March 6, 2012  |     Photo Credit: Shutterstock     LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest Personal Health headlines via email.        

Is gluten killing us or not?

A $2 billion gluten-free food industry says yes. Science obligingly bolsters this boom with a raft of recent studies linking gluten consumption with health woes far worse than the cramps and diarrhea with which it is usually linked.

Not that cramps and diarrhea are a walk in the park. Who could be grateful for having only those? but recent studies connect the consumption of gluten — a protein found in wheat, barley and rye — with autism, schizophrenia, lymphoma, lupus, multiple sclerosis, infertility, chronic numbness, severe balance problems and more. so even if you think you’re not gluten-sensitive or that you don’t have celiac disease, the best-known gluten-triggered disorder, gluten might still be ravaging your brain.

A 2002 study affiliated with the UK’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital linked gluten consumption with the loss of brain cells in the white matter of the cerebellum.

A 2009 Duke University study followed the case of a schizophrenic woman who for decades had been assailed by hallucinatory skeletons and daily voices in her head. She had survived five suicide attempts. for this woman, the study reads, "a typical day’s diet consisted of the following: egg and cheese sandwich, diet soda, water, pimento cheese, barbequed pork, chicken salad, hamburger helper, macaroni and cheese, and potatoes."

In hopes that going gluten-free might help her, "she was instructed how to follow a dietary regimen consisting of unlimited meats and eggs, 4 ounces of hard cheese, 2 cups of salad vegetables, and 1 cup of low-carbohydrate vegetables per day" — but no grains.

Within a week, "she was feeling well, and noted an increase in energy." three weeks hence, "she was no longer hearing voices or seeing skeletons. … She had had no change in medication. the only change had been in her dietary intake."

Sans gluten, "the abrupt resolution of longstanding schizophrenic symptoms was observed."

Past studies cited decreased hospital admissions for schizophrenia in areas where bread consumption was reduced during World War II, as well as the rarity of schizophrenia on South Pacific islands where grains are scarce.

A Penn State study published just last week in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience found that diets free of both gluten and the milk protein casein improved behavioral, social and physiological symptoms among children on the autism spectrum. Citing improvements in language production, eye contact, social responsiveness, request making and attention span, the study suggests strong links between autism and the gastrointestinal tract.

But in a randomized, double-blinded 2010 University of Rochester study, autistic children on a gluten- and casein-free diet showed no improvements whatsoever.

As with most health issues, it’s impossible to find 100 percent consensus here. meanwhile, some in the media — including myself — have hailed gluten, aka seitan, aka textured vegetable protein, as God’s gift to vegetarians and vegans: a chewy, tasty, versatile, nutritious faux meat that you can make at home for pennies. Is gluten’s cheap deliciousness — and also that of most breads, cakes, cereals, pasta and crackers — worth the risk, when researchers can’t agree what that risk is, or to whom?

Wheat allergies exist, but in fewer than 1 percent of children, according to a University of Maryland study published just last month — "and most outgrow it by age five."

Celiac disease, the autoimmune disorder in which gluten-triggered antibodies flatten structures lining the intestines, leading to diarrhea, malnutrition and other potentially lethal conditions, can be diagnosed only after extensive tests entailing biopsies. Affecting one in every 133 Americans, CD has increased fourfold in the last 50 years, according to the Maryland study, and is now "being diagnosed in people as old as 70 who have eaten gluten safely all their lives."