Many doctors are justifiably skeptical of the popularity of gluten-free foods. Some of the people who turn to these products are a bit unclear about why they are eating a gluten-free diet; others may have unrealistic expectations for weight loss or other benefits. But there are definitely some people who do better when they avoid gluten.
Gluten Sensitivity and Migraine Headaches:
Q. When I quit eating gluten, my migraines went away. Now if there is a little bit of gluten in something I eat at a friend’s house or a restaurant, I wake up with a migraine and know I ate the wrong thing. Have you heard of this?
A. Migraine headaches are frequently a symptom of celiac disease. In this autoimmune condition, gluten (a protein in wheat, barley and rye) triggers the immune system to attack the lining of the digestive tract and other tissues in the body.
You did not say if you have been tested for celiac disease, but you might want to discuss it with your doctor. A person with a celiac condition must be even more careful about eating gluten-free food than you are. Exposure to gluten can have many serious health consequences, including an increased susceptibility for developing lymphoma.
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity:
Recent research shows that some people who don’t have celiac disease also react to gluten with symptoms like migraine headaches or digestive problems (Gut, online July 25, 2016). You can read what we have written previously about this condition here.
Prior to this research, doctors often suspected that people who reported problems with gluten had active imaginations. This research shows, however, that many such individuals have significantly elevated markers of immune system activation and of damage to the intestinal lining. These objective findings show that wheat sensitivity is not a fad.
People who feel better when following a gluten-free diet ought to have a conversation with their health care provider to see if they can be tested for immune system activation. Anyone who suspects celiac disease, however, should NOT avoid gluten prior to testing, as a gluten-free diet could make the test less reliable.
You can learn more about gluten, celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity from our Show #964. This is an hour-long interview with Alessio Fasano, MD. Dr. Fasano is director of the Center for Celiac Disease Research at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children.
You can find more information about migraines in our Guide to Headaches and Migraines.
