In a brief, unusual report (password required) in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report a pair of cases of celiac disease in farmers who inhaled gluten while feeding their animals.
Celiac disease is condition that some people develop if they consume wheat gluten or certain related proteins. A gluten-free diet is the best way to reverse the abnormal reaction and prevent it from recurring. But a gluten-free diet, which was prescribed to the farmers by a doctor, didn't work. It was only after considerable investigation that researchers realized the farmers were still consuming the stuff: Gluten got kicked into the air each time they filled their animals' troughs, and they were swallowing enough of it to trigger symptoms.
When the farmers took additional precautions -- wearing a mask in one case and avoiding the task of filling troughs in the other -- the celiac disease resolved. Sounds like an episode of "House, M.D.," doesn't it?
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I have celiac disease and have lived in the middle of wheat fields for the past 3 years. (I do not work on a farm, just live across the street from a wheat field). When I first moved here, my celiac disease was well controlled. Now, 3 years later, although my diet has not changed, my gluten blood antibodies are elevated and I am having more skin issues than ever. I'm wondering if somehow I am ingesting "wheat dust" from the dishes in my cupboards or if I am somehow inhaling and swallowing it. I can't think of any other explanation and am wondering if others living where grains are grown are having the same problems?
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