Case control study on nutritional risk factors in celiac disease.

This study explored whether risk or protective nutritional factors have a role in childhood celiac disease. The effect of bottle feeding and early introduction of gluten to the diet was evaluated in a case control study. For each case, about 10 controls were recruited: sample size was determined as required for the evaluation of the study hypothesis. Patients were significantly less breast fed than were controls. Bottle-fed children had an earlier introduction of gluten to the diet than did controls, but when early gluten introduction was analyzed across strata of breast-fed or bottle-fed children, no risk was attributed to it. Bottle feeding appeared to be a significant risk factor in children who received gluten early as well as in those who received gluten later. Breast-feeding rates for patients and controls were equal at birth, but lower for patients by the age of 1 month: from then onward, there was a constant difference between patients and controls regarding the percentage still at breast. Interruption of breast feeding was a risk factor in celiac disease, but early gluten introduction did not appear to be a similar risk factor in the present study.