Consuming gluten-rich diet during pregnancy increases child's diabetes risk

Consuming a diet high in gluten -- a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley -- during pregnancy can increase the risk of their child developing type 1 diabetes, a study has found.

In animal studies, a gluten-free diet during pregnancy almost completely prevented type 1 diabetes in offspring, but no intervention study has been undertaken in pregnant women.

Researchers from the Bartholin Institute in Denmark set out to examine whether gluten intake during pregnancy is associated with subsequent risk of type 1 diabetes in children.

They analyzed data for 63,529 pregnant women enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort between January 1996 and October 2002.

Women reported their diet using a food frequency questionnaire at week 25 of pregnancy and information on type 1 diabetes in their children was obtained through the Danish Registry of Childhood and Adolescent Diabetes.

Average gluten intake was 13 grams per day, ranging from less than 7 grams per day to more than 20 grams per day, and the researchers identified 247 cases of type 1 diabetes (a rate of 0.37 percent) among the participants' children.

After taking account of potentially influential factors, such as mother's age, weight (BMI), total energy intake, and smoking during pregnancy, they found that the child's risk of type 1 diabetes increased proportionally with the mother's gluten intake during pregnancy (per 10 grams per day increase).

For example, children of women with the highest gluten intake (20 grams per day or more) versus those with the lowest gluten intake (less than 7 grams per day) had double the risk of developing type 1 diabetes over a mean follow-up period of 15.6 years.

The mechanisms that might explain this association are not known, but could include increased inflammation or increased gut permeability (so-called leakiness of the gut), researchers said.

However, more evidence is needed before changes to dietary recommendations could be justified, they said.