The following is an extract from the research paper on causes of psoriasis published in the British Journal of Dermatology and posted in full on this board by Stewart-H. I felt it was worthwhile to post this abridged extract just to focus on this particular issue and make it readily accessible for anyone interested in this aspect of diet.
"In coeliac disease (CD), the ingestion of gluten-containing cereals results in small bowel mucosal inflammation and villous atrophy with crypt hyperplasia. The resulting malabsorption syndrome occurs in sensitive individuals upon the consumption of wheat, rye, barley, triticale, oats, spelt and kamut. The symptoms such as diarrhoea and abdominal distension normalize after the institution of a gluten-free diet. It is assumed that gluten-sensitive enteropathy commonly manifests with minimal or no gastrointestinal symptoms and that there is an association between latent gluten sensitivity and psoriasis. In the case of 'silent' CD, antibody testing can be used to identify gluten-sensitive patients. ] Some findings indicate an elevated incidence of psoriasis in patients with CD, but the data are inconsistent. A case report of a patient with CD and psoriasis whose skin lesions improved shortly after starting a gluten-free diet seems to confirm the suggested association between CD and psoriasis. On the other hand, a gluten-free diet may improve psoriasis severity even in patients with no CD but with IgA and/or IgG AGA. AGA are more common in patients with psoriasis than in healthy persons. Michaelsson evaluated the effect of a 3-month gluten-free diet in 33 AGA-positive and six AGA-negative patients with psoriasis. They used the PASI for assessment of disease severity. Thirty patients with AGA completed the gluten-free diet period and showed a highly significant decrease in mean PASI. No improvement was found in the AGA-negative patients. AGA values were reduced after the gluten-free diet in 82% of those patients who improved. After the gluten-free diet, patients consumed their ordinary diet for 3 months. During this period, the psoriasis deteriorated in 18 of the 30 patients with AGA who had completed the gluten-free period. As CD or latent gluten sensitivity was diagnosed in only 19 patients it can be concluded that patients with psoriasis with raised AGA may improve on a gluten-free diet even if small intestinal histology seems to be normal. The study has been criticized for some shortcomings of the design such as the small control group, no randomization and the possibility that the placebo effect might have played an important role in the positive results.[56] Should the findings of the study be true, patients with latent gluten sensitivity exhibited increased bowel permeability despite normal small intestinal histology. The increased intestinal permeability may allow the passage of small numbers of microbes which can act as superantigens and may induce the appearance or exacerbation of psoriasis in predisposed subjects which could be reversed by a gluten-free diet. "
This seems to me to make it abundantly clear that some peps have a sensitivity to gluten and are very unlikely to improve their condition, at least using an alternative approach, unless they eliminate gluten from their diet. On the other hand it seems that some peps are not gluten sensitive and so must look for some other causative/contributory factor.
It also indicates that there does exist some test procedure which detects the presence of AGA in the blood and therfore a likely gluten intolerance. Does anyone have any more knowledge or information about this?.......it's not an area that I'm familiar with.
In love, Jivan
