When is it Safe to Introduce Gluten to an Infant

It has always bothered me that research concerning introducing gluten to infants cited 4 months as a time to begin. It never rang true for me that it would be a good idea to introduce a potentially toxic substance to such a young body when the immune system isn’t at full strength and the liver doesn’t have its full detoxification abilities engaged.

Fortunately I found some new research to support my ‘gut’ reaction on this topic. Just a few months ago, March 2012, several researchers from the United States and Italy published a study titled “Proof of concept of microbiome-metabolome analysis and delayed gluten exposure on celiac disease autoimmunity in genetically at-risk infants”. While the title is a mouthful, the results are easy to understand. This study can be found in PLoS One, an open access peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS).

Thirty infants were part of this study and each had the genetic markers that showed susceptibility to celiac disease. All infants were breastfed for the first 6 months of life and then they were put into two separate groups. The first group was exposed to gluten beginning at 6 months while the second group received no gluten until 12 months of age.

The researchers analyzed the types of bacteria that made up the microbiome or population of good bacteria contained in the gut. The techniques they used were very sophisticated in that they revealed the DNA make-up of the various species present.

All the children were tracked until they were two years of age.

There was a profound difference in the population of bacteria found in the two groups of infants. It was so much better and healthier in the group that did not receive early exposure to gluten that the researchers concluded that a benefit could be derived from delaying gluten exposure until at least 12 months of age. Perhaps another study will be done to see if waiting until 18 months or even 24 months would provide greater benefit.

The reason for the difference in bacterial health is not known at this time, although it could have something to do with the maturity of the digestive tract as time passes.

We know that abundant and strong good bacteria actually have the ability to keep ‘bad’ genes, such as those that cause celiac disease, turned off. If early exposure to gluten so weakens the good bacteria present that they cannot prevent bad gene expression, this study could be a landmark that will forever change the way our infant population is fed.

More research will tell, but in the meantime I will hold to my recommendation of waiting minimally a year, if not two, before introducing gluten to an at-risk infant. Also appreciate that this was a celiac-prone population. We have yet to get information on how this might relate to that greater population suffering from gluten sensitivity.

Have you had any experience with at-risk babies and introducing gluten? I’d love to hear from you.

If you have questions or would like a free health analysis, please give me a call. Awareness of gluten intolerance needs to be raised dramatically and I am committed to do so.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Reference:

“Proof of concept of microbiome-metabolome analysis and delayed gluten exposure on celiac disease autoimmunity in genetically at-risk infants”. M. Sellitto, G. Bai, G. Serena, W.F. Frickle, C. Sturgeon, P. Gajer, J.R. White, S.S. Koenig, J. Sakamoto, D. Boothe, R. Gicquelais, D. Kryszak, E. Puppa, C. Catassi, J. Ravel, A. Fasano, PLoS One. 2012/7(3):e33387.