we are dedicated to improving health by diagnosing and treating the underlying root cause that is creating the symptoms. All too often the diet, and specifically gluten intolerance, has a contributing, though unknown, role in many problems. We are committed to increasing awareness and raising understanding of gluten intolerance and all its many manifestations in the human body - there are over 300!

We created our Destination Clinic for that exact purpose and regularly treat patients and their families from across the country and internationally.  We are truly here to help.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

CNN Poll Ranks Gluten-free Diet First

This data comes from the Celiac Central Quarterly, a newsletter of the NFCA (National Foundation for Celiac Awareness).

2011 is going to be another big year for gluten intolerance (celiac and gluten sensitivity both). I personally have big plans to raise awareness and I was delighted to see the results of a recent lunchtime poll that CNN conducted.

Due to increased public attention and news coverage about gluten, CNN conducted a poll on the gluten-free community utilizing the following question: “Do you or a family member adhere to a diet that’s been prescribed by a health care professional?” They were interested perceptions about a diet and any medical need behind adopting a certain diet.  As you may recall CNN had a recent spot about gluten where they insinuated that it was a “fad” and that people ate gluten-free because they “wanted” to more than they “needed” to. 

More than 12% of the respondents selected a gluten-free diet, placing it first among all the diets included. (Other diet options were free of various ingredients such as sugar, nuts, shellfish and sodium.) If you think the percentage should have been higher, let me lend some perspective.  It wasn’t until I started writing in this area and getting responses from people around the world that I started to appreciate how difficult most people find it to have their doctors do any testing for gluten intolerance.  And I don’t need to remind you the problem of utilizing insensitive tests or tests that only measure severe intestinal damage associated with celiac disease.  We are unfortunately still very much ensconced in a medical community that thinks a gluten problem means celiac disease, that celiac is rare, and that all celiac have severe digestive symptoms.

Yes, that’s the bad news, but the research is proving that gluten problems are anything BUT a fad and I truly believe that the truth will prevail.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”