Wheat Protein Can Trigger Severe
Headaches
dailynews.yahoo.com
Monday February 12 6:52 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - According to the results of a small new study, some people
may experience migraine headaches due to an otherwise harmless culprit: wheat.
The investigators found that limiting gluten--a protein found in wheat and other
grains--reduced symptoms of severe headache in seven out of nine patients.
The patients were all found to have a sensitivity to gluten, which results in a heightened
immune responsiveness triggered by the protein, according to the report published in the
February issue of Neurology.
Gluten sensitivity can include celiac disease, an inherited inability to digest gluten that results
in abdominal distention, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle wasting and lethargy. Other conditions
can also develop, including neurological problems or dermatitis herpetiformis--blister-like
lesions on the elbows, buttocks and knees, the report indicates. The only treatment is strict
avoidance of certain foods.
In the new study, Dr. Marios Hadjivassiliou, from the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in
Sheffield, UK, and colleagues looked at 10 patients who had a long history of headaches that
had recently worsened or became resistant to treatment. Many of the patients also had a lack
of balance or unsteadiness.
Tests showed that these patients had a sensitivity to gluten, and magnetic resonance imaging
scans suggested they had inflammation in the central nervous system.
Nine of the 10 patients tried a gluten-free diet, and seven stopped having headaches. Two
other patients had some--but not complete--success by switching to a gluten-free diet. One
patient did not follow the diet.
``If the results of the current study are confirmed, removal of the trigger factor by the early
introduction of gluten-free diet may be a promising therapeutic intervention,'' Hadjivassiliou
and colleagues write.
``Further studies of the effect of gluten-free diet are needed to confirm these preliminary
findings,'' the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: Neurology 2001;56:385-388. |
