Evaluation of images of the brain in most of the few patients with celiac disease studied anomalies that are usually most severe in the frontal areas of the brain. Improvement of these anomalies is observed on a gluten-free diet. The frontal area of the brain is important in brain function that controls attention, impulse control, organization and problem solving. Problems in this area of the brain lead to reduced attention, disorganization, delay, short-term memory problems, anxiety and depression.
Not surprisingly, these are common symptoms reported by Sprue patients, and sensitivity to shallow gluten, which are improved by the GFD. ADD, schizophrenia, problems of alcoholism and drug addiction, and depression associated with gluten in some studies, are also associated with functional fluctuations of the frontal area of the brain observed during SPECT scanning. Although there are limited reports of SPECT reflection in celiac disease, there were some very interesting results that make sense to those of us who are familiar with the effects of gluten on the brain.
The most dramatic report I found is from a recently diagnosed patient diagnosed with celiac disease in 1997 with established schizophrenia, whose symptoms and anomalous SPECT scan were canceled on a gluten-free diet. He presented an established diagnosis of schizophrenia, diarrhea and weight loss. Endomysial antibodies were positive, and villous atrophy was present during an intestinal biopsy. SPECT scans were performed before and after the gluten-free diet. Before the GFD, scanning confirmed an abnormal decrease in blood flow to the frontal lobe of the brain. When resolving the symptoms of schizophrenia GFD, bowel damage was resolved, and SPECT scanning became normal. More recently in 2004, Usai et al. reported 34 patients with celiac disease, in whom 70% had abnormal SPECT scans. Again, abnormalities were most pronounced in the frontal areas of the brain and were less distinct on a gluten-free diet.
SPECT is a single photon radiation computed tomography. This is a combined nuclear medicine of a CAT head scan performed by injecting radioisotope material that is absorbed by the brain in accordance with the bloodstream and metabolism. A scan is performed, which is a color three-dimensional representation of the metabolism or brain activity. Daniel Amen MD is one of the leading experts in the field of brain imaging SPECT. You can get a free online brain test at http://www.amenclinic.com, which can be useful. Its detailed and well-studied nutritional recommendations for the brain also deserve attention. More collaboration with neuroscientists and gastroenterologists is certainly needed to further explore the association of poor brain function and gluten. SPECT imaging technology seems to be one of the exciting tools available to us if we can get research funding. We will continue to study the connection with the intestines.
