Complementary feeding and risk of celiac disease and food allergy. What does the evidence say?

Celiac disease is a chronic systemic disorder mediated by immune and autoimmune phenomena, triggered by ingestion of gluten and related prolaminas in genetically susceptible individuals. Food allergy is an adverse, immune mediated, reproducible reaction to a foodstuff. Recommendations on complementary feeding have varied along time and also vary in different countries, depending on their cultures, socioeconomic resources and dietary habits. To date the scientific evidence is not clear about how the nature and quantity of foods given to a child and the forms in which they are given influence health and futures development in the child. Recent publications question some basic criteria of pediatric feeding, like the protective role of maternal milk and the benefit of postponing the introduction of some frequently allergenic foods; they suggest that the age of introduction of gluten and other potentially allergenic foodstuffs do not modify the risk of developing celiac disease or food allergy and that breast feeding does not protect from these two conditions. For these reasons we have considered relevant to review the available evidence on these matters on celiac disease and food allergy.