To Eat or Not to Eat

I found this posted on the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness website and found this very useful and informative. I'm not going to post the whole thing but feel free to check it out at the link above.

The only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet for life. It has been shown that as little as 1/8th teaspoon of flour will cause changes in the intestinal mucosa (Semrad 2004). Maintaining a gluten-free diet means constant vigilance.

Follow the golden rule: When in doubt, leave it out!

Safe Starches:
• Corn,
• Rice,
• Potato and tubers,
• Buckwheat,
• Amaranth,
• Quinoa,
• Tapioca,
• Teff,
• Oats*, Oats are considered safe but they are often time processed in a facility where there is the possibility of cross contamination.
• Arrowroot,
• Sourghum,
• Montina,
• Millet

In addition to the standard grains, bean flours offer gluten-free and nutritious alternatives to wheat flour.
• Chickpea
• Lentil
• Soy

Un-Safe Starches:
• Wheat: including Kamut, spelt, semolina, triticale,
• Rye
• Barley (including malt)

Beyond the foods that we eat, we need to be aware that gluten is contained in many other products. Wheat is commonly used as a thickener, a stabilizer and a texture enhancer, It is also added to many non-food products. Products may contain gluten as a filler, binder or texture enhancer and therefore they need to be eliminated from your gluten-free lifestyle.

Gluten Sources That You Might Not Think ABout:
• Chapstick, Lipstick
• Dairy Substitutes
• Licorice
• Malt or malt flavoring
• Modified food starch
• Playdough
• Brewers Yeast
• Prepared cake frosting
• Soy Sauce
• Medications (esp. in tablet form: Over the counter, prescription, and herbal supplements)
• Toothpaste
• Salad Dressing, Soups, Gravy (Malt Vinegar /wheat)
• Seasonings
• Malted Beverages
• Communion Wafers
• Vitamins

If the ingredient list does not contain gluten, it does not mean the product is gluten-free. Cross-contamination may occur in the processing of food, for example, dusting a conveyor belt with flour. Ask the manufacturer about the product’s process and contamination possibilities. Many boxes are labeled with information about the production process, for example, that the factory also mills wheat products. You will need to make a decision about whether to risk eating the product.

Safe Additives and Ingredients:
• Artificial color and flavor
• Baking powder
• Baking Soda
• Carmel color
• Citric Acid
• Maltodextrin
• Mono and diglycerides
• Monosodium glutamate
• Natural color and flavor (Most are fine)
• Soy
• Vanilla
• Vinegar (except malt)


What to look for on labels:
• Always read ingredient labels
• For example, a number of Tea’s may contain barley
• If the food contains any of the ingredients on the hidden sources list, then you need to contact the manufacturer and ask them if the product is 100% gluten free:
o Modified Food Starch (In North America, most are GF)
o Natural Flavors (Most are Gluten Free)
o Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HPV)
o Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP)
o Dextrin
o Seasonings