Еating higher-than-normal levels of gluten during the first five years of life can increase a child's likelihood of developing celiac disease, a digestive disorder that damages the small intestine, CNN reports.

This is the main conclusion of a study, published in the journal JAMA.

Researchers evaluated more than 6,600 newborns in the United States, Finland, Germany and Sweden born between 2004 to 2010. All of the children carried a genotype associated with Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease.

Every few months, the study's authors recorded the children's gluten intake until the age of 5 and compared the levels to reference amounts of gluten intake in healthy children at each age.

Over the course of the study, 1,216 of the children -- nearly 20% -- developed celiac disease autoimmunity, the first sign of the body's negative response to the protein.

Gluten intake is considered to be a factor in developing celiac disease. According to the new study, quantity plays a major role, too.

Read the whole study HERE