Rosanna Davison receives backlash after 'arthritis, autism and schizophrenia' comments

Rosanna Davison has faced a huge backlash on social media this morning after she suggested that gluten – found in cereals and wheat – is responsible for "a huge range of medical conditions" including autism, schizophrenia, and arthritis".

The 31-year-old model made the claims in an interview with the Irish Independent, to promote her new book ‘Eat Yourself Beautiful’.

In the column, the former Miss World described her problems with dairy and said she also "figured out that gluten was causing chronic [skin] breakouts".

“For someone else, a gluten intolerance could manifest itself in their joints or muscles, but for me everything shows in my skin first,” the article reports her as saying.

Ever since her realisation, Rosanna has adhered to a vegan diet, which is free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar.

She went on to say that her husband, Wes Quirke, has seen his rheumatoid arthritis pain diminished since he followed in her footsteps and adopted a gluten free diet.

“[I told him] 'stop with the pizzas and beer at the weekend, you can get gluten-free everything these days!' - and within a couple of weeks these pains had left him. So now he is really receptive to anything that I say to him," she explained.

Arthritis Ireland, however, advised the public that there is no scientific evidence that gluten has an effect on rheumatoid arthritis.

The Independent also reported: “[Rosanna] cites research that shows gluten to be the bad guy responsible for a huge range of medical conditions from autism spectrum disorders to schizophrenia to arthritis”.

Doctors and health professionals, however, have taken to Twitter to voice their criticism – with many saying the model has blocked them on the social platform.

Davidson has yet to respond to the backlash.