Eating wheat triggers type 1 diabetes?

Patients with type 1 diabetes have been known to be more susceptible to another autoimmune disorder, the celiac disease, in which gluten in wheat, rye and barley triggers an immune response that damages the small intestine or gut. Now there’s evidence that the two diseases have a genetic link: they share at least seven chromosome regions.

The discovery, indicates that both diseases may be triggered by similar genetic and environmental mechanisms, such as certain foods, that cause patients' immune systems to become overactive and destroy healthy instead of infected tissue. Previous research has found that celiac disease is five to 10 times more common in people with type 1 diabetes than in the general population. These findings suggest common mechanisms are causing both celiac and type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when a person’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells in that produce the hormone insulin, which is needed to convert glucose into energy. In celiac disease, a similar attack occurs on the small intestine when sufferers eat gluten-rich grains, causing inflammation in the gut that can lead to bloating, abdominal pain, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, fatigue, anemia, headaches, weight loss and failure to thrive in children. Whereas diabetes 1 patients must inject insulin daily to make up for their deficiency, people with celiac disease can avoid damage and symptoms by sticking to a gluten-free diet.

The finding raises the question of whether eating cereal and other gluten products might trigger type 1 diabetes by altering the function of the gut and its interaction with the pancreas. Specialists says it would be premature to assume from this study that gluten is also a diabetes trigger.

Scientists fear the newspaper headlines in the popular press will be something like:‘Eating wheat will cause type 1 diabetes’.

Adapted from Scientific American Website

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