Gluten Intolerance Can Develop with Age

I received this email earlier today (the blanks you see are to preserve her anonymity):

“We corresponded a few months back when you were kind enough to answer a question about gluten for my final paper at _______ College.  I have since finished that program and am enrolled at the Institute of _________.  Since the 1st, I have led some friends in a modified cleanse that was simply avoidance of alcohol, sugar, caffeine, dairy, gluten.  I have tried omitting gluten before for a few weeks and never noticed anything, so I went into this experience expecting the same outcome, no reaction to gluten.  Well, I have had bread twice over the course of the two weeks.  The first time I thought my reaction was a fluke, the second time, I cannot deny what happened.  I came home and went right to bed.  I slept for nearly two hours.  Generally, I am not a napper.  Also, I have been eating enough (I am a chef), getting fresh air and exercising, there should be no reason for this unexplained exhaustion.”

“Anyway, I know you probably hear these stories every day.  I am going to introduce gluten into my diet once more (on a day when I have the time to nap) to see if I experience the same result, but I wanted to share my experience with you.”

While I don’t know her exact age, she is a recent college graduate and is now enrolled in a graduate program for nutrition, so we can assume mid- twenties. There are two points I’d like to discuss regarding her experience.

First, is it a “fluke” that she seems to be reacting to gluten when she hadn’t on prior challenges? 

Second, is it odd that her symptom was severe fatigue rather than a digestive complaint?

My answer to both questions is “no” but let’s look at why.

Research from 2010 shows us that celiac disease increases with age almost 4-fold.  I am of the opinion that such an increase is seen with gluten sensitivity as well.  The presence of gluten in the diet along with a genetic predisposition to react to it is seemingly not enough to incite celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.  We require a third component, a sub optimally functioning small intestine.  This malfunction is thought to stem from a poor balance of the 60 trillion healthy bacteria (probiotics) that reside in the small intestine.  This amazing population of bacteria appears to have the ability to turn on and off gene expression.  When they are happy and healthy then can keep a gluten intolerant gene turned off, but when they are no longer functioning optimally, bad genes such as those that cause celiac disease, can be turned on and the individual “suddenly” becomes gluten intolerant.

Is there a continuum of more and more compromised health the longer one is gluten intolerant?  Yes there is.  So while our young lady who wrote the e-mail is astute enough to notice that she becomes exhausted when she challenges gluten, what would next develop symptom-wise if she ignored this response from her body?  Remember that this woman is being trained in the field of nutrition so her awareness is already quite high.  A typical person might very well have made some other excuse for needing a nap and missed the association with gluten.  In fact, that’s one of the major services we provide our nutrition patients – helping them to see the cause and effect relationship between how they feel and what they’ve eaten or done in their life. E.g. more sleep, more exercise, less caffeine, etc.

The takeaway here is that it’s a good idea to be checked for a gluten intolerance, especially if there’s anything non-optimal about your health.  If you’re feeling well now and gluten isn’t a problem, it could be several years from now, especially if your health is less ideal.  This is particularly true if you have any celiac, autoimmune diseases, or cancer in your family tree.

Let’s look at the second point.  Her symptom of exhaustion to the point of needing to sleep for two hours can definitely be attributed to a nervous system reaction to gluten.  The nervous system is often the first system to respond to gluten, even before the digestive system.  While research makes this point clearly, many people are still stuck with the idea that if you are eating something your body doesn’t care for, it will respond through the digestive tract.  It’s a concept that makes intuitive sense; it just so happens that it’s untrue.

Evaluate your symptoms.  Don’t put up with feeling poorly.  If you’ve done lab tests in the past that were negative it doesn’t preclude you from either doing them again or doing a 30 day gluten-free challenge.  I would love it if you would avoid dairy as much as possible too, but I won’t force the point!

We are learning so much about how gluten affects the body and the fact that it can create damage in a body that, when younger, seemed to tolerate it well, is undisputed at this point. I promise you that feeling healthy and energetic beats out the best gluten-containing food you ever ate!  Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Let me know if I can be of any further assistance. HealthNOW is a destination clinic and we see patients from all over the country as well as internationally. If you want to improve your health, consider calling us for a free health analysis - call 408-733-0400. 

