Gluten-free Diet For Infants

Celiac disease currently affects one in 133 Americans, requiring a gluten-free diet for proper treatment. Typical symptoms include malnutrition, bloating, diarrhea and/or constipation, osteopenia and/or osteoporosis, stunted growth in children, irritability and poor appetite. A true gluten-free diet eliminates all consumption of gluten, a protein found in barley, wheat, rye and other grains in the Triticeae grass tribe. In families with a history of celiac disease or gluten intolerance, it's logical to question whether infants should be fed a gluten-free diet in an attempt to prevent or mitigate intestinal damage from celiac disease.

History

The first modern understanding of celiac disease came in 1887 with Dr. Samuel Gee, a London doctor who presented a case study on what he termed the "coeliac affection." In Gee's opinion, according to William Paveley in his article in the "British Medical Journal," the coeliac affection required that the patient "regulate the food" but did not eliminate gluten.

By 1925 Dr. Sydney Haas developed the "banana diet," requiring the patient to eat four to eight bananas per day after observing that children of banana farmers had fewer celiac symptoms.

Shortly after World War II, when bread shortages led some of Dr. Willem Dicke's patients to gain weight, improve in overall health and to lose digestive problems that had plagued them their entire childhoods, Dicke developed a diet free of gluten as a treatment plan. Dicke's gluten-free diet gained acceptance quickly and today remains the only treatment for celiac disease.

Time Frame

As noted by research published in the "World Journal of Gastroenterology" in 2010, the optimal time period for introducing gluten to lower the rate of celiac development in families with a history of the disease is after the age of 3 months and before the age of 7 months. The researchers note that 4 to 6 months of age is a possible "'window' period, during which the first exposure to gluten should occur in order to minimize the risk of subsequent development of [celiac disease]."

Function

Current research indicates that a gluten-free diet for infants is only necessary before the age of 4 months. Even in families with a history of celiac disease there is no evidence for keeping an infant on a gluten-free diet past this age. Infants with symptoms of celiac disease or gluten intolerance with a confirmed diagnosis from a pediatric gastroenterologist should follow the same gluten-free diet as adults with celiac disease.

Considerations

Some early research on breastfeeding and celiac disease indicates that for babies breastfed during gluten introduction, celiac disease development rates are lower. In addition, a 2002 article in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" notes that "[a reduced rate of celiac disease development] was even more pronounced in infants who continued to be breast-fed after dietary gluten was introduced."

Warnings

Never introducing gluten to an infant with a family history of celiac disease is contraindicated by research. Keeping infants on a gluten-free diet when there is no sign of celiac disease or gluten intolerance can cause other nutritional issues for some infants, as gluten contains essential B vitamins and trace minerals not easily accommodated for when following a gluten-free diet.