| Celiac disease and gluten allergy symptoms are | | | | supposed to be-- after all, they could be viruses |
| life-changing, no doubt about it. The standard | | | | or bacteria or heaven-knows-what. So the |
| western diet is filled to bursting with foods | | | | immune system does its job: it attacks them, and |
| containing gluten, making adhering to a gluten-free | | | | swarms to the site of the "infection". |
| diet both challenging and limiting, especially for | | | | Mind you, when you've accidentally scraped your |
| children. Those who have recently been diagnosed | | | | elbow on a filthy piece of metal, this is exactly |
| often ask themselves "Why me?" - a question to | | | | what you want-- thousands of angry immune cells |
| which, until recently, doctors and researchers had | | | | swarming the site, causing inflammation and |
| no good answer. | | | | attacking anything that moves until all the |
| A new study, published in September 2009, may | | | | intruders are dead. When the source of the |
| go some way towards answering that question, | | | | "infection" is your own intestinal wall, though... yeah. |
| however, and hopefully towards meaningful | | | | Not so much. All of the sudden the body is |
| research into a cure, or at least an effective | | | | attacking itself, and that's celiac disease. |
| treatment. For several years, scientists have | | | | Well, now the mysterious zonulin has been |
| suspected the existence of an unidentified protein | | | | positively identified. A group led by Dr. Alessio |
| which they called "zonulin". Zonulin, they | | | | Fasano, M.D. has discovered then zonulin is actually |
| hypothesized, caused people with celiac disease, | | | | a protein called haptoglobin 2 precursor. All |
| gluten allergies, and other food allergies to have | | | | humans, and many other animals as well, have |
| larger-than normal holes or gaps in their intestinal | | | | haptoglobin, which is part of the normal and |
| lining. | | | | natural process of inflammation. Haptoglobin 2 is a |
| Now, everyone has holes in their intestinal lining, of | | | | mutation which is thought to have occurred in |
| course; that's how digested food gets into the | | | | humans about 2 million years ago, and is now |
| bloodstream, so it can nourish the rest of the | | | | present in about 80% of the population. In itself, |
| body. In healthy people, though, the holes are so | | | | it's not a problem. Where the problem comes in, |
| minuscule that only highly digested, physically tiny | | | | according to researchers, is with the haptoglobin 2 |
| molecules can get through. The body - more | | | | precursor-- the molecule that the body originally |
| specifically, the immune system - recognize these | | | | produces, which becomes haptoglobin 2 after an |
| tiny molecules as "food", and let them pass | | | | additional chemical reaction. Haptoglobin 1 |
| through the body freely. In a normal gut, big, | | | | precursor (the old, un-mutated variety) doesn't do |
| complicated molecules like, oh, gluten, for instance, | | | | anything... except become haptoglobin 1. |
| either get chopped into tiny pieces (by chemicals | | | | Haptoglobin 2 precursor does do something else, |
| called enzymes) and pass through the intestinal | | | | unfortunately; it makes the gaps in membranes |
| wall harmlessly to be used as nourishment, or | | | | like the intestinal lining bigger. |
| they stay safely inside the intestine and get | | | | For this reason, overproduction of haptoglobin 2 |
| passed out the other end with anything else which | | | | precursor is now thought to be the root cause of |
| wasn't fully digested. | | | | not only celiac disease, but several other |
| Scientists thought that people with allergies and | | | | autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and |
| celiac disease might produce too much of this | | | | multiple sclerosis. This is exciting, because it gives |
| hypothetical protein called zonulin. The zonulin | | | | scientists something concrete on which to focus |
| would weaken their intestinal walls, causing the | | | | when it comes to searching for a cure, or a |
| gaps between cells in the intestinal lining to be too | | | | treatment-- until you know exactly what is |
| big. Now, when a good sized molecule like gluten | | | | causing the disease, it's difficult to know exactly |
| travels down the digestive tract, instead of | | | | what to treat. Now, perhaps, instead of just |
| passing harmlessly by, it can be absorbed through | | | | removing and avoiding the triggering factor |
| the intestinal wall and end up in a part of the body | | | | (gluten, in the case of celiac disease), progress |
| where it's not supposed to be. The immune | | | | can be made in correcting the underlying problem, |
| system doesn't like it when large, unfamiliar | | | | allowing celiac sufferers to lead a more normal |
| proteins are floating around where they aren't | | | | and healthy life. |