How to Tell If Your Child Has a Gluten Allergy

Gluten intolerance--a sensitivity to a protein found in wheat--can develop in babies and children as well as in adults. Gluten intolerance causes a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms which, though not life-threatening, can cause great discomfort. Avoiding foods that contain gluten alleviates these symptoms. Coeliac disease is a more severe form of gluten-intolerance. Coeliac disease can have serious side effects and requires blood tests and a biopsy to diagnose. A gluten-free diet is also required to treat coeliac disease, but taking an enzyme that breaks down the protein in gluten may help to prevent symptoms of one or both of these disorders.

Instructions

Identification and Treatment

1

Identify sources of gluten in your child's diet. Gluten is a protein contained in wheat. Rye, barley and oats contain similar proteins. Gluten consists of numerous long chains of proteins lined up along side each other. Some of these proteins can irritate the small intestine, interfering with its ability to produce the digestive enzymes that break down food. Gluten intolerance can, but does not always, progress into coeliac disease. The proteins in wheat, rye, barley and oats damage villi, the small, finger-like projections that line the small intestine. When irritated, the villi become inflamed and lose the ability to absorb water, vitamins, folic acid, iron, calcium and other nutrients. The condition can also interfere with the body's ability to absorb the protein in eggs, milk and soy. Gluten intolerance and the more serious coeliac disease are often hereditary, but infants who aren't breastfed and are exposed to wheat, barley or rye before they are four months old are up to five times more likely to develop coeliac disease than breastfed infants. Ireland has the highest reported prevalence of coeliac disease (one in 100 people); the disease also affects a significant number of people throughout the UK, Italy and the United States.

2

Know the symptoms of gluten intolerance. Bacteria that live in the digestive tract ferment the food that wheat-intolerant people cannot digest, which triggers nausea, bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Gluten intolerance and coeliac disease can also cause fatigue, depression and weight gain. In addition to developing the symptoms mentioned above, poor absorption of nutrients can cause babies and children with coeliac disease to be underweight and fail to develop adequate muscle mass. Its interference with calcium absorption can also make bones brittle and fragile (osteoporosis). Adults who develop or grew up with coeliac disease are at risk of developing a broad range of symptoms, some of which can be debilitating and, in some cases, life-threatening.

3

Eliminate all foods containing gluten (wheat in any form) from your child's diet for a minimum of two weeks, then resume his normal diet. If the discomfort recedes on the wheat-free diet but recurs when wheat is reintroduced, it's a reliable indication of gluten intolerance.

Although blood tests to measure antibodies will provide an initial indication of coeliac disease, a biopsy of tissue from the surface of the small bowel is necessary to confirm the diagnosis. Children are more likely to develop coeliac disease if they have:

Type 1 diabetes
Autoimmune thyroid disease
Dermatitis herptiformis
Down Syndrome
Turner Syndome
Williams Syndrome

4

Avoid gluten entirely to resolve symptoms. Taking Glutenzyme, an enzyme derived from natural sources that breaks down the proteins in glutens, may reduce or prevent gluten intolerance. However, patients who have coeliac disease must avoid gluten to prevent severe damage over the years.