Gluten Free Diet Does Not Reduce Diabetes Risk

Thu, 23 Jun 2011
A gluten free diet in the initial year of a baby's life does not reduce the the risk of developing childhood diabetes due to family history

Previous research had shown that youngsters exposed to gluten in their early life may be more susceptible to developing type 1 diabetes later in their childhood.

Gluten is the protein in wheat as well as other grains which renders dough elastic and injects bread with its chewiness.

Type 1 diabetes usually affects children, whereas, type 2 diabetes, normally affects adults and is linked to older age or obesity .

Type 1 diabetes is often inherited from parents However, genes by themselves do not fully explain why individuals develop this condition. There are other responsible factors, like environmental exposures.

To pinpoint whether or not delaying the introduction of gluten in infants with a genetic susceptibility can lower the risk of type 1 diabetes, researchers monitored 150 babies with at least a parent or sibling diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. They determined the death of islet cells in the pancreas which secrete the hormone insulin . The body needs insulin to transform dietary sugars into energy.

Half of the children were not given any gluten until they reached six months of age. The other half were only given gluten once they had reached their first birthday. By the age of three, three children who had been eating gluten at six months of age had developed diabetes, in comparison to four children who were exposed to it aged one.

The researchers conclusion was that keeping a baby's diet gluten-free is not harmful, however, it also does not lower the risk of type 1 diabetes for the baby later on.

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.