Lots of Gluten During Toddler Years Might Raise Odds for Celiac Disease
- 2019-08-15
- Health Day
Too much white bread and pasta fed to at-risk kids under age 5 could increase their odds of developing celiac disease, a new international study has concluded.
Every extra daily gram of gluten a young child eats increases their risk of celiac disease, if they are genetically predisposed to it, researchers found.
For example, eating an extra half-slice of white bread every day at age 2 can increase a kid's risk of celiac disease at age 3 by 7%, according to findings published Aug. 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
For this study, researchers followed more than 6,600 children from birth through age 15 at six clinical research centers in Finland, Germany, Sweden and the United States. All had an inherited risk for celiac disease.