Celiac Disease Not Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders

There is no link between celiac disease and autism, researchers from Sweden reported recently.

Celiac disease is an immune reaction triggered by protein- gluten- found in wheat and barley. The disease is quite common in the U.S., affecting one in every 141 people. It is widely believed that celiac disease is linked with autism spectrum disorder. However, there is very little research supporting the claim.

The new study, led by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet, has found that there is no link between the two disorders.

Data for the study was obtained from medical records of 250,000 people, of which 26,995 people had celiac disease. Researchers found that although people with ASD didn't have a higher chance of getting a celiac disease diagnosis, they had a higher risk of testing positive for one of the tests for celiac disease.

Note that getting a positive test result for celiac disease isn't the only criteria to be diagnosed for the disease.

"Our data are consistent with earlier research in that we found no convincing evidence that CD is associated with ASD except for a small excess risk noted after CD diagnosis. We can't rule out the fact that children with ASD are investigated for CD more often than others, which could explain these results", said Jonas Ludvigsson, a Professor at Karolinska Institutet, one of the study authors, according to a news release.

The study is published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

According to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), In the US, 1 in 88 children and 1 in every 54 boys have autism.