Digestive Health Celiac Disease Symptoms Can Celiac Disease Delay Your First Period? By Jane Anderson facebook twitter Jane Anderson is a medical journalist and an expert in celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and the gluten-free diet. Learn about our editorial process Jane Anderson Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Priyanka Chugh, MD on December 24, 2020 linkedin Priyanka Chugh, MD, is a board-certified gastroenterologist in practice with Trinity Health of New England in Waterbury, Connecticut. Learn about our Medical Review Board Priyanka Chugh, MD on December 24, 2020 Print In some girls, it appears that celiac disease can delay that first period, although all studies haven't found such a link. Also, there are lots of possible reasons for your first period to be later than it is in your friends, so a delay (especially a short one) certainly doesn't mean you absolutely have celiac disease. However, celiac disease is one possibility if you don't get your first period on time, especially if you've got other symptoms or there's a family history of the condition. Read on for the details. Caiaimage / Agnieszka Wozniak / Getty Images How Can Celiac Delay Your First Period? Let's get the technical stuff out of the way first: "Menarche" means the actual date of a girl's first period, not when you first hit puberty. Puberty in girls actually starts about two to two-and-a-half years before menarche — at around age 10-and-a-half in most girls. In the U.S., most girls get their first periods by the time they're 13 years, nine months old — in fact, the average age is closer to 12-and-a-half years old. But girls with undiagnosed celiac disease seem to get a late start, at least in some research reports. For example, in one study, girls who were later diagnosed with celiac disease started their periods at a significantly older age than their non-celiac peers — at 13.6 years, compared to 12.7 years for girls who didn't have celiac. Another study found an even later average age of menarche for celiac girls: 16.16 years. Some researchers blame malnutrition from untreated celiac disease or malabsorption of important nutrients for delayed menarche, while others say that gluten itself could be having some unknown effect on girls, possibly involving their hormones. However, other researchers haven't found a definitive link between late first periods and celiac disease. For example, a major study involving Italian women with celiac reported that the average age of first periods of those celiac women was similar to the age for non-celiacs. How to Know If the Problem Is Celiac There are several steps you can take if you think undiagnosed celiac disease might be delaying your (or your daughter's) first period. First, check out this guide to delayed puberty to see if there's really a problem. If there aren't obvious signs of puberty by around age 14, you might want to investigate further. If you have a family history of celiac disease or celiac disease symptoms, you might want to consider asking for celiac blood tests. You might be thinking that most celiac symptoms are digestive in nature, but that's not true at all—in children and teens, especially, constant irritability can be a sign (although I admit it can be difficult to tell what irritability is weird and what's actually normal with a teenager!). Delayed puberty can be caused by a wide range of conditions, including thyroid disorders or chronic diseases such as diabetes (both of which also are closely linked with celiac disease, of course). If you're concerned that your late first period might be due to celiac disease, your best bet is to schedule a full physical. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Following a gluten-free diet can be challenging. We're here to help. Sign up and receive our free recipe guide for delicious gluten-free meals! Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. C. Sferlazzas et al. Menarcheal age in celiac disease may not be delayed and may be irrespective of age at diagnosis and dietary management. Journal of Endocrinological Investigation. 2008 May; 31(5):432-5. D. Martinelli et al. Reproductive life disorders in Italian celiac women. A case-control study. BMC Gastroenterology. 2010 Aug 6; 10:89. J. Rujner. [Age at menarche in girls with celiac disease]. Ginekologica Polska. 1999 May;70(5):359-62. K.S. Sher et al. Female fertility, obstetric and gynecological history in coeliac disease: a case-control study. Acta Paediatrica supplement. 1996 May;412:76-7.