New Clue On Babies' Wheat Allergy

[Claire]

NEW CLUE ON BABIES' WHEAT ALLERGY

Study: Adding Grains to Babies’ Diet After Age 6 Months May Up Allergy Risk

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[trents]

Interesting. I note that in passing, the article mentions that, "None of the babies had celiac disease, in which the body cannot digest a protein called gluten, which is found in various grains including wheat, rye, and barley."

Is the mechanism of celiac disease really that the body cannot digest gluten? That is not my understanding of the basis of the disease. My understanding is that gluten triggers an autoimmune response, not that it isn't being digested. Is this an accurate statement in the article?

[jerseyangel]

Trents, you are right. At least as far as I know--gluten causes an autoimmune reaction in Celiacs--it's not a problem with digestion of the gluten that is the problem (strictly speaking of Celiac, and not other sensitivites or allergies).

[trents]

Thanks for your input, Jersey angel. Sounds like the statement made in the article would better fit a food intolerance condition like say, lactose intolerance where an enzyme is actually lacking that is needed to break down the substance.

[jerseyangel]

Yes, that's what I was thinking, too.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

The MD's and PhD's still don't get it, do they? I mean, this is our whole problem, isn't it? They look at a normal-to- overweight celieac and say, "No, you couldn't possibly have celiac, you're not wasting away," or they look at someone like me, with a sky-high IgG and, mild tummy symptoms, thyroid disease, and horrible rashes, and they don't care that the rashes and the tummy symptoms disappeared without the gluten, or that I lost 10 pounds (need to lose more) and felt SO much better--they say, "you couldn't possibly have celiac, it could be anything, and the positive dietary response is ALL IN YOUR HEAD!"

Grrrr.

Now, because they've come out with a flawed study (how can they say ANYTHING about celiac when they don't even know what it is?!?!?!), doctors are going to tell moms to introduce wheat EARLIER--and we'll see celiac problems with infants skyrocket even more.

Maybe they are being paid to do so by the pharmaceutical industry to take the heat off vaccines....

[eKatherine]

Of course it didn't have anything to do with celiac, but in the past 6 months or so I read about a study where they found that it doesn't make any difference whether you delay feeding the allergen to the child, the same percentage will end up with the allergy. I think it was peanuts and maybe soy in that study.

[shai76]

This goes against what they told me to do when my son was very young. They said to hold off giving him any allergenic foods, now they are saying that causes the allergies, not prevents them. I wish they would make up their minds already.

[trents]

I went back and looked at the referenced article again. The author was not a medical doctor but someone with a BS in health studies or some such thing. It was reviewed by an MD, however. I intended to contact the author to explain that her explanation of Celiac disease was incorrect but there was no email address given for her. Her name was hyperlinked but it only gave a bio. No contact info.

Steve

[gfp]

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Results: Of the 1560 children, 51 developed celiac disease autoimmunity. Infants exposed to gluten in the first 3 months of life had a 5-fold increased risk of autoimmunity compared with infants first exposed at 4–6 months (hazard ratio

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5.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.44–18.57). Infants introduced to gluten at 7 months or later also had an increased risk of celiac disease autoimmunity compared with those exposed between 4 and 6 months (HR 1.87, 95% CI 0.97–3.60). The risk of autoimmunity was independent of the age of first exposure to rice and oats. Breastfeeding duration was similar for children who developed autoimmunity and those who did not.

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Practice implications: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age to protect children from gastrointestinal infections, to prolong lactational amenorrhea and to increase postpartum maternal weight loss. The results of this study did not show that breastfeeding protected against celiac disease autoimmunity. However, at least for children predisposed to celiac disease or type 1 diabetes, avoiding cereal with wheat, rye or barley until a child is 4–6 months of age appears to reduce the risk of autoimmunity. Starting cereal before 3 months or after 7 months appears to increase the risk. Thus, although current recommendations in Canada and from the WHO are to breastfeed exclusively until at least 6 months of age, the results of this study suggest that it may be wise to consider introducing cereals at around the sixth month.