gluten and psoriasis

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Psoriasis Cure Now on April 8, 2010 at 2:36pm

Aside from anecdotal evidence, there is some research suggesting that as many as 1 in 6 psoriasis patients could see some improvement in their psoriasis if they eliminated all gluten from their diet (which is very hard to do--imagine never eating or drinking anything with wheat, barley or rye--but is getting easier now that many companies are entering the now-profitable gluten-free foods market).

There is also an autoimmune disease called celiac disease, triggered by gluten consumption, that affects an estimated 3 million Americans. The only current fix for this disease is a gluten-free diet. (Our favorite celiac disease nonprofit, the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, can be found here: http://www.celiaccentral.org/ .)

Some experts also believe that some small number of people who *think* they have psoriasis actually have celiac disease, one symptom of which can be skin eruptions called dermatitis herpetiformis. Check out these pictures of dermatitis herpetiformis and you can see how the two could be confused: http://images.google.com/images?q=dermatitis+herpetiformis

There is a blood test for celiac disease. If you think you might have celiac by all means get the test (and do it before trying a gluten-free diet, as taking the test after starting a gluten-free diet can mess up the test results).

Finally, there are some people who have both psoriasis and celiac disease. Some people believe this is random chance (with 3 million Americans with celiac and perhaps 7 million with psoriasis, there is going to be some overlap); others believe there is an underlying relationship in that both diseases are immune system diseases.

Good luck Irene with the gluten free diet and please keep us posted on your progress!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Irene wallace on April 8, 2010 at 4:07pm

Thank you for the information; I was diagnosed with plaque psoriasis about 10 years ago by a dermatologists. I am also a type 2 diabetic controlling my sugar with diet and exercise, so going off gluten was easy as I already eat very little bread and pasta type foods. As you mentioned there are many alternatives to choose from. I have experimented with soy flour as well as some of the gluten free products. I believe in my case it is helping more that the RX creams ever did.
Psoriasis Cure Now said:

Aside from anecdotal evidence, there is some research suggesting that as many as 1 in 6 psoriasis patients could see some improvement in their psoriasis if they eliminated all gluten from their diet (which is very hard to do--imagine never eating or drinking anything with wheat, barley or rye--but is getting easier now that many companies are entering the now-profitable gluten-free foods market).

There is also an autoimmune disease called celiac disease, triggered by gluten consumption, that affects an estimated 3 million Americans. The only current fix for this disease is a gluten-free diet. (Our favorite celiac disease nonprofit, the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, can be found here: http://www.celiaccentral.org/ .)

Some experts also believe that some small number of people who *think* they have psoriasis actually have celiac disease, one symptom of which can be skin eruptions called dermatitis herpetiformis. Check out these pictures of dermatitis herpetiformis and you can see how the two could be confused: http://images.google.com/images?q=dermatitis+herpetiformis

There is a blood test for celiac disease. If you think you might have celiac by all means get the test (and do it before trying a gluten-free diet, as taking the test after starting a gluten-free diet can mess up the test results).

Finally, there are some people who have both psoriasis and celiac disease. Some people believe this is random chance (with 3 million Americans with celiac and perhaps 7 million with psoriasis, there is going to be some overlap); others believe there is an underlying relationship in that both diseases are immune system diseases.

Good luck Irene with the gluten free diet and please keep us posted on your progress!

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion