Posted by Larry Hoover on July 1, 2003, at 11:22:38
In reply to vegetarianism/mental health problems?, posted by bookgurl99 on July 1, 2003, at 10:22:43
> This discussion is interesting to me for a few reasons.
>
> First, when I was 21, I became a vegetarian. I remained so for 4 years. Two years into it, at age 23, I developed symptoms of OCD, for which I took Serzone. Two years after that, at 25, I was dx'd with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, treated, started eating meat again, and now at 27 no longer have the ocd symptoms and am not on meds.
>
> Meanwhile, a friend is developing some symptoms of psychosis (http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030617/msgs/237122.html), and this is approximately 7 months after she switched to a vegan diet. I wonder if she could be affected by an allergy to something that she commonly eats, or may be gluten intolerant and is 'filling up' on glutens much of the time?
>
> Maybe I could use suggest that she consider getting tested for these things? Even without the link, she has a very sensitive body and suffers from digestive problems.Grains are certainly a central component of a vegan diet (without a whole lot of effort expended on their exclusion). As an hypothesis for the symptoms, gluten reactivity is quite a reasonable consideration. Moreover, the fact that you describe her as "sensitive" and having digestive problems, is corroborative in itself.
Lar
P.S. Hashimoto's is a very poorly understood syndrome. Just thinking through what I seem to understand about it, it is certainly possible that dietary factors (e.g. gluten reactivity) may trigger it. Hmmmm......
It took me ten seconds to find this:
Eur J Endocrinol. 2002 Apr;146(4):479-83.
Markers of potential coeliac disease in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.Valentino R, Savastano S, Maglio M, Paparo F, Ferrara F, Dorato M, Lombardi G, Troncone R.
CNR, Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology Center (CEOS), Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Pathology, University Federico II, Naples, Italy. troncone@unina.it
OBJECTIVE: Coeliac disease (CD) is associated with autoimmune thyroid disease. Gluten sensitivity represents a spectrum, with at one end cases with severe gluten-dependent enteropathy, and at the other subjects with minor signs of deranged mucosal immune response. The aim of this paper was to look for signs of minor small bowel injury and immunohistochemical markers of gluten sensitivity in a group of patients with Hashimoto's disease. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Fourteen patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis without serological evidence of CD underwent immunohistochemical analysis of jejunal biopsies. RESULTS: In 6/14 cases (43%) an increased density of gammadelta T cell receptor bearing intra-epithelial lymphocytes was found. In 6/14 (43%) signs of mucosal T cell activation (presence of interleukin 2 (IL2) receptor (CD25) on lamina propria T cells and/or expression of human lymphocyte antigen (HLA)-DR molecules on crypt epithelial cells) were noted. In 4 out of 6 such cases, HLA haplotypes were described in association with CD. CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis present signs of 'potential' CD and of activated mucosal T cell immunity. The gluten dependence of such findings remains to be ascertained.
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:237849
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030701/msgs/238440.html