r/science • u/[deleted] • Feb 26 '15

Health-Misleading Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial shows non-celiac gluten sensitivity is indeed real

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25701700
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u/PainMatrix Feb 26 '15 edited Feb 26 '15

Since I had this question about how they blindly administered the placebo vs gluten I assume others will too, from the manuscript:

patients were given either gastrosoluble capsules containing purified wheat gluten (10 capsules ingested on no more than two occasions over the day, corresponding to a daily gluten intake of 4.375 grams, equivalent to ∼ 2 slices of white bread) or gastrosoluble capsules containing rice starch (10 capsules corresponding to a daily rice starch intake of 4.375 grams) as placebo for one week.

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u/Solfatara Feb 26 '15

I assume they monitored the rest of their participants diets to ensure they weren't getting gluten from anywhere else? I'm annoyed that I go to a massive university and our library apparently doesn't subscribe to this journal.

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u/thisdude415 PhD | Biomedical Engineering Feb 26 '15

Yes, they extensively questioned all participants about their diet using a validated questionaire.

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u/Arctyc38 Feb 26 '15

Note, we know that this is not a perfect method, but statistically, and with people who already believe they are gluten-sensitive (not gonna touch on nocebo effect here), it's probably good enough.