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 and Celiac Forum 2010 DVD

In this second Gluten Sensitivity & Celiac Forum, four experts share their personal expertise in the rapidly evolving field of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

If you are new to this area or if you have been gluten-free for years, the data that is presented will be sure to inform and perhaps astound you. From decreasing your risk of autoimmune disease and normalizing hormones, to improving neurological problems and enhancing life expectancy, these experts will enlighten you on the most recent advancements in the field.

Each of the four presentations covers a different aspect of health, lifestyle and testing methods in an easy to understand, entertaining format that includes visuals of all powerpoint slides.

This years speakers included Cynthia Kupper, R.D., founder of the Gluten Intoloerance Group, Dr. Rodney Ford, M.D., F.R.A.C.P., Professor of Pediatrics, Dr. Vikki Petersen, D.C., C.C.N., Co-Author of the book "The Gluten Effect" and Dr. Thomas O'Bryan, D.C., C.C.N., Internationally recognized speaker & workshop leader.

The DVD is 4 hours long so you are getting two DVDs for the price of one. The cost is $19.95.

To order your copy please email us at HealthNOW Medical.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN

Founder of HealthNOW Medical Center

Co-author of the bestselling “The Gluten Effect”

Keeping it simple - The truths about gluten sensitivity

Sometimes it’s good to go back to basics.  There are certain “truths” when it comes to gluten that truly cannot be overstated.

1. We, as humans, cannot properly digest the protein gluten.  Does that mean no one?  Yes.  Does that mean that no one should be eating it? Probably.  Does that mean that every human is gluten intolerant?  I don’t know about that one, but I am suspicious that may very well be the case.  Imagine if in 100 years humans look back at this time period when we “thought” eating wheat was good for us as a time when we were greatly misinformed.  Wouldn’t that be interesting?
2. For a significant part of the population eating any amount of gluten can be likened to consuming a poison.  The damage may occur more slowly but occur it does.
3. Gluten seems to be an underlying root cause of autoimmune disease.  While there is much in the research about this, clinically we too see it time after time with our patients and their families.  What is most interesting with autoimmune is that the disease that affects one family member can be different from other members.  Point in fact the patient I just saw is gluten sensitive.  Her daughter has thyroid disease, she has osteoporosis, her sister has an autoimmune nervous system disease and her mother had dementia.  Another gluten sensitive patient has arthritis, diabetes and osteoporosis in her family tree. Autoimmune disease is a definite red flag that should cause an individual to evaluate the possible role that gluten is contributing.
4. While we now know that celiac disease incidence (and likely gluten sensitive incidence as well) increases with age, many children are being negatively affected by gluten.  If all pediatricians and parents knew the signs of celiac and gluten sensitivity we could prevent a lot of health problems in our next generation.
5. You know the expression “it takes a village”?  I believe that is highly accurate when it comes to successfully avoiding gluten. I’m constantly giving patients good ideas of how to get through life gluten-free.  After almost 20 years of doing this I should have many good ideas!  But my ideas and helpful hints are not enough.  Individuals need to have support.  Whether it’s a formal support group or a website or helping others whom you know discover that they too are gluten intolerant, working to have people around you who understand why you eat and live the way you do is critical.  Here at my clinic we are launching a support group next month for patients and non-patients alike.  I’m also launching a new website in the near future that will have many more tools to support those leading or needing to lead a gluten-free life.

I’m very, very excited about the New Year.  There are so many exciting new things on the horizon including new lab tests, new educational tools and new research findings.

Please do let me know what I can do to make your journey easier.  I am here to help. 

HealthNOW is a destination clinic and we see patients from all over the country as well as internationally. If you want to improve your health consider calling us for a free health analysis - call 408-733-0400.

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 and how it may affect a developing Brain

A reader submitted a question that I wanted to answer here because it brings up two incredibly important issues. First is the question of gluten “challenges” and second is the effect gluten has on the brain.

