Are young Americans getting sicker?

"I thought this would be the time when we’d be preparing for the rest of our lives: earning money, going on fun vacations, having families, building our careers. And we are, but at the same time, we’re doing it while we’re trying to manage pain symptoms, chase down prescriptions, and secure stable health insurance. When I was in college, I remember being prepared to survive in the workforce, but I don’t remember a class that told me how to do that if half of your household is in so much pain on some days that they can’t get to work. I’m barely over 30. I thought I had so much more time before I had to think about this stuff."

"I wondered if this was normal. Do we know so many people who are dealing with pain because people are just getting sicker in general?"

Living Sick and Dying Young in Rich America

Short Takes: "Silent" celiac disease, Pain on the brain, Anxiety in the gut

1. "Silent" celiac disease

Celiac disease is an insult of the modern diet occurring in at least 1% of the population. The reaction of the immune system to gluten protein in wheat and other grains sets off a "misguided attack" on the lining of the small intestine. As describe by ScienceNews:

The small intestine suffers from this misguided attack, and celiac patients can experience bloating, diarrhea, constipation, lethargy and poor nutrition as they lose some ability to absorb nutrients through the damaged walls of the small intestine.

However, others sensitive to gluten may not show these classic intestinal signs but instead suffer silently. As ScienceNews continues:

But many people don’t have such clear symptoms, said gastroenterologist Katri Kaukinen of the University of Tampere. Even undetected the disease can have health effects: It has been linked to poor educational achievement and failure to thrive in children, apparently due to nutrient loss. In adulthood, undetected celiac disease is associated with a risk of fractures, poor dental enamel, short stature, pregnancy difficulties and skin problems. 

Learn more from Nathan Seppa at ScienceNews or from Dr. Gerard Guillory in the previous post Gluten Sensitivity on the Rise.

2. Pain on the brain

Constant back pain wearing you down? Well, it does thin a portion of the frontal cortex of the brain. Fortunately, good pain control can allow the brain to recover. As reported by ScienceNews, scientist at McGill University in Montreal studied the brains of patients with low back pain and found the upper-outer edges of the frontal areas, specifically the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a region involved in pain modulation), were thinner than normal. Six months following successful treatment of the pain, repeat scans showed improvement in these areas. The greater the pain control, the greater the return to normal. Learn more from Laura Sanders at ScienceNews. 

3. Anxiety in the gut

Evidence is slowly growing that a number of "psychological" disorders such as depression may actually originate from poor nutrition. The latest study looks at the impact of gut bacteria on anxiety. As reported by ScienceDaily:

Working with healthy adult mice, the researchers showed that disrupting the normal bacterial content of the gut with antibiotics produced changes in behaviour; the mice became less cautious or anxious. This change was accompanied by an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which has been linked to depression and anxiety.

When oral antibiotics were discontinued, bacteria in the gut returned to normal. "This was accompanied by restoration of normal behaviour and brain chemistry," Collins said.

One more reason to protect your gut bacteria by avoiding grains.