Depression and Gluten Sensitivity

Depression and Gluten Sensitivity
Many researchers have now demonstrated that gluten exposure in gluten sensitive individuals can cause depression. One good study evaluated 16 newly diagnosed gluten sensitive people and performed assessments to determine if depression was present. Compared to normal individuals, the patients with gluten sensitivity scored much higher for having depression. What is important also is that the depression was unrelated to abdominal complaints or other symptoms. This supports that the depression was not a secondary phenomenon from simply having an illness.
Another study out of Sweden assessed 42 people with known gluten sensitivity, and of this group, 8 had depression and/or anxiety. Even though the sample was small, the percent affected was 19 percent which is significantly higher than a normal population which averages 4 to 5 percent 4. The authors’ opinion based on the study was that depression may be severe in individuals with gluten sensitivity.

This is an excerpt from an upcoming book by Dr Vikki Petersen and Dr Rick Petersen on the subject of gluten intolerance. This is copyrighted material used with the authors' permission.

Help for Your Depression

L. Ron Hubbard said, "When the mind fixates wholly upon the body we have that extreme degree of introversion visible in psychotics or neurotics. No exterior world remains - there is only the body. The dwindling spiral toward oblivion is this road of greater and greater fixation upon the body."
If you are feeling depressed or just cranky, try doing the following program for two weeks and see if you don't feel better.
1. Clean up your things and get done the various little jobs you've been putting off.
2. Get into communication with friends, relatives or people you've neglected. Talk about some happy times. Avoid those people who make you feel less or who always have bad news to share.
3. Take a one hour walk every day - outside, not in a gym. Start walking away from home or wherever as early as you can. Leave your cell phone and your ipod at home. Just walk and look around and get extroverted.
4. Get a physical examination and if anything is physically wrong with you, get it fixed up. Get tested for food allergies and vitamin deficiencies.
5. Eat a good healthy diet and take some good vitamins, like B1 and C.