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The source of this summary was basically the following question:

>Can an unborn baby be affected
>by something during pregnancy that can cause the baby to be born with
>celiac disease? Can that trigger happen to the mother of the unborn
>baby and can it be emotional or psychological in nature, or must it
>be something that directly, physically, affects the baby?

Responses have been fascinating, and varied.  First two factual and
unemotional replies:

First from Ron Hoggan:

>Three of the triggers that I consider most likely are:
>1. exposure to adenovirus 12
>2. exposure to similar viral infections
>3. exposure to bacterial agents containing amino acid structures that are
>similar to those found in grains.
>Any or all of the above could act as a trigger and any or all could occur in
>utero.
>
>I doubt that emotional stress could be much of a factor because quite a lot
>of evidence suggests that such stress interferes with immune responses
>rather than revving them up, and I suspect that the environmental trigger
>needs to incite a vigorous immune reaction.


The from Dr. Jack Maines:

>  I question the intra uterine gluten thesis. What about opioids as a
>factor?  The gut in utero is almost non-functioning  until the last
>two weeks when it produces meconium- a nasty, toxic substance - from
>cells shed from the lining of the gut and from bile.  Normally it is
>retained in the rectum, but occasionally dumped into the  amniotic
>fluid where it causes all kinds of mischief.  During delivery
>mostly.  On the other hand, casein and gluten opioids are absorbed
>into the maternal circulation and certainly affect the fetus.
>Michael Gershon's book,  The Second Brain, gives some idea of the
>complexity of the intestine in its interaction with the  nervous
>system.  Additionally, he is a Cornell Grad!  And must have been a
>candidate, at least, for  a Nobel.  He seems to be as oblivious as
>most of us to celiac, but I can forgive him for that.

And from David Walland in England:

>I'm not certain about the full in's and out's of this, but I would
>expect with a genetic disease to see a range from ultra sensitive
>(=triggered at or before birth) to asymptomatic and this does seem to
>fit with what is being reported by the ALSPAC/Children of the 90's study
>being carried on here [in Bristol, England] in the Uni [I assume
>this is short for university] (about 9000 children in the study).
>They've identified a level of around 1 : 100 as the underlying coeliac
>frequency but many of those kids have no symptoms whatsoever.
>
>On another issue - the autism/coeliac suggested link, Louise Chollerton
>from the SA Coeliac Soc has just pointed me towards work being done in
>Norway.  Now I have been poking around the Norwegian coeliac research
>area for some time without having found this work and am having problems
>finding it through several of the leading medical people, yet the actual
>reporting looks factual and the stats may be OK.  Obvious question is
>whether he's out of favour with the "in" group and right, or whether
>there are serious questions about the standards of his work.  Right now
>"you pays yer money and takes yer choice".  The link would suggest that
>treating all autistics with a long term GF diet would make a significant
>impact on many of them and that the percentage of CD is much higher
>among them - ie that CD may be one cause of some autism.
>
>Right now, I'm writing to the Head of the ALSPAC/Children of the 90's
>study (Prof Jean Golding - she's a friend and I've done considerable
>work for them, so I expect more than just a brush-off), to ask whether
>they are looking for this link.  Their stats are impeccable and they
>will almost certainly have the information to check this work, if they
>think it worth while.

Now, from sources who will not be named as the responses are quite personal:

#1
>Both of my kids (and my husband and myself!) have had more than
>their share of digestive issues but what I have learned is that it
>is the actual act of birth that affects the mother and the child
>because we exchange some dna bits that are alien to each other (oh
>and the father is affected by the stress of responsibility). After
>my second son was born I had some pains that did not go away, it
>took years and some stress to make it finally blossom into full
>blown ulcerative colitis. The chances for auto-immune triggers are
>great between a mother and son, and then if there is a different
>blood type the chances increase. In truth it is very possibly the
>other way around - that you were unhappy because you were already
>being assaulted with auto-immune/chemical changes that were
>affecting your mood and well being.

>  my second son who is only 12 is the one that must be absolutely
>gluten free because part of his reaction is called "migraine with
>episodic dyscontrol" which means that he gets a dreadful mood swing
>with aggression if he has any gluten contact - did you have to deal
>with anything like that? It seems like mental illness excepting that
>we know the trigger (gluten) and it usually lasts a predictable
>30-40 minutes, though the unpleasant mood can drag on for a good
>(bad!) week. My concern is what will happen when he is out of the
>home environment (we homeschool so it is easy to offer gf food now -
>but once he is out in the world I am afraid he will not want to pass
>up convenient pizza and such - or that even an innocent hidden
>gluten will trigger something monstrous.

>  I meant to commend you for reminding us all that you can be
>transformed at any age - better late than never! Also, meant to
>mention that my first son was also pretty hyper before birth, had
>liquid stools and excemea and colic as a baby - actually did not
>potty train until almost five years old because liquid stools are
>hard to control - but then he got better. It was his brother, the
>calm healthy baby that ended up with the Celiac and gastroesophageal
>reflux disease, so there's just no telling (mind you I suspect #1
>does have celiac and we all stay gf, but he has not had symptoms to
>warrant a scoping and has always been afraid of needles. might be
>worth a saliva test at some point if I can sneak him gluten for an
>extended period before hand...).


#2
>It is very clear to me that I triggered celiac disease in myself
>while pregnant with my (now 8-year-old) son; and when he began
>eating solid food at age one, he began having problems with wheat.
>So, yes, I believe celiac disease can be triggered in utero.  In our
>case the cause was either an interupted course of antibiotics, or
>the subsequent collapse of my immune system when something (probably
>candida) took over my system. For about a year after the interupted
>course of antibiotics, I was free from colds no more than a week at
>a time (with one exception). I'd get a cold; it would last two or
>three weeks; I'd finally get over it; I'd catch another. This
>continued through the last five months of my pregnancy -- then due
>to the strong drugs they gave me to keep infection down after a
>cesarean section, I had the first month of my son's life off from
>colds -- and then the cold-after-cold-after-cold syndrome started
>back up again for about another six months.  Finally my immune
>system began to recover (thank goodness -- I was so tired of
>sneezing and stuffy noses).
>
>I had been in excellent health all my life up to that point. Two
>years after the interupted course of antibiotics, I was run down and
>tired, nauseous a lot of the time; my hair was falling out; my nails
>were growing in weird -- I figured I was dying of something! My
>doctor didn't diagnose it -- but in a way, my one-year-old son did.
>After we learned he was a celiac, it became obvious pretty quickly
>who he'd inherited the gene from, and that I had recently developed
>an active case, too.













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