Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2002;72:560-563
� 2002
Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
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EDITORIAL[/font]
[size=+1]Gluten sensitivity[/size]
Gluten sensitivity as a neurological illness
M Hadjivassiliou, R A Gr�newald and G A B Davies-Jones
[size=-1]Department of Neurology, The Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 2JF, UK [/size]
[size=-1]Correspondence to:
Dr M Hadjivassiliou, Department of Neurology, The Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 2JF, UK;
m.hadjivassiliou@sheffield.ac.uk
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THE NEUROLOGY OF GLUTEN SENSITIVITY
Over the past 8 years we have used antigliadin antibodies to
screen patients with neurological dysfunction of unknown aetiology.
Our original study concluded that gluten sensitivity played
an important part in neurological illness.
17[/url] The evidence was
statistical: Patients with neurological disease of unknown aetiology
were found to have a much higher prevalence of circulating antigliadin
antibodies (57%) in their blood than either healthy control
subjects (12%) or those with neurological disorders of known
aetiology (5%). Since then we have identified 131 patients with
gluten sensitivity and neurological disorders of unknown aetiology.
Table 2
shows the neurological diagnoses we have encountered.
Perhaps not surprisingly the commonest manifestations are ataxia
(also known as gluten ataxia
18
) and peripheral neuropathy.
19
http://jnnp.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/72/5/560
the full article is available at the link above