Carnivorous plant enzymes could help celiacs digest gluten, says U of C researcher

This story was originally published Aug. 8.

Calgary scientists have made a breakthrough that could help celiac patients digest gluten with the help of an enzyme from bug-eating pitcher plants.

Pitcher plants are like "disposable stomachs"that arefilled with an enzyme-rich liquid that helps themdigest insect prey, explained lead researcherDavid Schriemer.

The professor at the University of Calgary says preliminary research shows the enzymes in these so-called monkey cupsare "enormously potent" inbreaking down gluten, and could work in a human stomach.

• Read the full findings of the study recently published in Nature

Schriemersaid in a few years'time, people with celiac disease could takea pill containing these enzymes, which would allow them to fully break down gluten.

"The idea here is that you would take it like Beano," he said.

"We've taken it all the way through to animal trials at this point, and it seems to work."

Retirement operation in B.C. helps out

Each pitcher plant holds just 0.5millilitres of liquid.

To collect enough for their study, Schreimer and his colleagues enlisted the help of three retired women in B.C.'s Lower Mainlandwho "had a fascination"for carnivorous sundews, Venus flytrapsand pitcher plants.

These womendedicated an entire greenhouse of roughly 1,000 individual pitchers, each about the size of a thumb, Schreimer said.

The University of Calgary researchers supplied those women with vials of fruit flies to stimulate the plants, and the women tapped off small amounts of fluids on a regular basis.

After six months, they had collected six litres enough for the researchers to complete their studies.

How celiac disease works

Celiac disease iscaused by an abnormal immune response to gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in grains such as wheat, rye and barley.

A person who has celiac disease is unable to fully digest those proteins, and the products left behind by this partial digestion can trigger a toxic response, where antibodiesattack internal organs such as the small intestine.

This in turn canreducethe person's ability to absorb other nutrients includingiron, folate, calcium, vitamin D, protein, fat and other food compounds.

Approximately onein every 100 people in Canada suffers from this disease, according to Health Canada.

There is no cure for the disease. Treatment isa strict, gluten-free diet for life.

With files from The CalgaryEyeopener