{"id":13756,"date":"2023-12-08T11:27:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T11:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=13756"},"modified":"2024-01-14T13:41:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-14T13:41:27","slug":"is-gluten-sensitivity-an-expectation-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/healthcare\/is-gluten-sensitivity-an-expectation-effect","title":{"rendered":"Is Gluten Sensitivity an Expectation Effect?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many people avoid gluten in their diet because they see them as the cause for gastrointestinal and other symptoms and unwellness. Although this field receives a lot of media attention, there has been little science about mental causality up till now.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Gluten (named after \u2018glue\u2019) is what makes dough elastic and bread chewy. It also allows the bread to rise when heated by trapping gas molecules inside.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Not celiac disease<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gluten sensitivity is not the same as celiac disease. The latter is an autoimmune condition whereby the immune system attacks gluten proteins as well as natural structures in the gut wall. A less severe form of this is called \u2018gluten intolerance.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 1% of the US population suffers from celiac disease, of which most don\u2019t know it. Yet 30% avoid gluten in their diet while there is no experimental evidence that this would benefit the general population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As objective diagnostic data and specific biomarkers are lacking, the diagnosis of gluten sensitivity is usually made by eliminating other possibilities in case of symptoms that appear to be related to gluten intake. These include bloating, diarrhea, flatulence, stomach pain, weight loss, erythema, eczema, fatigue, headaches, depression, and joint and bone pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years, this has been suspected (but seldom profoundly scientifically investigated) to be a pretty psycho-somatic condition. The overlap with irritable bowel syndrome is unsettled. Moreover, gluten may worsen symptoms in other diseases such as autism, schizophrenia, and depression. More research is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One recent study on the effect of related expectancies sheds more light [*].<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was recently published in the Lancet, on 83 subjects with NCGS (with gastrointestinal symptoms within eight hours of gluten consumption). According to the authors, this is the first study ever to investigate the role of nocebo in subjects with NCGS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two distinctions were made, resulting in four groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n