Gluten and Type 1 Diabetes – Research Breakthrough [Video]

Clarifying confusion about Gluten and Type 1 Diabetes

I wanted to elaborate on a discussion we had several months ago regarding type 1 diabetes and a gluten-free diet. There was a long commentary after I did that particular video, mostly from parents of children with type 1 diabetes. Some were upset, thinking I said all they had to do was take their child off gluten to reverse type 1 diabetes. That’s not what I said. In the video, I talked about a specific case study of a young boy. He was less than a year old when diagnosed. He was put on a gluten-free diet and never needed insulin. They followed him for about two years, and he stayed in remission. That was all I discussed in that particular video.

But the comments have continued to come in, and there seems to be some confusion. I wanted to clarify a bit more, and talk about the association between gluten and type 1 diabetes.

Case study & research

We know that celiac disease and type 1 diabetes share similar genes, so they often appear together. I’ve heard from many parents of children and adults who have had good success with gluten. Thie following case just came in yesterday, which prompted me to make this video today. I’m going to follow this with research, but just to give you an idea of what we see at the clinic:

A mom shared her 14-year-old daughter’s story. She was diagnosed in January 2012, exactly a year ago. A month later, the mom took her off gluten, and her need for insulin decreased dramatically. As of August, seven months into the gluten-free diet, she’s been completely off insulin and doing great. She wants to come to the clinic, and she said, “It gets very lonely on this road less traveled,” which I thought was well said. She thanked me for validating that a gluten-free diet has a significant impact on many diseases, including type 1 diabetes.

Gluten, type 1 diabetes, and antibodies

Let’s look at some research: this was published in the Journal of Immunology in 2012. It discussed how dietary gluten alters the balance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. With type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, and all autoimmune diseases, the body creates antibodies that start attacking a part of the body. In type 1 diabetes, it’s the beta cells of the pancreas that make insulin. Once enough of those cells are destroyed, they can no longer make insulin, and then the patient needs to take it for the rest of their lives. It’s a very serious disease, leading to blindness, limb loss due to poor circulation, kidney damage, etc.

In this particular study, they found that gluten caused an increase in pro-inflammatory chemicals, while a gluten-free diet increased anti-inflammatory chemicals. This study was done on mice, and what they found was that gluten caused a surge in pro-inflammatory chemicals, whereas a gluten-free diet reduced these chemicals and increased anti-inflammatory ones.

I hope that makes sense. This research supports the argument, so some of you need to stop yelling at me because you’ve been doing so for about six months.

More research on the connection of type 1 diabetes and gluten

Another study was conducted by Alessio Fasano at the University of Maryland Celiac Research Center. In 2005, he studied diabetic-prone rats and found they had a very leaky gut. Eighty percent of our immune system is housed in our gut, and when those antibodies leave the gut, they can attack parts of the body.

He gave these rats a drug to prevent the leaky gut, and 70% of these diabetic-prone rats did not develop diabetes… which was huge. It emphasized that gut integrity is crucial for autoimmune disease, and gluten significantly influences leaky gut.

I hope this clarifies things. I’m not saying every type 1 diabetic has celiac disease or that a gluten-free diet will absolutely help. But there’s enough research to suggest it’s worth trying a gluten-free diet to see if it helps. It’s not hard or dangerous to try, and it could potentially help avoid type 1 diabetes.

So, I think it’s worth it. Let me know your thoughts. I do love hearing from you, even when you yell at me. Until next time, I wish you very good health.