A strict gluten-free diet may protect against peripheral neuropathic pain associated with gluten sensitivity, according to researchers in England.
A rigidly enforced, gluten-free diet was associated with lowering the odds of peripheral neuropathic pain by 88.7%, reported Panagiotis Zis, MD, PhD, of the University of Sheffield, and colleagues in an early-release abstract from the
American Academy of Neurology annual meeting.
"We think of gluten sensitivity as an immune disease triggered by eating gluten in susceptible people," said Zis. "Ingestion of gluten causes an immune reaction that, in this case, damages nerves, which can be painful. A strict gluten-free diet removes the main factor triggering the inflammation, allowing the immune response to calm down and alleviating the neuropathic symptoms, including pain."
Gluten neuropathy is idiopathic and is the second most common neurological manifestation of gluten sensitivity after cerebellar ataxia. "
Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity are often diagnosed as the cause of a peripheral neuropathy when other causes, such as diabetes and vitamin deficiencies are excluded, and in the setting of seropositivity to gliadin antibodies," said Kourosh Rezania, MD, of the University of Chicago Medicine, who was not involved in the study.
