Breastfeeding reduces risk of gluten intolerance

Although the study is not comprehensive enough to be conclusive, this is not the first time breastfeeding and gluten intolerance have been linked. Still, the researchers are unaware exactly why breastfeeding reduces the risk in such a dramatic manner.

Theories include the fact that breast milk passes on immunities that allow for fewer intestinal infections. In this way, the bowel lining is not weakened, and gluten does not pass deeper into the gut than is healthy. Also, breastfed babies do not consume as much gluten during weaning as their non-breastfed counterparts.

Whatever the exact reasons, the studies do indicate that breastfeeding helps reduce the risks of gluten intolerance.

Prevailing medical wisdom suggests that infants should be breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life and then should be fed a balanced and complementary solid food diet in addition to breast milk.

Not all mothers, however, have the ability to breastfeed. In these cases, it is recommended that the mother consult an infant nutritionist to make sure that the formulas used do not contain gluten and that as the baby is weaned, he or she is not consuming what may be considered an unsafe amount of wheat-based products.

Those with a family history of celiac disease should be especially vigilant in the first few years of baby's life.