Eating more than two grams of gluten per day at age 2 is associated with a 75% higher risk of being gluten intolerant later on.
Consuming too much gluten can be dangerous for some children. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Associationthe amount of gluten consumed during childhood is linked to the risk of developing celiac disease.
A slice of bread a day = 75% more risk
“Our study shows an association between the amount of gluten consumed by children and the risk of developing celiac or pre-celiac disease,” explains Daniel Agardh, director of this research conducted at Lund University in Sweden. Researchers followed 6,600 children from birth to age 5 in Finland, Sweden, Germany and the United States. All had a risk of suffering from celiac disease. According to the results, the risk is particularly high between 2 and 3 years, but the greater the consumption of gluten, the more it increases. “A daily gluten consumption of more than 2 grams at the age of 2 years was associated with a 75% higher risk of celiac disease, adds Carin Andrén Aronsson, co-author of the study. This is a comparison with children who ate less than 2 grams of gluten.” This quantity is equivalent to that present in a slice of white bread.
What are the risks according to the type of gluten?
The researchers point out that the majority of the group of children did not develop celiac disease. They now want to understand whether certain forms of gluten particularly increase the risk. Different food groups containing gluten will be tested.
Last June, other researchers looked at the link between gluten consumption during childhood and the risk of celiac disease. An observational study showed that children who ate a lot had 2.17 times more risk of developing the disease, compared to those who ate little.
Celiac disease is linked to gliadin, a protein found in gluten. With each ingestion, the immune system of the intolerant person reacts, and this can cause intestinal lesions. Digestion becomes more difficult and deficiencies can occur as the body has more difficulty assimilating essential nutrients. Celiac disease affects about 1% of the world’s population.
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