Report: Gluten-Free Baby Products - Parental Awareness & Science

This report investigates parental knowledge and awareness regarding gluten-free baby products, highlighting the potential harmful effects of gluten on infants and young children. It emphasizes the importance of parents being informed about gluten content in baby food products due to the difficulty infants have in digesting gluten, which can lead to health issues like celiac disease, osteoporosis, nerve damage, and infertility. The report includes annotated references to various sources that discuss gluten sensitivity, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the nutritional differences between gluten-free and gluten-containing diets. It also addresses the concern that some products labeled as gluten-free may still contain traces of gluten, urging parents to carefully check product labels. The ultimate goal is to educate parents about making informed decisions to protect their children's health by choosing truly gluten-free options. Desklib provides a platform for students to access this and similar assignments.

Running Head: GLUTEN FREE BABY: WHEN PARENTS IGNORE SCIENCE
Gluten Free Baby: When Parents Ignore Science
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1GLUTEN FREE BABY: WHEN PARENTS IGNORE SCIENCE
Executive Summary
The study focuses on the knowledge of the parents on gluten free baby products. It focuses on what
are harmful effects of gluten on newly born babies or small kids. The study mainly put forward the
aims to aware the parents who are unaware about the harmful effect of the gluten. This study
helped to inform them as large percentage of parents do not understand or rather do not have the
knowledge about the effects of gluten. Lastly, the parents get the knowledge about the matter with
the help of memo, which mainly discuss about the effects of gluten and make them aware that the
product they choose actually contain gluten in it. So, that they choose the products for their kids
after viewing the ingredients properly whether the product contain any sort of gluten in it or not in
the near future.

2GLUTEN FREE BABY: WHEN PARENTS IGNORE SCIENCE
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
Summary of the Topic.........................................................................................................................3
References and Source Material..........................................................................................................3
Progress................................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................6
References............................................................................................................................................7

3GLUTEN FREE BABY: WHEN PARENTS IGNORE SCIENCE
Introduction
The memo are send to every parents to make them aware of the gluten free baby products so
that their baby do not have any health issues in the infant stage. Gluten is a type of protein, which
cannot be digest easily. This cause some severe illness and as the newly born babies or small kids
cannot digest the complex protein, so it is advisable to use gluten free products (Alzaben et al.,
2015). The memos are sent to make the parents knowledgeable about the gluten free products
which exists in the market, so that they choose that products for their children.
Summary of the Topic
Gluten is a mixture of gliadin and glutenin, which is a type of protein to form this complex
protein. Gluten is find in wheat. It is complex in nature so it is hard to digest and can cause many
illness in the kids. This complex protein is find in many of the packaged products as well
(Biesiekierski, 2017). People with celiac disease, gluten triggers it and can damage the small
intestine in the end. It can also lead to other problems such as Osteoporosis, Nerve Damage,
Infertility and Seizures. Therefore, it is recommend using gluten free food products (DEWEERDT,
2016).
It can be argue that the use of gluten free products for baby is beneficial or not. According,
to the doctor’s suggestion it can be that the use of gluten contain product is not beneficial for the
kids as well as for the newly born baby (Carroccio, Rini & Mansueto, 2014). The doctor
recommends that gluten is a complex protein, which can cause various digestive problems as well
as can affect the intestines. Therefore, it is advisable not to use gluten in baby products as their
digestive power is not that efficient than that of a teens or adults (DEWEERDT, 2016).
References and Source Material
Source 1: Hurwitz, S. (2013). The gluten-free, casein-free diet and autism: limited return on
family investment. Journal of Early Intervention, 35(1), 3-19.
The author of the article have rightly pointed out the purpose. The author also identify and
evaluate Gluten free diet in the children diet. The author focuses that this diet should be adopt for
those children who suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder as it triggers the problem (Hurwitz
2013). In the article, 27% of parents have reported that their children are suffering from ASD so
they have to adopt gluten free diet for them. There are percentage of parents who do not have any
idea about the suffering of their children. The author also have a close research in the statistic from
1999-2012 which gives a clear idea about the knowledge of the parents (Hurwitz 2013).

4GLUTEN FREE BABY: WHEN PARENTS IGNORE SCIENCE
The author have clearly mentioned about the causes of the gluten in a new born baby or kids
and provide a clear idea about the knowledge of the parents regarding this problem. On the
contrary, the author does not provide any sort of solution to overcome this problem as gluten is a
protein, which is complex in nature, but it is necessary for the kids as well as for the children.
Source 2: Ravenel, S. D. (2013). An Integrative Approach to Common Behavior and Learning
Problems in Children: A Role for Gluten Sensitivity and MTHFR Polymorphism. Ethical
Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 15(2), 100-108.
The author in this article focus on the mental health issues which is there in the children and
how gluten catalyse it along with Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphism (Ravenel
2013). The author said that those children who are gluten sensitive along with MTHFR
polymorphism suffers from severe headache, fatigue, learning problem and with abdominal
symptoms. The author also done a detailed research about the problem, also how much percentage
of children are suffering from it. The author also pointed out how the diagnosis needs to done to
understand whether the children is suffering from the disease or from any other disease (Ravenel
2013).
The main strength of the article is that the author gave a complete picture of the cause or
disease. It also provide idea about how the parents as well as doctors required to diagnosis the
children. On the other hand, the author does not provide us any solution, what the parent need to
do. If they come to know that, their children are suffering from this type of disease.
Source 3: Miranda, J., Lasa, A., Bustamante, M. A., Churruca, I., & Simon, E. (2014).
Nutritional differences between a gluten-free diet and a diet containing equivalent products
with gluten. Plant foods for human nutrition, 69(2), 182-187.
As per the heading it can be note that the author in this article gave a comparative study of
both gluten-free diet and diet contain gluten in it. The gluten free products will be popular in the
food and beverages industry in the near future (Miranda et al. 2014). There is a difference in many
aspect of nutrition between gluten free products and products contain gluten. Gluten is important
for the body but as it is complex in nature and requires time to digest, so the dietician mostly
suggest gluten free products. In the future, the gluten free product will mark a very prosperous
market. It will be accept by all (Miranda et al. 2014).
The author put forward the scope of the gluten free product in the market in the near future
and how the products will be, accept by the people. There is one drawback in the article as the

