Share:
Gluten intolerance Infections in the baby age increase the celiac risk later
About one percent of the German population suffers from gluten intolerance (celiac disease). Researchers have now found evidence that gastrointestinal infections in infancy may increase the risk of celiac disease. The exact connection is not yet clear.
Life-long incompatibility
It is estimated that about one percent of the German population suffers from gluten intolerance (celiac disease). It is a chronic disease of the small intestine, which is caused by a lifelong intolerance to the Gluten gluten. The exact causes that can lead to this intolerance are still unknown. Researchers have now found that certain childhood infections can increase the risk of celiac disease.
People who suffer from celiac disease must strictly abstain from gluten-containing foods. The exact causes of gluten intolerance are still unclear. New evidence suggests that certain childhood infections can increase the risk of celiac disease. (Image: Africa Studio / fotolia / com) Strict avoidance of gluten
People who suffer from gluten intolerance must pay close attention to their diet. When you eat gluten-rich foods, you experience typical symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating and a fatty stool.
Therapy is currently not available. Only a strict avoidance of gluten whitening, which is found in many cereals such as wheat, spelled and rye, can help.
It is believed that celiac disease is triggered by a combination of genetic predisposition and external environmental factors. US scientists have also recently found evidence that gluten intolerance is caused by viruses.
German researchers now report that infections in early childhood promote the risk of later celiac disease.
Records of nearly 300,000 children evaluated
To reach these conclusions, the scientists of the Institute for Diabetes Research at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, partners in the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), evaluated data from nearly 300,000 children.
These were anonymised data sets of the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Bayerns from 295,420 children born between 2005 and 2007.
Medically documented infections were considered from birth until the age of - on average - 8.5 years. In total, 853 children developed a gluten intolerance, which corresponds to a proportion of 0.3 percent.
As the experts in the journal "American Journal of Epidemiology" report, repeated gastrointestinal diseases in the first year of life increase the risk especially.
Infections of the gastrointestinal tract increase celiac risk
Already in earlier publications the researchers around Prof. Dr. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler has demonstrated a link between childhood infections and the onset of type 1 diabetes.
The highest risk of disease had been observed in children with recurrent respiratory infections within the first six months of life.
According to the current evaluation, however, the risk of developing celiac disease was particularly high when infections of the gastrointestinal tract occurred in the first year of life.
Related to early respiratory diseases
According to the information, an increased risk of illness was to a lesser degree also detectable in connection with early respiratory diseases.
"However, our data do not allow us to conclude whether the associations observed are causal and, for example, based on changes in the microbiome or specific immune responses," commented lead author PD Dr. med. Andreas Beyerlein the results in a communication.
"However, the increased risk of celiac disease is more likely to be associated with persistent inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract in early childhood and is not triggered by a specific viral or bacterial pathogen." (Ad)