Higher Gluten Intake in Pregnancy Tied to Increased Diabetes Risk in Offspring

By Amy Orciari Herman

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM

Higher intake of gluten during pregnancy may be associated with increased risk for type 1 diabetes in offspring, suggests a prospective study in The BMJ.

Danish women without type 1 diabetes completed food-frequency questionnaires at around 25 weeks of pregnancy, during which information on gluten intake in the prior 4 weeks was calculated. Nearly 68,000 pregnancies ultimately were included in the analyses.

During a mean follow-up of 16 years, 0.37% of offspring were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After multivariable adjustment, offspring risk for diabetes increased as maternal gluten intake increased. In particular, children of women with the highest gluten intake had twice the risk for diabetes as children of women with the lowest intake.

The researchers say the potential association "might be related to the complex interplay between diet, immune development, microbiota, and intestinal permeability." They and editorialists call for additional research to confirm the findings.