The basis for the treatment of celiac disease is a gluten-free diet, eliminating gluten - a factor responsible for the formation of disease symptoms.
When is the disease most commonly manifested?
Celiac disease usually manifests itself in infants - between 9 and 24 months of age, depending on the age in which
for gluten diet.
The specificity of treatment of infants and young children
In the initial acute phase of the disease, especially in the youngest children, it is necessary to simultaneously use a gluten-free and non-dairy diet (of course, cow's milk!).
What is the standard gluten-free diet?
It consists in eliminating food products from cereals containing gluten: wheat, barley, oats and rye.
Food products allowed in a gluten-free diet:
• Milk and milk products (cream, white and aged cheese, milk drinks such as yoghurt or kefir), unless allergy or intolerance to cow's milk has also been found.
• Meat, meats, poultry, eggs, fish, provided that no gluten-containing products have been added to their preparation.
• Wheat flour and its products, pasta, wheat bran; rye flour and its preparations; semolina; barley and its products (Masurian groats, pearl, pearl barley); oats and its products (oatmeal).
• Stuffed chocolate, bars, stuffed candies, as they may contain added flour, wafer crack, malt, vegetable protein, etc.
• Chewing gum of any type.
Warning! All gluten-free products should be tested for gluten content and marked with a cross-out bar.
A varied gluten-free diet ensures the proper development of the child, although iron absorption of products containing rice and corn was shown to be worse than from other cereals. The addition of fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C and meat and its products provides the right amount of iron and prevents anemia.
When using a gluten-free diet, will we restore health?
After 4-6 weeks of the elimination diet, depending on the degree of villus destruction, you can expect improvement in your health. Sometimes, however, you have to wait up to three months to renew villi and complete resolution of clinical symptoms.
When you can eliminate the symptoms of food intolerance
What's next - after the child's recovery?
After returning to full health, parents ask themselves: Can you extend your diet and introduce cereal products? For example, should a gluten-free diet be used throughout life? Will allergy to cow's milk disappear, or is it a disease for a lifetime?
In the case of transient gluten intolerance
Some patients have transient gluten intolerance. This term is reserved for periodic intolerances being a complication of infectious infections of the gastrointestinal tract (viral, bacterial, parasitic). As a result of infection, intestinal villi can be damaged, which are responsible for the effective absorption of nutrients into the blood. Symptoms are similar to congenital gluten intolerance.However, unlike authentic celiac disease - after curing with an elimination diet - re-introduction of gluten does not cause these patients to again disappear villi. In these situations, there is no need for a constant use of a gluten-free diet.
In the case of celiac disease, i.e. persistent gluten intolerance
If persistent intolerance is found, a gluten-free diet must be used throughout life. It means permanent elimination of wheat, rye, barley and oats from the menu as well as all their aforementioned products. On the other hand, other above-mentioned cereal products are allowed: maize, rice and all their products, as well as soybeans, millet, buckwheat, sorghum, potato flour, tapioca.
The most common indications for a gluten-free diet - beyondceliac disease:
• chronic diarrhea, for unknown reasons
• some forms of allergy to cow's milk proteins (running with the disappearance of the small intestinal mucosa).
ed. Edward Ozga Michalski, MA
consultation by dr n. med. Janusz Ciok
gastroenterologist