R-1 anti-reticulin antibodies (ARA) were present in sera of 10 of the 12 children who subsequently fulfilled the ESPGAN diagnostic criteria for celiac disease (CD), but was not found in any children in the age-matched control groups, viz., severely malnourished (n = 20), acute gastroenteritis (n = 23), normally nourished asymptomatic (n = 38), and 42 children with protracted diarrhoea and failure to thrive due to nonceliac causes. ARA was a highly specific (100%) and sensitive (83%) assay for the early diagnosis of CD. A positive ARA assay with an initial subtotal villous atrophy was seen to always suggest CD, and these together would provide a useful basis for instituting gluten-free diets in suspected cases of CD rather than histological findings alone, which may be often present in children in the third world with protracted diarrhoea and associated severe malnutrition.