§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she will now allow doctors to prescribe on the National Health Service a gluten-free diet for multiple sclerosis and other patients, where, in their clinical opinion, it is in the interest of the patients; and if she will make a statement.
§ Dr. OwenDoctors providing general medical services are free to prescribe drugs according to their clinical judgment but may be asked to justify their decisions. Gluten-free products are regarded as foods except for certain conditions specified by the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances which do not include multiple sclerosis. If they are prescribed for conditions not so specified the prescribing doctor may be surcharged.
Neither the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances nor the recent conference on multiple sclerosis organised by the Medical Research Council in association with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain has been able to find scientific evidence that gluten-free diet is an effective treatment for multiple sclerosis.