INFLUENCE OF INFANT-FEEDING AND GLUTEN INTAKE ON CELIAC-DISEASE

Objectives-To study the impact of infant feeding habits and actual glu ten intake on gluten induced enteropathy. Methods-A case-referent desi gn, controlling for the HLA alleles conferring increased genetic risk, was used. All 164 siblings of 97 probands were investigated. Eighty f ive of the siblings, carrying the genes DQA10501-DQB1*02 conferring s usceptibility for the disease, were investigated by interview, food re cording, and taking a small intestinal biopsy sample. Eight cases of s ilent coeliac disease were found and these were compared with the 73 s iblings in whom the diagnosis was excluded. Results-No statistically s ignificant differences were found between cases and referents in terms of duration of breast feeding, age at introduction of cows' milli pro ducts, frequency of breast feeding after gluten introduction, and glut en consumption. Conclusions-The studied factors may be of less importa nce for the development of gluten induced enteropathy.