Here is her question:

“I was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue at age 12 after having suffered my entire life. After that they had me do two challenges, one at age 13 and one at age 14. Both left me sick for months. I am a person that responds to eating gluten in both physical and mental ways. When I slip I get depressed, anxious, and have mood swings. My question is if eating gluten can affect the brain and actually cause lesions, what happens when a person has undiagnosed Celiac Sprue during the time that the brain is still maturing?”

                                                                                                                                         -Catherine

You may think that because Catherine is likely an adult that her gluten “challenges” occurred more than 10+ years ago and such things wouldn’t happen today.  I wish that were true, and honestly little gets me more upset than hearing from someone that they were “made” to challenge gluten for several weeks in order to re-do a biopsy or other celiac testing procedure, only to get incredibly ill as a result.

As I’ve stated before I am not against celiac testing. But there are times when one needs to evaluate what is the greatest good. When a person has “suffered [her] entire life” prior to being diagnosed, only to remove gluten from her diet and feel vastly improved, what really is the point of doing a challenge?  And since the first challenge left her “sick for months”, what on earth could be the justification for doing another one?  It certainly wasn’t because her symptoms were subtle. She clearly states that she feels ill both physically and mentally when any gluten enters her diet.

Yet this happens often – too often.  I hear about it personally from our patients, not to mention those who write to me.  My biggest concern is that a gluten challenge will cause the body’s immune system to cross a threshold from which it cannot be brought back with the result being an autoimmune disease.  I have seen this all too often which is why you’ve heard me refer to gluten challenges and cheating as playing Russian roulette. It has been well established that untreated gluten intolerance shortens one’s life span.  It too has been well established that gluten is a frequent root cause of autoimmune disease.  I never see a good reason to do a gluten challenge in an individual who “knows” they are sensitive – it certainly violates the oath to “do no harm”.

Catherine goes on to ask a good question about how gluten may affect a developing brain. As I mentioned, the inflammatory and autoimmune effects of gluten upon the nervous system are well established.  The symptoms created are numerous and include depression, chronic headaches or migraines, ADD/ADHD, autism, developmental delay, poor memory, schizophrenia and more. The degree to which gluten affects the nervous system is likely dependent on several factors, specifically, the presence of a leaky gut, a genetic predisposition, the presence of gluten in the diet, and the health of the immune system.  Factors in utero are highly related to the health and diet of the mother, in addition to the genetics of both parents. All these variables likely go to answering the question of why some people seem to “come out of the womb” ill from gluten, while others can live many decades before it becomes a problem.

Dr David Perlmutter has and continues to do some excellent work in this area.  Just recently he was published on Huffington Post so you can read more there.

Is gluten, in its current state, truly good for anyone? With the recent research revealing that many develop celiac disease later in life, one really starts to wonder…

I hope this data is helpful.  If you'd like to improve your health, consider calling us for a free health analysis - call 408-733-0400.. We are a destination clinic and treat patients from across the country and internationally. You don't need to live local to us to receive 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!”

Is Gluten Sensitivity the Cause of PMS?

A reader wrote the following comment to an earlier blog post entitled, “Gluten and PMS, What is the Association?” It was so compelling that I have decided to write a post about it.

Here is her question:

I've been getting terrible PMS for about 7 years. Sometimes it would last 2 weeks. Recently it changed to 3 weeks and I've developed a massive fibroid even though I am slim. I read about the gluten connection to estrogen dominance and cut-out all gluten a month ago, however my PMS has not improved, in fact I think it's worse. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Kitty

First of all I’d like to say that PMS is never normal.  Common it may be, but “normal”, no.  And it is absolutely ridiculous that Kitty has had to put up with PMS for 2 and 3 weeks per month!  That is between 50 and 75% of her life – truly unnecessary considering it’s able to be fixed, naturally. I underscore “naturally” because too often such women are put on the birth control pill to “control” their symptoms.  I am opposed to this as it doesn’t get to the root cause of the problem but merely masks the issue while in fact the real problem worsens.  Other doctors may recommend inducing a short term “menopause” with drugs to give the fibroid a chance to shrink.  I don’t recommend this approach either.

