A new report in Diabetes this month showed that patients with type 1 diabetes show significant immune responses to wheat proteins. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition where the immune system destroys insulin producing beta cells of the pancreas.
The authors state that the results indicate, "... a diabetes-related inflammatory state in the gut immune tissues associated with defective oral tolerance and possibly gut barrier dysfunction."
In other words, gut dysfunction may promote the immune response. This leads to an "irritated" immune system that goes on to attack other organs such as the pancreas.
This idea is hardly new. In a commentary of the article, one author writes, "Given that type 1 diabetes is the unfortunate consequence of the combined effects of the individual genetic setup and exogenous and host-related factors, it is not surprising that the gut might be involved in the process leading to clinical disease."
So it would seem that your immunologist (dealing with the autoimmune component) should be talking to your endocrinologist (about the endocrine abnormalities secondary to diabetes) and should bring in the gastroenterologist (to discuss best methods of dealing with intestinal permeability). If you are a type 1 diabetic, this is a conversation that should be happening.
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