Researchers in Sweden and in South Africa have been examining whether some of the deaths among children in poorer populations that have been attributed to diarrhoea and malnutrition could actually have been caused by untreated coeliac disease, maybe even exacerbated by gluten based food supplements.
From what they admit is a relatively crude model they deduced that there are around 2.2 million children under five living with coeliac disease and around 42,000 deaths among these children annually. So in 2008 CD could have accounted for around 4% of diarrhoeal mortality.
The Global Burden of Childhood Coeliac Disease: A Neglected Component of Diarrhoeal Mortality? Peter Byass, Kathleen Kahn, Anneli Ivarsson Umeå Centre for Global Health Research, Sweden; School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand.
Click here for more research on coeliac disease
