Gluten is a vegetable protein, which is contained in the shell of some representatives of cereal crops. Most often, the use of a healthy person products containing gluten, does not entail any negative consequences. However, the ingestion of this elastic protein in the child's digestive tract can provoke an intestinal disorder, cause allergies. Therefore, gluten in baby food should not appear before the age of 6-8 months.
Control of the content of this protein in infant nutrition began after an increased number of cases of gluten intolerance in children in Europe and the United States. Probably, this is due to a hereditary allergic predisposition to this protein, as well as due to malnutrition of the woman during the bearing of the child. Before the release of new statistics, many did not even guess what gluten is and what it is harmful.
What is gluten?
Rye, wheat, barley and oats are cereals that contain gluten in the grain structure. Therefore, cereals based on these cereals are potentially allergenic, and therefore are introduced last and very carefully.
Gluten in baby food can be found in mixtures. In dairy products it is added for nutrition. In fact, this vegetable protein can be quite useful, but only if it is normally digested.
Corn gluten is used in the preparation of semi-finished products. Again, its use here is explained by the increase in the nutritional value of the product, which also saves the manufacturer's money, since it is a fairly cheap component.
What is dangerous gluten?
Gluten, getting into the gastrointestinal tract of a healthy person, is well digested by digestive enzymes and is an excellent source of protein. But sometimes in children with hereditary predisposition, gluten can cause a fairly rare disease of "celiac disease", in which the absorption of nutrients in the intestine is impaired. In this case, the child is doomed to maintain a diet throughout life, in which the gluten-containing foods are completely excluded from the diet.
Regular consumption of gluten-containing foods in large quantities can cause disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. "Overdose" of this protein in a child is fraught with the development of allergies to gluten and its intolerance.
Intolerance to gluten (celiac disease) occurs when there are no necessary enzymes in the intestine for its cleavage. Most often this is due to genetics, but the development of celiac disease can contribute to the irrational and excessive consumption of foods with gluten.
Symptoms of allergies to gluten
Allergic reaction to gluten is not related to rashes on the skin. Moreover, its manifestations can be seen only after 2-3 weeks after being consumed with the food of this protein. Symptoms of allergy to gluten are:
- an intestinal disorder (a frothy stool with a grayish tinge, flatulence, a child's complaints of abdominal pain);
- inhibition of physical development (the child does not grow and does not gain weight);
- changes from the nervous system (anxiety, nervousness, bad sleep).
Nutrition without gluten
If breastfeeding is impossible for some reason, then when choosing breastmilk substitutes, moms should give preference to gluten-free infant formula. This will avoid possible problems with digestion and allergies.
To reduce the risk of developing celiac disease, it is better to get acquainted with cereals with cereals without gluten - rice, corn and buckwheat. Only these 3 types of cereals do not contain in their structure a protein that is heavy for assimilation by the immature intestine.