When making a dietary or lifestyle change that you hope will result in a favorable change in your hormones, you must be patient. It takes at least 3 months to alter hormonal balance.  There are some lucky individuals who notice changes sooner but typically you need to give it 3 months.

Kitty also tells us that she has a “massive fibroid”.  We don’t know her age but regardless, a large fibroid speaks strongly of hormonal imbalance. Typically symptoms such as PMS, anxiety, depression, heavy periods, migraines, fibroids and fibrocystic breasts all can be interpreted as a likely deficiency of progesterone in relationship to estrogen. Changing PMS with the profile of a concomitant large fibroid is definitely not something that will occur in a month.

Progesterone is a common deficiency seen in women in this country of all ages.  Progesterone, when normalized, can almost “magically” handle the above mentioned symptoms. An added bonus is that progesterone is a glucose tolerance factor.  When its levels are normalized, sugar cravings abate and unstable blood sugar is no longer an issue. This can be a huge relief to someone being “ruled” by sugar cravings and who is unable even to eat fruit or any complex grains without getting the cravings started.

The good news is that the solution to these symptoms is not difficult. We work with women frequently in this area with excellent success.  The “fix” is often a multi-pronged one, meaning that it entails more than one step.  Let’s look at the possible steps below:

1. First is always food and Kitty has made a great start eliminating gluten.  Gluten is known to offset hormonal balance, whether it's from celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Kitty doesn’t mention if after 30 days she has noticed any improvement in her general health from removing gluten, which is something I would very much like to know. Dairy products are also a big no-no when a woman is expressing estrogen dominant symptoms. Unfortunately our cows are fed a lot of hormones (as is our beef) and that can definitely contribute to estrogen dominance.  So in addition to diagnosing any food intolerances, all sources of exogenous [coming from the outside] hormones must be removed.
2.  Adrenal gland balance.  We don’t know much about Kitty’s health history but it would be important to know about her stress load, both past and present, sleep habits, caffeine consumption, any drugs she takes, etc.  The adrenal gland is the stress gland and when it is overstressed it will make more stress hormones and less progesterone.  This is a major cause of hormonal imbalance in this country. A poor diet and food sensitivities will also stress the adrenal glands which is why step #1 is always done first. Fortunately normalizing adrenal function is not difficult nor does it involve any drugs or surgery.
3. Natural, bio-identical hormones. Once again there are many questions about Kitty’s health that are unknown to us, but it would be important, considering her large fibroid, to have some blood tests for hormonal levels.  A woman who typically has a 28 day cycle would get a blood test on day 21 of her cycle.  Her progesterone, total estrogen, DHEA and testosterone would all be measured. With Kitty’s large fibroid and horrific PMS, would could likely make the assumption of a low progesterone level, but that doesn’t tell us the rest of the values, which are equally important to know.  Depending on the woman’s age, some bio-identical hormones could be prescribed.  There’s also a substance made from broccoli that has a strong estrogen lowering effect in women whose estrogen is excessive.  But without a lab test this is impossible to determine.
4. Liver and digestive function. The top 3 points listed above are the major ones.  But it is important to ensure that the liver and digestive organs are functioning normally to ensure that hormones are being excreted effectively.  As an example, if you did all the points mentioned but the woman had constipation, you wouldn’t get the desired results.  The slow moving colon is allowing hormones that should be excreted to re conjugate and create disruption.

Personally I used to suffer from extreme PMS and migraines related to hormonal imbalance.  I also suffered from terrible menstrual cramps with my period.  When I added all those days together is was about 1/3 of my life.  Fortunately I handled the problem while still in my 20s and have had no issues since. So when I hear of such stories as Kitty’s my heart goes out to her.  But more importantly I know how to solve such problems so I am, of course, delighted to help anyone I can.

Please do know that such symptoms are never normal and truly do not need to be put up with.

I hope you find this helpful and let me know how I can be of any assistance.Our destination clinic treats patients from across the country and internationally. You don't need to live local to us to receive help. And if you would like to improve your health, consider calling us for a free health analysis - call 408-733-0400.

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!”