Low cereal intake in Estonian infants: the possible explanation for the low frequency of coeliac disease in Estonia.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the intake of coeliac disease (CD) inducing, gluten containing cereals (wheat, rye, barley and oats) in Estonian infants diet and compare these results with neighbouring countries with different CD incidence rate. Study group consisted of 32 healthy full term infants of Estonian origin. Study was carried out in Tartu University Women's Hospital and in Tartu University Children's Hospital. These are both primary care facilities. Infants were recruited to the study group according to their health parameters and parents agreement to take part of this study. Material of this article is based on one part of Estonian infants dietary habits investigation. The total amount of gluten containing cereals in Estonian infants diet was lower than in Sweden and Finland. We found that there is a certain parallelism between CD incidence and cereal intake. Wheat intake of Estonian infants was very close to Finnish infants, but almost twice lower than in Swedish infants. Data from the study is consistent with the hypothesis that gluten intake during infancy play role in development of CD. The quality of gluten-containing cereals may have important part in the development of the disease.