5GLUTEN FREE BABY: WHEN PARENTS IGNORE SCIENCE
comparison done on the products with gluten and gluten free but no emphasis was gave to
comparison with the other products.
Source 4: Hassan, H., Elaridi, J., & Bassil, M. (2017). Evaluation of gluten in gluten-free-
labeled foods and assessment of exposure level to gluten among celiac patients in
Lebanon. International journal of food sciences and nutrition, 68(7), 881-886.
The author in this article evaluate the gluten contain in the gluten free products. In the
gluten free products also to some extent, gluten is present but in a low quantity as compared to the
gluten contained products (Hassan, Elaridi & Bassil 2017). In a research, it has been find that even
the product is label gluten free still they contain some form of gluten in it. It has also found that the
local manufactures also manufactures products with different form of gluten in it. Therefore, the
author have requested to check the gluten contain before purchasing any types of products for the
babies or kids (Hassan, Elaridi & Bassil 2017).
The author have pointed out that there are gluten in the products, which claim to be gluten
free. Therefore, the parents need to check before purchasing. On the other hand, the author did not
provide any conclusion on how to avoid such food products or what are the alternatives to go for
which is free from gluten.
Progress
0-2 3-6 7-8 9-10 14th
Research
Activities
Weeks Weeks Weeks Weeks Week
selection of
Research
topic and
Introduction
Annotated
Bibliograph
y
Progress
Report
Conclusion
Sending
Memo
Figure 1: Gantt Chart

6GLUTEN FREE BABY: WHEN PARENTS IGNORE SCIENCE
Source: (Created By Author)
The topic is chose to highlight the issue related to the use of gluten in gluten free label
products. This study also help to understand that the gluten being a complex protein is harmful for
the newly born babies as well as for the kids especially who are suffering from ASD, also from
MTHFR. This will help to draw a conclusion and enable to make the parents aware of the fact that
the product they are choosing for their kids contain some sort of gluten ingredients. Therefore, they
should be aware and chose only those products, which is gluten free as it is not easy to digest by
their kids’ even if it is a type of protein.
There are certain barriers, which came across during the research like trouble in finding the
products, which are actually gluten free, and how to approach parents, as they trust a brand even if
there is types of gluten in it. There were issue of time management as well which can be view
during the research. There are also few sources to refer in this matter as nobody generally talks
about this topic. This is an important topic, which need specially care, but proper care was not took
in this matter. The parents are also not aware of the fact that there are gluten particles present so
they hardly raise complain about it which leads to less information about the matter.
Conclusion
In the end it can be concluded that this is an important issue which need to be looked after
as many of the parents are unaware of the fact that gluten cannot be digested by the babies which
may lead to serious illness. The company who are labelling that, there product are gluten free are
actually using some sort of gluten ingredient in their products. Lastly, it can said that this matter
should be address as soon as possible.

7GLUTEN FREE BABY: WHEN PARENTS IGNORE SCIENCE
References
Alzaben, A. S., Turner, J., Shirton, L., Samuel, T. M., Persad, R., & Mager, D. (2015). Assessing
nutritional quality and adherence to the gluten-free diet in children and adolescents with
celiac disease. Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 76(2), 56-63.
Biesiekierski, J. R. (2017). What is gluten?. Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology, 32, 78-81.
Carroccio, A., Rini, G., & Mansueto, P. (2014). Non-celiac wheat sensitivity is a more appropriate
label than non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Gastroenterology, 146(1), 320-321.
DEWEERDT, S. (2016). Many people with irritable bowel syndrome feel that they benefit from
dietary interventions, but researchers still lack a full understanding of how food can inflame
this disorder.
Hassan, H., Elaridi, J., & Bassil, M. (2017). Evaluation of gluten in gluten-free-labeled foods and
assessment of exposure level to gluten among celiac patients in Lebanon. International
journal of food sciences and nutrition, 68(7), 881-886.
Hurwitz, S. (2013). The gluten-free, casein-free diet and autism: limited return on family
investment. Journal of Early Intervention, 35(1), 3-19.
Miranda, J., Lasa, A., Bustamante, M. A., Churruca, I., & Simon, E. (2014). Nutritional differences
between a gluten-free diet and a diet containing equivalent products with gluten. Plant
foods for human nutrition, 69(2), 182-187.
Ravenel, S. D. (2013). An Integrative Approach to Common Behavior and Learning Problems in
Children: A Role for Gluten Sensitivity and MTHFR Polymorphism. Ethical Human
Psychology and Psychiatry, 15(2), 100-108.