European researchers are apparently not afraid to do real research. In this case they looked at 86,306 children from The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study from 1999 to 2009 and correlated increased gluten intake at age 18 months with a 46% increased risk of type 1 diabetes. A prior study had suggested that mom’s intake during pregnancy was a major factor, but no relationship with mom’s intake was found in this study.
To understand a cohort study, one of my medical discernment Youtube videos describes how researchers will follow a large group of participants over a long period of time to see if any correlations with a disease can be teased out. Over an average 12.3 year period, 346 children developed diabetes. It appeared that for every 10 grams of gluten per day increase, the risk of type 1 diabetes later in life elevated by 46%. This is a major increase.
Authors speculated on different mechanisms through which this might occur including an altered microbiome and leaky gut. They do not recommend gluten avoidance at this point but they do believe gluten plus other environmental factors are a major part of the disease developing in children.
At Sanctuary, we don’t put everyone on a gluten free diet since not everyone needs it. In response to this article, I won’t be recommending a complete gluten free diet for all my infant patients just yet. However, I will encourage moderation and limitation of gluten in comparison to the standard American diet high in gluten. As we learn more about this connection, we will keep aiming to help our patients of all ages live a healthier more abundant life.
Thanks to Science Daily:
Diabetologia. “Child’s gluten intake during infancy, rather than mother’s during pregnancy, linked to increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 September 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190918184459.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
