Gluten Sensitivity and Schizophrenia

The epidemic of anxiety surrounding gluten-related issues is astounding. A new study might increase the panic even more among mothers-to-be as it reports an increased risk of schizophrenia in children born to gluten-sensitive mothers.

The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, evaluated the levels of antibodies to gliadin (a component of gluten) in more than 700 newborns born between 1975 and 1985. (At birth, antibodies come directly from the mother, so newborns’ levels are actually indicative of maternal antibody levels.) The same birth cohort was evaluated between 1987 and 2003 to determine if a diagnosis of nonaffective psychosis was present. The researchers discovered that the risk of schizophrenia was significantly increased for those whose levels of anti-gliadin antibodies were above the 90^th percentile.

The data are preliminary and do not claim to prove a cause-and-effect, but it provides a starting point for the study of autoimmune influences and psychoses. Schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses have been previously associated with nutritional factors and perinatal factors. Birth order, maternal bleeding, and season of birth have all been associated with schizophrenia. As early as the 1970s, wheat gluten was identified as a pathogenic factor in schizophrenia, and celiac disease (the quintessential gluten-sensitivity) has associated neurological syndromes. Whether these syndromes are due to the immune component of gluten sensitivity or the malnutrition or vitamin deficiencies that result from gluten ingestion is not clear.

For mental illnesses as significant as psychosis, this new study provides more questions than answers. Can diet influence mental health and the development of psychosis? Is autoimmunity a component of schizophrenia? Is schizophrenia preventable with a gluten-free maternal diet? Much more research is needed to clarify what factors really do influence the development of such disorders. But, until then, this study may simply add to the gluten anxiety plaguing moms and kids.

References

Hultman CM, Sparén P, Takei N, Murray RM, & Cnattingius S (1999). Prenatal and perinatal risk factors for schizophrenia, affective psychosis, and reactive psychosis of early onset: case-control study. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 318 (7181), 421-6 PMID: 9974454

Pengiran Tengah DS, Wills AJ, & Holmes GK (2002). Neurological complications of coeliac disease. Postgraduate medical journal, 78 (921), 393-8 PMID: 12151653

Singh MM, & Kay SR (1976). Wheat gluten as a pathogenic factor in schizophrenia. Science (New York, N.Y.), 191 (4225), 401-2 PMID: 1246624

Wills AJ, & Unsworth DJ (2002). The neurology of gluten sensitivity: separating the wheat from the chaff. Current opinion in neurology, 15 (5), 519-23 PMID: 12351994

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