Is Gluten Harmful for Restless Legs?

A fellow sufferer wrote that she has been trying to eat less gluten lately. In addition to restless legs, she also has problems with her intestines.

Gluten is hot these days. You hear about it everywhere and alternative products are available in many stores. Of course, that has a price tag.

Personally, I wonder how useful this all is. There are probably people who are allergic. However, most people just go by the rumors and think to be on the safe side.

In this blog I will discuss what gluten actually is and when it is better not to eat it. Of course I also examine whether there is a link with restless legs.

What is gluten

The word gluten comes from Latin and means glue.

Gluten is a name used for a group of proteins found in grains such as wheat, rye and barley. It is found in products made from grains, such as bread, biscuits and pasta. You can also find it in, for example, soup, sauce and sausage.

In bread, it helps the dough to rise and provides firmness and elasticity.

There are naturally no gluten in oats. Often this grain comes into contact with gluten and is not gluten-free.

Gluten is used as a binding agent in quite a few products. These are not just foods. There is a quality mark for gluten-free products. You can find this label on the label. It’s called ‘crossed grain’.

Eating less or no gluten is quite a puzzle. Moreover, alternatives do not always contain as many nutrients as the ‘normal’ variant. There is a chance that you will not receive a complete diet with such an alternative.

Celiac and gluten allergy

A relatively small part of the population has to deal with a hypersensitivity. The name for this gluten intolerance is celiac disease.

The disease is often undiagnosed because many doctors do not take severe abdominal pain symptoms seriously (enough). Doctors often see such complaints as a case of stress or possibly irritable bowel syndrome.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease. This means that the body harms itself with antibodies. As a result, the intestinal wall is damaged and nutrients can be absorbed less well in the long term.

After the diagnosis of celiac disease, the patient must be on a strict gluten-free diet for life.

An autoimmune disease is different from a wheat allergy. A wheat allergy is an allergic reaction with antibodies. There are also people who are allergic to gluten or to foods that are ‘contaminated’ with it.

If you have an allergy, it depends on how bad it bothers you. Sometimes, based on the seriousness of your complaints, you may still make the choice to take certain products with gluten. Or at least every now and then.

There is a third group of people who experience complaints after eating wheat. The symptoms are not as bad as with celiac disease or wheat allergy. This sensitivity is called gluten sensitivity. Possibly 5 to 10% of the population has to deal with this.

Is gluten free healthy

I think it’s a fair question whether gluten-free eating is a good idea for everyone.

With celiac disease you have no choice and with an allergy it is at least justified to drastically limit the consumption of it. For the rest of the population, avoiding foods containing gluten means you probably run the risk of unnecessarily getting too few nutrients. I think a lot of people who go along with this fad don’t realize this.

Gluten in itself is not unhealthy.

Aside from beneficial nutrients and vitamins, it also provides fiber. By eliminating grain-rich products, you may run into a shortage of them.

Replacement products often contain more fat and sugar to make the whole thing smoother and more elastic. Not so healthy either.

So think carefully before you just delete gluten from your diet.

Restless legs

RLS runs in the family of the fellow sufferer I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. It is striking that all these family members also have intestinal complaints.

She and her family members suffer from irritable bowel syndrome and/or constipation. These gut problems can both be associated with celiac disease, but not necessarily.

I already wrote a blog about the connection between inflammation and restless legs. That blog also contains a piece about the possible link between irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Restless Legs Syndrome. More research needs to be done on exactly what the interaction is here.

I read on various websites that eating less or no gluten helps to reduce the symptoms of RLS in some people. It also seems that if you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance, you are more likely to have restless legs.

There is no scientific evidence for this (yet).

Orthomolecular

I find it striking that a website of orthomolecular medicine also states that restless legs are on average much more common in people with a gluten intolerance. This condition causes, among other things, a vitamin deficiency.

The link with deficiency of folic acid is made. A supplement of folic acid will not suffice here, according to this site. The active form folate is needed in this case.

In the light of this information, it seems to me to at the very least make sense to insist on a referral to a specialist in the case of chronic intestinal problems. He or she can then investigate whether you have celiac disease.

Unfortunately, if you are diagnosed with celiac disease, you will have to cut gluten off the menu for the rest of your life. It is possible that you will no longer suffer from RLS in the future.

I think it’s worth a try.