Video: Can A Gluten-Free Diet Alleviate Chronic Pain?

Even though millions of Americans depend on long-term opioids to manage chronic pain, there are those in the medical community who have been busy promoting alternatives. Common non-opioid treatments of pain include accupuncture, chiropractic, psychotherapy and physical therapy — but what about a gluten-free diet?

Peter Osborne, who is both a board certified doctor of clinical nutrition as well as a doctor of chiropractic, believes prescription drugs are not the answer to treating patients with chronic pain. Instead he claims there’s a “connection between grain consumption causing auto-immune inflammation and pain.”

He said there are studies that support his theory. For example, a 2012 study, published in Minerva Chirurgica, found that painful symptoms of endometriosis decrease after 12 months of a patient undergoing a gluten-free diet.

According to him, taking gluten out of a patient’s diet reduces inflammation, but it goes even deeper than just removing gluten — grain should be excluded, too.

It’s important to note that Dr. Osborne has a book on this topic coming out in January 2016. He is the co-founder of Nutra-MD and the Gluten Free Society.

Have an opinion on this discussion? Comment below.