Celiac Disease or Gluten Sensitivity With ADHD

Celiac Disease or Gluten Sensitivity With ADHD ADHD Symptoms Print Celiac Disease or Gluten Sensitivity With ADHD By Jane Anderson facebook twitter Jane Anderson is a medical journalist and an expert in celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and the gluten-free diet. Learn about our editorial policy Jane Anderson Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Emmy Ludwig, MD on May 09, 2016 Emmy Ludwig, MD, is board-certified in gastroenterology and hepatology. She practices at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Learn about our Medical Review Board Emmy Ludwig, MD Updated on February 03, 2020 ADHD Overview Symptoms Causes Diagnosis Treatment Living With In Children lolaira / Getty Images Parents have said for years that diet appears to play a role in their childrens symptoms of ADHD, and many have removed food dyes and additives, along with sugar, from their childrens plates in an effort to manage the condition. However, recent research is pointing to a new potential culprit for ADHD symptoms: gluten. When you have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you often behave impulsively and are easily distracted, and you probably have difficulty concentrating and focusing on important tasks. These problems can take a toll on everyday life â€" if youre a child with ADHD, your grades probably suffer, and if youre an adult, you may find it difficult to perform well at work or sustain a healthy relationship. Up to 5 percent of preschoolers and school-age children suffer from ADHD. For many of them, symptoms will continue into adulthood. Its not clear exactly what causes ADHD; researchers believe it may involve a chemical imbalance in the brain or possibly even physical differences in brain structure. It is clear that it runs in families: If you have a close relative with ADHD, your chances of developing it yourself are up to five times greater than the regular population. Celiac Disease and ADHD Linked in Studies The evidence for an association between ADHD and celiac disease is fairly strong: children and adults with the undiagnosed celiac disease do seem to have a higher risk of ADHD than the general population. In one study, researchers tested 67 people with ADHD for celiac disease. Study participants ranged in age from 7 to 42. A total of 15 percent tested positive for celiac disease. Thats far higher than the incidence of celiac in the general population, which is about 1 percent. Once they started on a gluten-free diet, the patients or their parents reported significant improvements in their behavior and functioning, and these improvements were backed up by ratings on a checklist physicians use to monitor the severity of ADHD symptoms. Another study investigated the incidence of ADHD symptoms in people newly diagnosed with celiac disease. It looked at 132 participants, ranging from toddlers to adults, and reported that ADHD symptomatology is markedly overrepresented among untreated celiac disease patients. Again, a gluten-free diet improved symptoms quickly and substantiallyâ€"six months after starting the diet, most people had vastly improved ADHD symptoms. Not all studies have found a link between celiac and ADHD. A 2013 study from Turkey, for example, found similar rates of celiac disease in children ages 5 to 15 with ADHD, and in control subjects. Evidence Less Clear for ADHD and Gluten Sensitivity Not everyone who has a problem with gluten has celiac diseaseâ€"recent research has identified markers for non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a poorly understood condition that seems to involve a reaction to gluten but not the intestinal damage that characterizes the celiac disease. Gluten sensitivity may affect up to 8 percent of the population by some estimates. For people with gluten sensitivity, studies show its possible that gluten plays a role in ADHD symptoms, but its less clear how large a role it plays. In one large study, researchers looked at the effects of the gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diet on people with various autism spectrum disorders. They reported a positive effect on ADHD symptoms but noted that they couldnt say for certain that it came from the GFCF diet. They also couldnt say if the effect might have stemmed from removing gluten or from removing casein from the participants diets. Anecdotally, parents of children with ADHD have reported improvements in behavior (some quite significant) when they placed their children on special diets, including a gluten-free diet. However, its difficult to correlate those improvements with the dietary changes. Currently, theres no accepted test to detect gluten sensitivity; the only way to know if you have it is if your symptoms (which usually involve digestive problems but also can involve neurological issues such as headaches and brain fog) clear up when you go gluten-free. The Bottom Line If you suspect gluten may be contributing to your or your childs ADHD symptoms, what should you do? First, you should consider testing for celiac disease, especially if you or your child shows other celiac-related symptoms. Remember, not all symptoms involve your digestive system; celiac symptoms in children may involve something more subtle, such as short stature or failure to thrive. In most cases, your physician will use a blood test to screen for celiac disease, followed by endoscopy if the blood test is positive. If the tests are negative for celiac disease (or if you decide not to pursue testing), you may want to discuss dropping gluten from your diet or your childs diet for a month or so to see if symptoms improve. To do this test properly, youll need to avoid gluten completely, not just cut back on it. If the symptoms are influenced by gluten ingestion, you should notice a change within that month.