One of the signs of undiagnosed coeliac disease in children is lower than normal height-for-age and weight-for-age. A recent study of 50 children with late diagnosed coeliac disease looked at and recorded their height and weight at diagnosis. The children were followed for four years to assess their catch-up growth. The results illustrated that following diagnosis the children showed significant growth, but it was not complete in all the children; half of them remained small for their age. Whilst this study seems to show that the gluten-free diet doesn’t always lead to a full catch up in growth in late diagnosed coeliac disease, early diagnosis may help to ensure that children show sufficient catch-up growth.

British Journal of Nutrition. 94(3): 437-42, 2005

I wonder if they followed growth to the age when growth stops. The reason I say this is that I was short from diagnosis (18 months) until just after puberty when I caught back up. The doctors have a graph showing age/height and they plotted my height on it from birth. Following diagnosis I had dropped from the line I had started on to the next ‘octave’ down. By the time I had stopped growing, however, I had rejoined the line I started on as a baby.


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