High Gluten Diet in Pregnancy can Increase Diabetes Risk in Children

High consumption of gluten pregnant women can increase the risk of Type-1 diabetes in children. Proteins found in foods rich in gluten such as wheat, rye, and barley can increase the risk of diabetes.

Higher consumption of gluten by women during pregnancy was found to increase the risk of Type-1 diabetes in children, reveals a new study.

The findings, led by Julie Antvorskov from the Bartholin Institute in Denmark, showed that children of women with an intake of 20g per day or more gluten had double the risk of developing Type-1 diabetes, compared to those with less than 7g per day.

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‘Proteins found in foods rich in gluten such as wheat, rye, and barley can increase the risk of diabetes in children.’

The risk increased proportionally with the mother's gluten intake of 10g per day during pregnancy.

Animal studies revealed that a gluten-free diet during pregnancy almost completely prevented Type-1 diabetes in their offspring.

Doctors as well as public "should be aware of the possibility that consuming large amounts of gluten might be associated with an increased risk for the child to develop Type-1 diabetes," the researchers stated.

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In the study, published in the journal BMJ, the team analysed 63,529 pregnant women to examine whether gluten intake during pregnancy is associated with subsequent risk of Type-1 diabetes in children.

Even after considering potentially influential factors such as mother's age, weight (BMI), total energy intake, and smoking during pregnancy, 247 cases of Type-1 diabetes were identified (a rate of 0.37 per cent).

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However, it is too early to change dietary recommendations on gluten intake in pregnancy, the researchers said, suggesting the need to identify whether the proposed association is really driven by gluten or by something else in the grains or the diet.

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Source-IANS