Q & A with Doctor Vikki: Is there a Connection between Gluten Intolerance and Macular Degeneration? Plus, New Dr. Vikki Videos!

There’s a new look for Dr. Vikki Petersen’s segment here at Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom and I’d like to send a big thank you to my friend Alexa of Lexie’s Kitchen for designing the new Q & A with Doctor Vikki badge you see above (thanks Lexie!).

From this point forward, instead of adding Dr. Vikki’s bio to each individual post, I now have a central post with all her information and you can access it either by clicking ‘About’ underneath the Q & A with Doctor Vikki tab on the main menu bar.

Also, at the end of this post there are three new videos from Dr. Vikki that I encourage you to watch: 1) Intestinal Biopsy Unnecessary to Diagnose Celiac Disease 2) Gluten Intolerant and Reacting to Many Foods?  3) Multiple Sclerosis Caused by Gluten Intolerance?

Dear Dr. Vikki,

I have been diagnosed with Macular Degeneration in both eyes and go regularly to a Retina specialist and have been getting Lucentis shots about every 6 weeks.  I was diagnosed with Celiac disease about 3 years ago.  I am wondering if there is any connection.

Thank you for any input you might have on the subject.

Sincerely,
Dot V.

Dear Dot,

I haven’t seen any specific research correlating gluten with macular degeneration but on a personal not, both my mother and father-in-law have it and the are both very sensitive to gluten.

Some of the known nutrition to improve macular degeneration are antioxidants.  Some of the vitamins that act as antioxidants, such as vitamins A and E are fat soluble and become deficient in the presence of poor fat absorption.  And, to tie it all together, gluten intolerance interferes with fat absorption.  So from that viewpoint, there is a possible correlation.

I’m glad the injections are working for you.  Make sure you’re on a very strong antioxidant formula with a nice balance of all the major ones and that your gut is fully healed from the damage that gluten created.

I will let Heidi know if I unearth any more information in this area.  Please do feel free to ask any further questions you have.

To your good health,
Dr Vikki Petersen
Author of “The Gluten Effect”
www.healthnowmedical.com

Intestinal Biopsy Unnecessary to Diagnose Celiac Disease (this video held special meaning for me given that my oldest son had a positive celiac blood test and a negative biopsy, which I wrote about here.  He has since tested positive for one copy of DQ8, one of the genes that predisposes him to developing celiac disease):

Multiple Sclerosis Caused by Gluten Intolerance?