Gluten allergy in a child, whose symptoms are quite insidious, usually manifests itself during infancy, when new foods are introduced into the diet. It disappears with a gluten-free diet and symptomatic treatment.
Gluten and Gluten-Free Products
Gluten is a protein of plant origin. It is found in the seeds of some cereal plants, such as oats, rye, barley and wheat. The second name for gluten is gluten. It is part of about 80% of human everyday foods, including foods for infants.
The apparent presence of gluten can be found in bread, bakery products, cereals from the above cereals, pastries, semolina, pasta, bran. Products with a hidden gluten content include gastronomic products, sweets, ice cream, sauces, mayonnaises, dressings, chips, crab sticks and other products to which gluten is added as an auxiliary ingredient.
Reasons for the appearance
Why is a child allergic to gluten? Scientists adhere to immunological theory. Namely, when gluten enters the digestive tract, it breaks down into fraction proteins - glutelin and gliadin. The latter is perceived by the body as a foreign body. As a result, antibodies to gliadin and autoimmune antibodies to intestinal cells are produced in the blood. Its walls are damaged, irritated, and the full functioning and absorption of nutrients ceases. That is why a child is allergic to gluten, the symptoms of which are often considered manifestations of other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
The intestine becomes a place of accumulation of decay products, and this negatively affects the general condition of the body. In addition, in severe cases, abnormalities in the functioning of the endocrine, cardiovascular systems and kidneys can be observed.
Symptoms of a child’s gluten allergy
An allergic reaction to gluten most often occurs when parents begin to feed their baby. During this period, the child gets acquainted with new foods in addition to breast milk. In most cases, especially if the baby is gaining poor weight, the first lure is cereal cereals, which contain gluten. As a result, an allergy to gluten may develop. In a child, symptoms appear immediately or even after several weeks and months after an allergen enters the body, the so-called cumulative allergy. The reaction depends on the serving size, frequency of administration, immunity, and the state of the digestive system. The sooner parents detect symptoms and diagnose allergies, the easier it will be for the baby.
Gluten allergy is manifested in a wide variety of variations. In a child, the symptoms may be of the following nature:
- swollen, bulging belly. Parents will think that the child is overeating, and the doctor may recognize this as a sign of rickets;
- poor weight gain and growth retardation, in particular after the introduction of complementary foods. If, before cereals, the baby was gaining weight normally, then when a child is allergic to gluten, symptoms of underweight and a complex developmental delay are present;
- unstable, frequent, plentiful stools (5 times a day or more) of a mushy consistency with a bad smell, oily, difficult to wash off, foamy, of different colors, glistens due to fat.
These were typical symptoms of gluten allergy in children. In addition to them, there are a number of others that depend on the presence of trace elements, vitamins and nutrients in the body. Therefore, each child's reaction can be completely different. Secondary symptoms include:
- moodiness, tearfulness, irritability, aggressiveness or, conversely, lethargy and fatigue;
- unsatisfactory condition of the skin - peeling, dermatitis, bad hair - weak, dry. Skin rashes are most often formed on the elbows, knees, buttocks, head;
- bones often break, even with minor injuries. In healthy young children, this is rare, because their bones are very elastic;
- impaired posture;
- weak muscle tone;
- anemia;
- problems of the oral cavity - bleeding gums, enamel, caries is destroyed;
- outwardly, the baby looks tired;
- sometimes a child is compared with a spider, because his tummy becomes bulging, and the arms and legs are thin and skinny, like the legs of a spider.
This is how an allergy to gluten in a child can occur. The symptoms, photos of which are given in the article, show that the reaction can be overwhelming.
How to diagnose an allergy?
If you find at least one of the symptoms in a child, you must urgently consult a doctor. Procrastination in this matter threatens the baby with a lag in development and a deterioration in the state of the body as a whole.
How to identify a child’s gluten allergy? For this, allergy tests are carried out, an enzyme immunoassay is performed for venous blood. As a result of analysis in the blood serum, the amount of antibodies is determined - antigliadin, autoimmune antibodies to reticulin, tissue transglutaminase, endomysium. In a healthy child, antibodies to gluten in the blood serum are absent or their number is minimal. If the result is positive, then there is an allergy to gluten. Symptoms in infants can appear only after gluten-containing foods are introduced into their diet.
