Surprise, Surprise — Eating Gluten Causes Celiac Disease

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I doubt that anyone here will be greatly surprised by the new research recently published that proves that when children under the age of two eat larger than normal amounts of gluten, they have a larger than normal risk of developing celiac disease. Well Doh!

Maybe that's because for every gram of gluten that's eaten each day by anyone with an HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8 gene, the risk of developing celiac disease increases by a significant amount. The only reason why the conclusions of this particular study are limited to two-year-olds, is because this study was limited to two-year-olds. Dr. Alesio Fasano proved years ago that eating gluten causes increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut) for everyone (not just celiacs, and certainly not just two-year-olds). And of course leaky gut is the most common cause of food sensitivities.

But at least this "discovery" is a step in the right direction. Celiac disease was first medically described about 2,000 years ago. Maybe in another 2,000 years the medical community will begin to actually understand celiac disease. (But I'm not holding my breath.) Here's a link to an abstract of the study:

Association of Gluten Intake During the First 5 Years of Life With Incidence of Celiac Disease Autoimmunity and Celiac Disease Among Children at Increased Risk

And here's a link to HealthDays interpretation of the research report:

Lots of Gluten During Toddler Years Might Raise Odds for Celiac Disease

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