Some authors contend that patients with idiopathic neurological disease who are also anti-
gliadin antibody seropositive are
gluten sensitive. However, anti-
gliadin antibodies lack disease specificity being found in 10% of healthy blood donors. We report a study comparing anti-
gliadin antibody with other food
antibodies in patients with idiopathic
ataxia (20),
hereditary ataxias (seven), or idiopathic
peripheral neuropathy (32). Patients were HLA typed.
IgA anti-
tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) were measured. No case was positive for
IgA anti-tTG making occult coeliac disease unlikely. HLA DQ2 and
HLA DQ8 were found distributed equally across all patient groups and unrelated to
gliadin antibody status. HLA DQ2 expressing, anti-
gliadin antibody positive cases (so called "
gluten ataxia") were rare in our clinics (four cases in 2 years from a population of 2 million). We conclude that coeliac disease per se is not commonly associated with either idiopathic
ataxia or idiopathic
peripheral neuropathy. Our study also casts doubt on the nosological status of "
gluten ataxia" as a discreet disease entity. All food
antibodies tested, particularly
IgG, were a common finding in both
ataxia and
peripheral neuropathy groups. No particular food antibody was associated with any patient group. Food
antibodies were equally common in
hereditary ataxias. We conclude they are a non-specific finding.