Celiac Disease Can Cause Lactose Intolerance & Depression
Celiac disease often brings other complications with it. Anemia, osteoporosis, and malnutrition are some of the more obvious things that accompany celiac disease. But did you know that celiac disease can also cause lactose intolerance?
If you have celiac disease and are wondering why you can no longer eat dairy products, wonder no further. In people with celiac disease the protein in gluten causes an auto-immune reaction in the body that ultimately flattens the villi in the small intestine. Unfortunately, lactase, the enzyme responsible for breaking down the lactose in dairy products, is produced in an area called the brush border at the ends of the villi of the small intestine. So there is a direct connection between celiac disease and the decrease in production of lactase which is responsible for lactose intolerance.
The good news is that with a gluten-free diet the villi can rejuvenate themselves and people can recover from their lactose intolerance. It often takes between six months and two years for that recovery process to be complete. So fear not celiac sufferers and mothers of celiac sufferers! You and your child will be eating gluten-free pizza soon enough!
Here is another interesting tidbit. Celiac disease also causes depression. An article by Dr. Vikki Petersen (a chiropractor and medical nutritionist) explains the connection. Dr. Petersen says that a celiac’s immune system responds to the protein gliadin that is found in gluten. But gliadin has a similar structure to other proteins in the body including those in the brain and nerve cells that the body sometime mistakes for gliadin. Consequently, when the immune system starts to attack itself in response to these proteins it can cause inflamation in the brain and nervous system which causes depression, among other things.
This is actually good news for depression sufferers. Usually depression is attributed to chemical imbalances, and is treated with anti-depressants. But now instead of popping a pill with all kinds of side effects, a depression sufferer can try a gluten-free diet! It just might work. 
21 Responsesto “Celiac Disease Can Cause Lactose Intolerance & Depression”
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This is a great piece. Now I understand why my daughter can have goat dairy and I can’t have any kind of dairy from any animal.
This is very informative blog and well worth a Celiac’s time to follow.
Check out http://www.theglutensyndrome.net for discussions of this depression, and for medical diagrams of the different processes and molecular mimicry involved in various subsets of gluten syndrome besides celiac disease.
Strange severe, incapacitating depressions are sometimes connected with gluten challenges, accidental exposures or wheat harvest.
Often this type doesn’t show up in standard antibody tests or biopsies.
Gluten breaks into more pieces than there are tests developed so a negative antibody test is always inconclusive.
More often than not the damage is somewhere else beside the gut, meaning the villi may be fine but there is serious damage in some place like the brain/nerves or an organ etc. that are not so easy to biopsy.
Gluteomorphins or gluteomorphin withdrawal are pieces of gluten with a drug like structure that are thought may be involved in some of these depressions. It seems to be something that has to hopefully work itself out. Not much research on this.
Thank you. That was very informative. My 6 yr old son was diagnosed with Celiac Oct. 2008 and is also lactose intolerance. This was the first I have heard that his lactose intolerancce could take up to 2 years to resolve. I have always heard 6 mos to a year. I am hopeful that it will resolve soon. Thanks again!
thank you so much!! for years i was told i was depressed, when all along i had celiac disease. Within six months of changing my diet to gluten free i was depression free. I am also still uneasy about eating dairy, hopefully i will be able to again someday soon once my villi are completely healed.
Jennifer,
Do you think the dairy also contributed to
your depression? I have been off gluten
since October but have still been eating
dairy. My depression seemed to go for a couple of months but then came back, I am
wondering if it may be the dairy.
Carol
i also have lactose intolerance that is why i always avoid dairy products.`:`
Amazing site, where did you come up with the knowledge in this write-up? Im glad I found it though, ill be checking back soon to see what other articles you have.
wow these tips, so simple
Hi Dinah, Thank you for your comment. We do a lot of research to find that materials we write about. From interviews with leading experts, to books, to online research we strive to be on the cutting edge so that you have the info you need. Glad you like ti and please do keep coming back!
well we do have some lactose intolerance in our family and we just cut out on dairy products. ‘-`
my sister has lactose intolerance and she can’t stand drinking too much milk-~.
My daughter has gone through months of pain and test only to be told she was not coeliac. On watching her diet for some weeks we saw a major connection when she ate something with gluten she was sick the following day. The doctors told us we were mad putting her on a gluten free diet but we saw the good changes almost immediately. we were then told to make sure she increased her dairy intake as coeliacs suffer from osteoporosis. on doing this her symptoms returned with avengence. She is now back to stage one again afraid to eat and hearth broken. It is difficult to watch a 17yr old child so depressed. I am thinking of getting an allergy test. Has anyone had an luck with this or have you had the same kind of bad luck as us. Any advice gratefully appreciated
Hi Shelly, I’d ask that you read the post on blood type. It’s on the first page of the blog. There you will find some information about how blood type can really affect our entire self – what we eat, to what to do, to how we exercise best, to how we learn. While I’m not a doctor, I can say that from my own life and all my research, if she’s an A blood type the dairy is a poison in her system. Dairy is not easy for anyone, especially and A to digest. The second thing I’d recommend is having your daughter start really listening to her body. When did she feel good – gluten free diet with NO dairy. Immediately, remove dairy. How does she feel? I know it’s difficult but so much if it is realizing we are individuals, our bodies are our own and WE are responsible. A doctor is a wonderful person to go to for reference, when sick, however, they don’t always have all the answers – science is EVER changing. Medicine is ever changing. What worked – gluten free and non-dairy. Stick with that and allow the mind and body to heal. This is what I had to do. I’d be more than happy to write more posts on this, on blood type or share directly with your daughter. I remember how difficult 17 was for me – my body was not my own and depression became my friend. We want your daughter to have a better friend than depression. Please post again or email me directly at support@jensglutenfree.com. ~J. PS -Your daughter is in my thoughts. It’s not been an easy road, however, it does NOT have to always be hard. Allow her to see that and the power she has in being present in her own body. That helped me.
Jen, happy to find your web site and appalled for Shelly at the reaction she got for trying GF. Remember many of us are intolerant vs Celiac. The benefit our 7 grandkids have found for going GF/CF are huge and are both physical and emotional. There are good resources out there so find them and don’t give up. We have a teen girl and it has really helped her school work too! Don’t give up.
Hi Laura, thank you! I agree a gluten-free lifestyle does have many benefits. As for Shelly, it’s sad, but NOT impossible and that’s the key for all of us. There is a way to enjoy food as a gluten free individual. And it’s important to remove one thing at a time – and see how the body reacts. As for Shelly’s daughter – gluten worked, but then when dairy came back in – problems. So it’s important to place the reactions with the appropriate foods to really determine what the body doesn’t like. Thank you Laura, for sharing! Keep posting, ~J.