Funding outcome

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune disorder caused by consuming gluten. Gluten is a protein found in grains such as wheat, rye and barley. The main treatment for CD is the gluten-free diet (GFD). However, GFD has a few drawbacks, including higher food costs, poor diet quality (DQ), and high added sugars and fat in GF foods. These drawbacks can lead to an increased risk for obesity and high sugar and fat levels in the blood (cardiometabolic risk factors). Our research team recently developed a new gluten-free food guide (GFFG). We want to help youth with CD eat healthier diets. In this study, we want to find out if providing diet education with the new GFFG will improve the DQ of children with CD eating on the GFD. We also want to see if dietary education with the GFFG can decrease the level of fats and sugars in the blood and help promote healthy growth in children with CD. To do this, we will provide diet education using the GFFG at the start of the study and compare the impact of GFFG diet education after six months. We will look at DQ, processed food intake, and household food spending. We will also look at the types of foods present in the home and some markers of cardiometabolic health (blood fats/sugars, body mass index and growth). We expect to show that diet education using the GFFD will result in youth with CD eating healthier gluten-free diets and healthy growth. The lab value for blood fat and sugars will be improved. Also, families with CD children have fewer processed GF-food-related purchases.