Eating more gluten early in life is tied to children's higher risk of celiac disease, a study says

Bad news for lovers of bread, pasta and baked goods: Eating lots of gluten-heavy foods from a young age could eventually lead to gluten intolerance.

A study published Tuesday in the journal JAMA suggests that eating higher-than-normal levels of gluten during the first five years of life can increase a child's likelihood of developing celiac disease, a digestive disorder that damages the small intestine.

Higher gluten intake was associated with a 6.1% increased risk of celiac disease autoimmunity, an immunological response to gluten, and a 7.2% increased risk of celiac disease per each additional gram or gluten per day, according to the study.

Researchers evaluated more than 6,600 newborns in the United States, Finland, Germany and Sweden born between 2004 to 2010. All of the children carried a genotype associated with Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease.

Every few months, the study's authors recorded the children's gluten intake until the age of 5 and compared the levels to reference amounts of gluten intake in healthy children at each age.

Over the course of the study, 1,216 of the children -- nearly 20% -- developed celiac disease autoimmunity, the first sign of the body's negative response to the protein, said study author Carin Andrén Aronsson, study manager at the Unit for Diabetes & Celiac Disease at Lund University in Sweden.

Another 450 participants developed celiac disease, about 7%. Most of the diagnoses occurred between the ages of 2 and 3, according to the study.