Several recently published articles have confirmed an association between patients with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity who also have psoriasis and eczema, and that gluten sensitivity runs in the family.[1]. These studies are finally revealing something people who have chosen a gluten-free lifestyle have known for years. Skin disorders can be caused by gluten sensitivity (GS) and a strict gluten-free diet can provide relief from the symptoms of psoriasis and eczema. Gluten sensitivity is often found in several members of the same family.
Patients now have a new tool at work in the medical profession and doctors have reason to suspect that a patient may have psoriasis or eczema or when considering the patient’s family medical history.
Clinical link
Article published in British Journal of Dermatology[2] concluded that “the presence of CD-related antibodies in psoriasis patients is associated with greater disease activity.” Antibodies associated with celiac disease include anti-gliadin (AGA) antibodies. Gliadin is a wheat peptide that people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity cannot digest. It is this antibody that causes many of the symptoms of celiac disease and GS including nutrient deficiencies and gastrointestinal distress. In my practice, I look for associations between symptoms as normal. The body’s systems do not function independently of one another but instead work as a whole. Food sensitivities and other allergies naturally lead to a variety of reactions including skin disorders. More clinicians need to look at the whole patient when treating individual disorders to make connections.
Psoriasis and eczema are symptoms
For many years, those in the medical profession did not consider psoriasis or eczema to be the primary symptoms of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. Patients who had suffered from gluten sensitivity for many years often had enough other symptoms, particularly gastrointestinal symptoms, that allowed doctors to view psoriasis and eczema as being caused by celiac disease.
However, the significant association between psoriasis and gluten sensitivity is most prominent in Clinical and experimental dermatology I changed the game. In addition, an article was published in British Journal of Dermatology[3] In 2011 it was found that 16 percent of all people with psoriasis also had high levels of AGA. Physicians who treat both patients with psoriasis and eczema and who treat patients with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity should be aware of skin disorders as a symptom of the body’s inability to digest gluten. Patients may present with gastrointestinal symptoms. However, they can also have many other extraintestinal manifestations of gluten intolerance including the presence of psoriatic lesions.
Again, these studies prove that clinicians should look at their patients from a holistic perspective rather than just looking at symptoms in isolation. We must treat the whole body—internal, external, and neurological—to help patients get relief from chronic pain.
Treating a gluten-free diet
Transitioning patients with psoriasis and eczema to a gluten-free diet as a treatment for these skin disorders should be considered as a viable treatment plan in place of, or alongside, pharmacological approaches.
In another study, 33 patients who tested positive for AGA strictly adhered to a gluten-free diet for a specified period of time, did not use other drug treatments on their lesions, and almost all reported significant improvement in their skin lesions after three to six months of following the gluten-free diet.
Given the radical success of a gluten-free diet for this group of patients, clinicians should consider prescribing a gluten-free diet for patients with psoriasis and eczema as a first-line treatment for skin disorders.
family genes
Finally, a study published in World Journal of Gastroenterology The most significant risk factor for celiac disease has been found to be having a first-degree relative with celiac disease or an already identified gluten sensitivity, especially a sibling. The risk factor was at least 20 percent for people who had a first-degree relative with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease.
For many people with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease and doctors who treat their patients holistically, these findings only confirm what they’ve known for years. Gluten sensitivity runs in the family and choosing a gluten-free diet can significantly reduce the presence of psoriasis and eczema. The medical profession must consider these factors in addition to severe gastrointestinal distress, nutrient deficiency symptoms of celiac disease, and gluten sensitivity to help more people diagnose it earlier. The earlier patients start a gluten-free diet, the better they will feel and the healthier they will be.
[1] http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/12/843.asp
[2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15491433
[3] British Journal of Dermatology, Volume 142, Number 1, January 2000, pp. 44-51 (8).