Gluten intolerance that went away in one infant
What it found
A baby boy had gut damage and swelling after a salmonella infection, improved on a gluten-free diet, and stayed well when gluten was put back.
The authors say his gluten intolerance was short-lived, not coeliac disease.
What they found
Studies in people
Illness and first biopsy
Two months after salmonella enteritis the baby had swelling from low blood protein. A small bowel biopsy showed severe partial villous atrophy.
Response to gluten-free diet
On a gluten-free diet his appetite and mood improved and he gained weight quickly. After 5 weeks his serum albumin rose further.
Biopsy after one year
After one year on the gluten-free diet, a biopsy showed normal small bowel mucosa.
Gluten put back
He was given a normal gluten-containing diet. A biopsy 16 months later was still normal, and he had no symptoms.
Not coeliac disease
In coeliac children, gluten usually damages the gut again. This child's gut stayed normal, so the authors say he did not have coeliac disease.
What the authors conclude
“It is suggested that a transient intolerance to gluten occurred in this patient as a sequel to enteritis, and that a clinical response to a gluten-free diet is not necessarily diagnostic of coeliac disease.”
Also in their conclusions
- They suggest that a short-lived intolerance to gluten happened in this child after enteritis.
- They say that a clinical response to a gluten-free diet is not necessarily a sign of coeliac disease.
- They advise that children diagnosed with coeliac disease who have unusual features should be reinvestigated with small bowel biopsy before and after gluten is put back into the diet.
How it was done
The authors wanted to tell apart children with coeliac disease, who need a gluten-free diet for life, from children with short-lived gluten intolerance, who need it only for a time.
They followed one baby boy from age 1 year 3 months, when he got salmonella gastro-enteritis, until he was 4 years 11 months. They took three small bowel biopsies: before a gluten-free diet, after one year on it, and 16 months after gluten was put back.
What it can’t tell you
- This is a single case report, so it cannot show how common short-lived gluten intolerance is or who else might have it.
- It cannot prove that the gluten-free diet caused the improvement, because the child might have recovered on his own.
The paper
- Title
- Transient gluten intolerance
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Walker-Smith J (1970). Transient gluten intolerance. Archives of disease in childhood. doi:10.1136/adc.45.242.523Free full textPubMed 5506937DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error