#intestinal villi

Celiac disease rate among young children has almost tripled in past 20 years

The number of young children diagnosed with coeliac disease in the UK has almost tripled over the past 20 years, but kids from poorer families are only half as likely to be diagnosed with the condition, reveals research published online in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The evidence to date suggests that up to 1% of all children in the UK have blood markers for coeliac disease, an autoimmune reaction to dietary gluten from wheat, barley, and rye.

F. Zingone, J. West, C. J. Crooks, K. M. Fleming, T. R. Card, C. Ciacci, L. J. Tata. Socioeconomic variation in the incidence of childhood coeliac disease in the UK.Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2015; DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2014-307105

Gluten protein fragments have been identified that stimulate the immune system, leading to inflammation of the intestine and shortening of the intestinal villi.UCLA