JAMA. 2005;293:2343-2351, 2410-2412
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Celiac.com 05/31/2005 – Researchers in the United States have found that introducing gluten too early or too late in an infants diet may play a key role in whether or not they eventually develop celiac disease autoimmunity. From 1994 to 2004 the researchers followed 1,560 high-risk children (those with either HLA-DR3 or DR4 alleles, or with a first-degree relative with type 1 diabetes) who were periodically screened for celiac disease autoimmunity. Positive results were defined by two positive tissue transglutaminase (tTG) blood serum tests, or one positive tTG and a positive small bowel biopsy. The researchers conducted a prospective observational study in which the parents of the children in the study responded to a questionnaire regarding the timing of gluten introduction into their childrens diets. To avoid a bias on the answers the researchers purposely did not include children who already had celiac disease. During the mean duration period of the study (4.8 years), 51 children developed celiac disease autoimmunity. Their findings indicate that children who were first introduced to gluten when they were less than 3 months of age had a five-fold increased risk of developing celiac disease autoimmunity when compared to children who were first introduced to gluten at 4-6 months old. Additionally, those who were first introduced at 7 months or older had a marginally increased risk of getting celiac disease autoimmunity when compared with the same group.
Based on these findings the researchers recommend that parents should introduce cereals into their childrens diets at 4-6 months of age—even though this conflicts with recent recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics, who recommend breast-feeding only until 6 months of age. The researchers stress that much larger international prospective studies need be done in this area to answer the many questions that this study raises.
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