Is a Gluten-Free Diet Enough to Maintain Correct Micronutrients Status in Young Patients with Celiac Disease?

The authors thank the patients for their participation in the current study. We are grateful to Ana Yara Postigo Fuentes for her assistance with the English language.The current study assesses whether the use of a gluten-free diet (GFD) is sufficient for maintaining correct iron status in children with celiac disease (CD). The study included 101 children. The celiac group (n = 68) included children with CD, with long (> 6 months) (n = 47) or recent (< 6 months) (n = 21) adherence to a GFD. The control group (n = 43) included healthy children. Dietary assessment was performed by a food frequency questionnaire and a 3-day food record. Celiac children had lower iron intake than controls, especially at the beginning of GFD (p < 0.01). The group CD-GFD >6 months showed a higher intake of cobalamin, meat derivatives and fish compared to that of CD-GFD <6 months (all, p < 0.05). The control group showed a higher consumption of folate, iron, magnesium, selenium and meat derivatives than that of children CD-GFD >6 months (all, p < 0.05). Control children also showed a higher consumption of folate and iron compared to that of children CD-GFD <6 months (both, p < 0.05). The diet of celiac children was nutritionally less balanced than that of the control. Participation of dietitians is necessary in the management of CD to guide the GFD as well as assess the inclusion of iron supplementation and other micronutrients that may be deficient.This study was partially funded by the Regional Government of Andalusia, Excellence Research Project No P12-AGR-2581. This study was also supported by the University of Granada Research and Knowledge Transfer Fund (PPIT)2016, Excellence Actions Programme: Scientific Units of Excellence (UCEES), and the Regional Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Enterprises and University, European Regional Development Funds (ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR). MFA was additionally funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (Grant number FPU17/03715)