Scientists have identified a large rise in the number of children with coeliac disease.
The digestive condition is now known to affect six times more children in Scotland than it did in 1990.
A team from Edinburgh and Queen Margaret universities analysed the health records of under-16s from south-east Scotland, who were diagnosed with coeliac disease between 1990 and 2009.
They found the rate being newly diagnosed rose from 1.7 in every 100,000 in 1990-1994 to 11.8 per 100,000 in 2005-2009. It affects only those who carry the gene and can be triggered by a viral infection such as gastroenteritis.
This can cause weight loss, abdominal pain and stunted growth although, in many older children and adults, abdominal pain may be the only symptom.
Sufferers often have a bad reaction to foods that contain gluten, such as wheat, barley and rye cereals.
The rise could be down to a growing awareness of the disease but could also be linked to changing patterns of childhood infection as the result of improvements in healthcare and more autoimmune conditions in general.
