A review on the relationship between gluten and schizophrenia: Is gluten the cause?
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to evaluate the effects of gluten and celiac disease on schizophrenia onset and the efficacy of gluten-free diets in improving symptoms.
Results Summary
Some studies indicated symptom improvement in schizophrenia with gluten exclusion, but results were inconsistent across clinical, immunological, and epidemiological investigations. Increased anti-gliadin antibodies were found in schizophrenic patients without celiac disease, suggesting a potential immunological link.
Population
Schizophrenic patients, particularly those with or without celiac disease.
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
removing gluten from the diet | decrease | disease symptoms | - | significant improvement | leads to a significant improvement | #1 |
- | increase | prevalence of celiac disease | schizophrenic patients | almost two times higher | is almost two times higher | #2 |
gluten-free diet applications | decrease | symptoms associated with schizophrenia | patients | minimized | symptoms associated with schizophrenia were minimized | #3 |
- | no change | celiac disease | most schizophrenic patients with increased anti-gliadin antibodies | - | did not possess | #4 |
- | increase | anti-gliadin antibodies | most schizophrenic patients | - | increased | #5 |
INTRODUCTION: Schizophrenia is a chronic disease that possesses various clinical manifestations. It presents rather heterogeneous characteristics with respect to onset type, symptoms, and the course of the disease. Although the lifetime prevalence is as low as 1%, it can cause serious disability. Thus, it is very important to develop efficient treatment methods. In some studies, it is hypothesized that removing gluten from the diet leads to a significant improvement in disease symptoms. Epidemiological studies revealed that the prevalence of celiac disease among schizophrenic patients is almost two times higher than that of the general population. OBJECTIVE: In this review, we evaluate the effects of gluten and celiac disease on the onset of schizophrenia. Efficacy of gluten-free diet applications, antibody response against gluten, and the interaction of the brain-gut axis and the presence of common genetic points are also investigated. METHODS: Without any publication date restriction, Pubmed database searches were made for 'schizophrenia, gluten, gliadin, celiac disease, exorphin, brain-gut axis, psychiatric disorders.' The keywords and the articles about the schizophrenia-celiac disease relationship are included in our review. RESULTS: Several studies presented evidence to suggest that symptoms associated with schizophrenia were minimized when gluten was excluded from patients' diets. Immunological searches revealed that most schizophrenic patients with increased anti-gliadin antibodies did not possess celiac disease; yet, the presence of increased antibodies against gliadin can be the share point of the immunological abnormalities found in both of the diseases. DISCUSSION: There were no consistent results in the clinical, immunological, microbiological, and epidemiological studies that investigated the relationship between schizophrenia and celiac disease. This presents a need for a larger scale study to confirm the presence of this suggested correlation between schizophrenia and celiac disease. The underlying mechanisms between the two diseases should be explored.