Relapsed Schizophrenics: More Rapid Improvement on a Milk- and Cereal-free Diet

Abstract

A number of reports suggest that schizophrenia and coeliac disease (gluten enteropathy) occur in the same individual more often than expected by chance. The latter is an hereditary disease, with marked psychic and somatic symptoms which usually improve when wheat gluten and its analogues in other cereals are not eaten. This possible relationship, and the high correlation of the per cent. changes in wheat plus rye consumption with first admissions for schizophrenia during World War II (unrelated to availability of work, hospital beds and physicians or wartime status of the country), suggest that cereals may also be involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia (Dohan, 1, 2).