Celiac disease (CD) was considered a rare disease before and was perceivably only limited to children but now affecting almost 1-2 percent of the global population. 

This abrupt increase in prevalence is due to advancements in diagnostic criteria and medical facilities but still, many countries lack the basic data that can assess the severity of this health issue. From 647 suspected cases only 113 were confirmed with CD and the prevalence was 1.7 percent with 58.7 percent being female children and 41.3 percent being males.

The majority of them were from the lower class (77 percent) and 24 percent of them had a positive family history of CD. Around 40 percent were severely underweight, 30 percent were underweight and 80 percent were stunted as well. Of the positively tested CD patients, 50 percent had moderate anaemia with 14 percent having severe anaemia.

Around 32 percent had hypoalbuminemia as well. The cupcakes were checked for their proximate analysis parameters (carbohydrate, protein, and nitrogen-free extract, etc.), gluten & heavy metals (lead, chromium, and arsenic), bacterial load (E. coli, total coliforms, salmonella, yeast, and moulds), fatty acid profile parameters (palmitic acid, stearic acid, linolenic acid, oleic acid, and trans-vaccenic acid), texture parameters (firmness, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness), physical parameters (weight, height, volume, and specific volume). 

The study parameters including anthropometric measurements, caloric intake, blood/serum/plasma chemistry analysis, and gastrointestinal complaints frequencies were assessed before and after the completion of the trial.

SHAISTA JABEEN,

Lahore.