A new research suggests that virus infections may be one of the contributing factors for gluten intolerance.

Gluten intolerance, also known as coeliac disease, is a condition of extreme sensitivity towards gluten, which is found in common foods such as wheat, barley and rice. It causes damage to the intestinal villi, creating problems involving nutrient absorption.

Academy Research Fellow Päivi Saavalainen, who conducted the research, said, "Some of the genes we have identified are linked with human immune defense against viruses. This may indicate that virus infections may be connected in some way with the onset of gluten intolerance".

Almost all people who suffer from Gluten intolerance carry the genes that play a key part in the occurrence of the condition. A lifelong `gluten free diet' is the only known treatment, prescribed by doctors all over the world.

By using data on patients and their families, researchers have now succeeded in localizing the `risk genes'. The research material in the Finnish study is part of an extensive and elaborate study of thousands of subjects suffering from gluten intolerance and control groups in nine different populations.

The research would be published in the upcoming issue of "Nature Genetics".