Case Control Study on Nutritional Risk Factors in Celiac Disease

Abstract

SummaryThis study explored whether risk or protective nutritional factors have a role in childhood celiac disease. The effect of bottle feeding and early introduction of gluten to the diet was evaluated in a case control study. For each case, about 10 controls were recruited: sample size was determined as required for the evaluation of the study hypothesis. Patients were significantly less breast fed than were controls. Bottle‐fed children had an earlier introduction of gluten to the diet than did controls, but when early gluten introduction was analyzed across strata of breast‐fed or bottle‐fed children, no risk was attributed to it. Bottle feeding appeared to be a significant risk factor in children who received gluten early as well as in those who received gluten later. Breast‐feeding rates for patients and controls were equal at birth, but lower for patients by the age of 1 month: from then onward, there was a constant difference between patients and controls regarding the percentage still at breast. Interruption of breast feeding was a risk factor in celiac disease, but early gluten introduction did not appear to be a similar risk factor in the present study.