[bobthecockroach]

Originally Posted by Rainer.

In understanding this, it's important to just remember how allergies work, since what we're really talking about here is a gluten allergy.

Allergies are an immune response to a particular protein. Now, immune responses are most of what makes us feel "sick" when we have an infection. Most of the fever, sweating, diarrhea, vomiting, mucus production, coughing, etc. are our bodies trying to kill and flush out whatever is invading it. Usually this only happens when our bodies detect a protein in a pathogen, a harmful bacteria, virus, toxin, or parasite, for example. In the case of an food allergy, for example, the immune response is triggered by some protein that is in the food that we eat. Our bodies "get sick" when that protein enters it.

Gluten is one protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and related grains. So if one of those grains has been introduced to a food, the gluten in it does, too. If someone with allergies ingests that food, their immune response will be triggered.

Processes that isolate or remove the gluten from a grain product, such as distilling a grain alcohol, can result in a gluten-free grain product.

There is also celiac to contend with, which is not an allergy, but an autoimmune disorder.

[Rainer.]

Originally Posted by bobthecockroach

There is also celiac to contend with, which is not an allergy, but an autoimmune disorder.

Indeed, works by a different mechanism, but still causes a bad reaction to gluten ingestion.

[redbaron]

one real concern with celiac is that it may not respond to things like epinephrine upon a severe reaction, so you're looking at things like tracheotomy to restore breathing- My mom has had at least one experience that was very, very close to that and she told me there was a question about whether or not 911 would even reach them fast enough to matter or not.

For my mom, if you have a crumb in a pot of spaghetti sauce, it's too much. The same dishtowels don't get used for cleaning up gluten prep, jelly/mayo/mustard/etc are never removed from the jar with a knife, always a dedicated spoon that can't touch gluten, etc. Separate butter dishes for her and everyone else, it's serious business. The sad part is that because a lot of people are used to dealing with allergies where if a teensy bit gets in it's usually not a big deal they don't get it and she ends up extremely ill.

If you suffer from this, and go to a restaurant, you can always ask to talk to the manager and make sure they understand the cross contamination issues before you order- if you don't feel comfortable that they understand and can take the necessary precautions, better to go elsewhere rather than end up sick.

[Dr. Worm]

"Gluten-free" is the new ADD.

[beanbag]

i know i am jumping in kind of late, but i want to echo what was said about gluten not being problematic except for those of us for whom it is a problem. also, some people (myself included) have a physical reaction, but some people don't, and that is scary. one guy at my church has celiac disease, but he doesn't experience any physical symptoms. he could eat something with gluten and not have a clue while it shreds his insides. his wife doesn't have it but experiences physical reactions, so she just doesn't allow anything with gluten in it in their home because of the danger to her husband.

as for the fad aspect, on the one hand it's kind of nice because it has mainstreamed gluten free and brought more options to dining out and even making a darn sandwich. (trust me. until you have gone 3 years without being able to have a sandwich, you will not appreciate how magical they are.) i can find pasta, and good pasta at that, because suddenly companies have to compete and strive to be better. on the other hand, the hype makes people take those of us with real problems less seriously. there is also a divide between people who are diagnosed and people who are undiagnosed...it's ridiculous, but it exists.

also, as was previously mentioned, you don't really lose weight by being gf unless it is a symptom of your condition. you could potentially lose weight if you didn't use replacements and substitutes, but since our bread and cookies are made from rice and potatoes... quinoa cookies might be okay, but they might also taste gross. i prefer dark chocolate if i want junk food. =)

[redbaron]

Yeah, my mom has actually gained back some weight (which is good she was looking rail thin for a while) sine cutting out gluten, but with celiac, at least at the severity she has it when she has gluten in her diet it basically makes it hard for her body to absorb any nutrition which is pretty awful.

[Becky]

Thank you guys so much for talking about this so thoroughly!! one of the guys at my bible study at church has a gluten allergy. We have a meal together each week, so understanding this has become important to me.

Are there a lot of products that contain gluten that we aren't apt to think about?

[BillSPrestonEsq]

I have a gluten allergy. Basically my latex allergy is cross reactive with gluten. If I have gluten in small amounts, I will be doubled over soon in pain, and I could give specifics, but you probably don't want to know.

If you can eat gluten, do so. I can give you a list of problems from cutting all gluten out of your diet. I end up low on various vitamins and minerals routinely because a diet that just cuts all wheat products out of your diet tends to leave out enough of certain vitamins. Gluten free tends to be fairly high cal. I also had to cut down from around 6k kcal per day to around 1500kcal to maintain weight.

Some things you might not think of are:

Soy sauce. (Tamari is okay though)
Imitation crab.
Some mustards. (Thank you redbaron for that. You saved me a lot of physical pain.)
anytime you see modified food starch...
Oats from the US that are not labeled as GF are not okay because of the way US grains are processed.
Ice cream can have a lot of transfer from cones and junk and sometimes have modified food starch as a thickener.

My symptoms are near identical to celiacs except I do not have permanent intestinal damage. I do have rather dramatic immediate damage though.

To eat gf to lose weight is a really bad idea.

I also don't think a low gluten diet would do anything. For me it is all or nothing. For all those I have met who are diagnosed, it is pretty binary. It is hard to avoid, but imagine that cutting a food out of your life meant 20 years of migraine went away, constant diarrhea and vomiting blood went away, and I felt okay for the first time in my life. (In all seriousness, other than one summer, I had been in serious pain all my life, all the time, and that summer I was on a dare eating only fruit.)

I hear a lot of undiagnosed folks claim all manner of weird things, like blaming a runny nose on gluten, or that they have more energy. I don't buy it. There are actually over 70 different ways to be allergic to gluten, but they have very similar symptoms. The main test other than celiacs catches only 70%, so a set of negatives might mean nothing.

My allergist said that while I tested negative, the signs and symptoms were obvious that cutting it out cut the problem out.

Also, if you are almost purely of certain races which were insular by geography or culture, the incidence of celiacs and gluten allergy go way up.

[beanbag]

also instant oatmeal has gluten in it. you have to get old fashioned steel cut if you want to avoid it.

honestly, the best thing to do is only purchase baking products or baked goods from gluten-free shops. they aren't all dedicated gf, but do a good job of keeping items separate:

bob's red mill/pamela's products - mostly baking products
udi's gluten-free
rudi's (has a really small gf selection)
van's (also has a small gf selection)

i used to be able to have small amounts of gluten, but i think as i get older that is changing. also, i have many of the typical reactions that people have, but i do also believe some of my sinus issues are linked to having gluten. i have allergies as it is, but i always notice a huge increase in congestion and sinus pressure after i have had it also, i get this piercing inner ear pain, and i haven't figured out if it is just linked to gluten or if it's linked to processed food in general. (lest you guys think i am crazy, i know of someone else with the same problem, and it happens after eating too much processed food.)

i think the best thing you can do is just read the label and be cautious of any nebulous additives listed. one of my college friends will go into anaphylactic shock if she has gluten, and she has spent hours on the phone with companies trying to persuade them that they need to list their ingedients fully. there are some companies who will market their products as gf when in reality, they are not. you can also look at the official celiac information site and check their list of recommended companies and vendors.