An increased amount of eosinophils, immunoglobulins E, G in the blood most often indicates an allergic reaction. The doctor will make the final diagnosis on the basis of the tests and the existing symptoms. For a more accurate picture, it is advisable for the doctor to know what the child’s diet has been recently. A good helper in the diagnosis will be a nutrition diary in which parents note that they ate the baby, in what quantity and from what period the products began to be introduced, what was the reaction of the body to them.
Allergy Prevention
To reduce the risk of developing an allergy to gluten in infants, it is necessary to introduce complementary foods (no earlier than six months) and breast-feed the baby as long as possible. Feeding should be started with gluten-free cereals - rice, buckwheat, corn and one-component vegetable purees.
It is important to monitor the quality and composition of food for the baby. Give new products to try gradually and keep a diary of observations of the reaction.
A lactating woman can eat foods that contain vegetable protein. It does not enter the baby’s body through milk. In some cases, infants are fed or fed with milk mixtures almost from birth. They may also include gluten, so the choice of mixture should be treated responsibly. Children with allergies are given a gluten-free mixture.
Treatment methods
Once a child’s gluten allergy has been diagnosed, the symptoms of which are similar to many other childhood diseases, treatment should be started immediately.
The first thing to do is switch to food products that do not contain vegetable protein. To do this, you need to know which products contain gluten and which do not. Unfortunately, not everything that is sold on the domestic market is labeled for the presence of vegetable protein. On the packaging of foreign products that do not contain gluten, a crossed spikelet is depicted. It’s more convenient to purchase the right product if you are allergic to gluten in a child.
A medication that helps a child cope with allergy symptoms is prescribed by a doctor. Symptomatic therapy involves the use of antihistamines, drugs that adjust intestinal motility, enterosorbents, vitamins for raising immunity, gastrointestinal immunostimulants that help restore microflora, anti-inflammatory creams and ointments.
These measures eliminate the allergy to gluten in a child. Symptoms, treatment which takes place in several stages, can be tracked by re-passing tests. One of the ingredients of some drugs is gluten, so you need to be careful when choosing them.
Gluten Allergy Nutrition
The main food for infants, including those suffering from gluten allergy, should be mother's milk or gluten-free milk formulas for about a year. The introduced complementary foods should not contain vegetable proteins.
The list of products that can be consumed with an allergic reaction to gluten:
- natural dairy products, eggs;
- fresh, natural fish, meat, poultry, not pickled, without spices;
- natural, unprocessed legumes;
- rice, buckwheat, millet, corn, quinoa, amaranth, flour and products from these cereals;
- fruits vegetables;
- vegetable and butter;
- sweets - marmalade, marshmallows, chocolate, certain varieties of ice cream and sweets;
- root vegetables, nuts;
- jelly, freshly squeezed juices, natural cocoa and tea;
- tapioca, teff, sorghum.
What should be excluded from the diet?
All products that gluten are hidden or explicitly included:
- barley, wheat, rye, oats. All products and products made from them. Pearl barley, semolina;
- canned food, marinades;
- sausages, sausages, semi-finished products, offal;
- some seasonings and spices, ketchup, mayonnaise, sauces, mustard;
- concentrated soups, bouillon cubes;
- oriental sweets;
- some nutritional supplements;
- Confectionery - cakes, pastries, cookies;
- yogurt, whole milk.
Is celiac disease and gluten allergy the same thing?
Celiac disease is congenital and inherited gluten intolerance. With this disease, vegetable protein is absolutely not absorbed and is not digested by the intestines. Celiac disease remains for life, forcing the patient to constantly adhere to a strict diet. If the disease is not treated in time, it can provoke complications in the form of serious diseases.
In case of allergies, the walls of the small intestine are irritated with vegetable protein, and it is partially absorbed by the intestinal villi. Gluten allergy disappears if it is diagnosed, treated and dieted on time.
Gluten allergy is not a sentence
Many parents wonder, “Will a child outgrow gluten allergy?” This often happens. It is observed in children under the age of three years, then in most cases the allergy goes away.
The main thing in the fight against gluten allergy is to be informationally armed and to carry out preventive measures, diagnostics and treatment in a timely manner.