High Infant Gluten Intake Raises Risk of Type 1 Diabetes in Childhood

Celiac.com 09/30/2019 - We know from recent studies that high gluten intake in infancy can raise risk for celiac disease, and we know that the amount of gluten eaten by infants at 18 months heavily influences their risk of developing type 1 diabetes later in life.

An earlier study conducted in Denmark suggested that a high maternal gluten consumption during pregnancy increased the risk of type 1 diabetes in the child.  

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Until now, researchers have not looked at levels of gluten intake by both the mother during pregnancy and the child in early life, and how that influences risk of developing type 1 diabetes in childhood. 

Now, a new study shows that every 10 grams of extra gluten eaten at age 18 months is associated with a 46% increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

The researchers recently conducted a Norwegian population-based nationwide study of 86,306 people to examine the association between the mother's intake of gluten during pregnancy, child's gluten intake at age 18 months, and the risk of type 1 diabetes in the child.

The research team included Dr Nicolai Lund-Blix, and colleagues at Oslo University Hospital, and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, Norway. Their research was presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Barcelona, Spain from September 16-20.

The outcome was clinical type 1 diabetes cases in the nationwide childhood diabetes registry. The team calculated increased risk using statistical modeling for maternal gluten intake during pregnancy and child's gluten intake at 18 months. 

The authors estimated grams per day of gluten intake based on a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire at week 22 of pregnancy, and from a questionnaire completed by the guardian when the child was 18 months old.

Researchers are not calling upon expectant mothers to reduce gluten content in the infant diet at this point in time.

According to the authors, "This study suggests that the child's gluten intake at 18 months of age, and not the maternal intake during pregnancy, could increase the risk of type 1 diabetes in the child."

Read more at: Diabetes Times
and at Celiac.com: High Childhood Gluten Intake Increases Risk of Celiac Disease and Celiac Autoimmunity