Posts Tagged ‘epilepsy’

There is a broad range of neurologic disorders in children with gluten sensitivity

Monday, July 26th, 2010

This paper recently published in the journal Pediatrics draws attention to our concern for the non-celiac manifestations of gluten sensitivity, especially the neurological dimension. The authors note importantly that:

“During the past 2 decades, celiac disease (CD) has been recognized as a multisystem autoimmune disorder. A growing body of distinct neurologic conditions such as cerebellar ataxia, epilepsy, myoclonic ataxia, chronic neuropathies, and dementia have been reported, mainly in middle-aged adults…The aim of the present study is to look for a broader spectrum of neurologic disorders in CD patients, most of them children or young adults.”

They found a much greater prevalence of neurological disorders in children with CD compared to normal controls: 51.4% to 19.9%, including hypotonia, developmental delay, learning disorders and ADHD, headache, and cerebellar ataxia.

The authors conclude:

“This study suggests that the variability of neurologic disorders that occur in CD is broader than previously reported and includes “softer” and more common neurologic disorders, such as chronic headache, developmental delay, hypotonia, and learning disorders or ADHD.”

Bear in mind that we are equally concerned with the neurologic manifestations of gluten sensitivity in the absence of celiac disease.

Bookmark and Share

Epilepsy, inflammation and the onset of seizures

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Nature MedicineEpileptic seizures have been likened to a wildfire of excitation spreading through the brain. It will not surprise readers of these posts that two papers just published in the journal Nature Medicine describe a key role for inflammation in the onset of seizures. The first paper begins with a salient observation:

Brain inflammation is a major factor in epilepsy, but the impact of specific inflammatory mediators on neuronal excitability is incompletely understood.”

They proceed to describe how they…

“…discovered a proconvulsant pathway involving high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) release from neurons and glia and its interaction with Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a key receptor of innate immunity.”

The conclude by noting that inflammation associated with…

“HMGB1-TLR4 signaling may contribute to generating and perpetuating seizures in humans and might be targeted to attain anticonvulsant effects in epilepsies that are currently resistant to drugs.”

The second paper published in the same journal celebrates the potential therapeutic benefit of an intervention that blocks pathways of inflammatory signaling:

“Blocking this inflammatory pathway may constitute a new antiepileptic treatment strategy.”

Science SignalingYou may also like to see an editorial in the journal Science Signaling entitled Inflamed About Epilepsy that summarizes these important findings.

“Together, these data suggest that the HMGB1-TLR4 pathway may underlie the onset of seizures and thus provide a new therapeutic strategy to target epilepsy.”

The ‘take home’ message is that we have further evidence of the importance of the healthy regulation of inflammation as an indispensable element in your strategy for brain health.

Bookmark and Share

How important is Vitamin D for autoimmune disease?

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Nature Reviews RheumatologyIt’s hard to overemphasize the importance. Consider this paper published in Nature Reviews Rheumatology in which the authors assert that the…

…immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory properties” of vitamin D can be used for the “control of autoimmune diseases.”

They note that…

“…Epidemiological evidence indicates a significant association between vitamin D deficiency and an increased incidence of several autoimmune diseases,”

Which include…

“a variety…from rheumatoid arthritis to systemic lupus erythematosus, and possibly also multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases, and autoimmune prostatitis.”

(Extra highlight for autoimmune prostatitis because very few are aware how common this is.) Of great practical importance is their observation that…

“The net effect of the vitamin D system on the immune response is an enhancement of innate immunity coupled with multifaceted regulation of adaptive immunity.”

PsychoneuroendocrinologyWe are awash in studies on vitamin D, here’s one more for good measure. This paper, recently published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, focuses on its use in the treatment of autoimmune disease that attacks the brain and nervous system. The authors begin by noting that…

“It has been known for more than 20 years that vitamin D exerts marked effects on immune and neural cells…it has been shown that diminished levels of vitamin D…is a risk factor for various brain diseases.”

They further state that…

“…vitamin D has been found to be a strong candidate risk-modifying factor for Multiple Sclerosis (MS)…”

And proceed to..

“…assess how vitamin D imbalance may lay the foundation for a range of adult disorders, including brain pathologies (Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, depression) and immune-mediated disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes mellitus, systemic lupus erythematosus or inflammatory bowel diseases).”

These are some of the reasons why I always screen for vitamin D sufficiency.

Bookmark and Share