Jean's List of Gluten Products/Additives

[Jean]

Gluten is contained in wheat, rye, barley and maybe oatmeal. Different people have different amounts that they react to. It is safest to assume that a molecule is too much. There are obvious items that contain gluten; breads, crackers, cookies, pies, cakes, pasta, breaded foods, gravy, cereal, any form of wheat flour, and rye flour. Then there is the hidden gluten, which goes by many different names. Here is my list, it may not be complete. Please let me know if you find something that isn't on it that contains gluten.

Gluten
A list of words to look for on labels, *indicates it could contain gluten

Abyssinian
Anticaking*
Artificial Color*
Artificial Flavor*
Asafoetida (Indian spice mix, contains wheat)
Baking Powder*
Barley anything
Barley Malt
Blue Cheese or any blue veined cheese (started with bread)
Bran
Brewer's Yeast*
Brown Flour
Broth* especially in Tuna
Bulgur wheat
Buttermilk* (could contain modified starch)
Calcium Caseinate
Caramel Coloring*
Cereal binding, filler, extracts*
Chilton
Citric Acid made outside of USA
Club Wheat
Coloring* (artificial or natural)
Confectioners Sugar*
Couscous
Cracker Meal
Dextrimaltose*
Dextrin*
Dextrose*
Diglyceride*
Durum
Einkorn
Emmer
Enriched*
Envelope glue
Farina
Filler*
Flavorings* (artificial or natural)
Food Coloring* (McCormick's is GF)
Fu
Germ
Glucose*
Glutamate*
Glutamic Acid*
Glutamine*
Graham
Gravy*
Groats
Gum base*
Hydrotriticum (in cosmetics)
Inverted Sugar*
Inverted Syrup*
Inulin*
Kamut
Malt
Maltodextrin*
Miso*
Modified food starch*
Monoglyceride*
MSG, Monosodium Glutamate
Natural colorings*
Natural flavorings*
Oats (debatable)
Oatrim
Pearl Barley
Powdered sugar*
Rice Malt*
Rice Syrup*
Rye
Seitan (Vegan meat substitute)
Semolina
Shoyu
Sizing* in new garments
Soba noodles
Sodium Caseinate*
Soy sauce*
Spelt
Spices* (anti-caking ingredients may be added)
Sprouted wheat & barley
Starch (Made from corn in USA, but may be wheat if from other countries)
Tabbouleh
Textured Vegetable Protein TVP*
Timopheevi wheat
Tuna w/broth*
Triticale
Udon
Vanilla* or Vanillin*
Vegetable anything on food label*
Vegetable protein*
Vegetable starch*
Vinegar* from grain, debatable
Yeast Extract*

When in doubt about an ingredient, it is always best to check with the manufacture.

A bill has been passed to label products that contain wheat, milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and soy by January 1, 2006 and to label products Gluten Free by January 2008.

Wheat free does not always mean gluten free because gluten can come from rye, barley and oats. I recommend caution. The FDA will make a determination as to what is gluten free. They will probably allow a certain amount of gluten to be contained in foods (parts per million). I hope that they are very strict, and I’m sure that the Celiac organizations will be pushing for the strictest possible regulations. I for one am going to be very careful, no food is worth being sick for two days to me.

Items to beware of because they may or do contain gluten:
Alcoholic beverages, Baking Powder, Beer, Blue cheese or blue veined cheese (started with bread), Bouillon, Buttermilk, Candy, Canned meals, Canned meat, Cereal, Communion Wafers, Condiments, Corn chips-flavored, Corn tortillas, Creamed anything, Croutons, Deli Meats, Dried fruit (anti-caking ingredients), Envelope glue, French Fries, Frozen Meals, Frozen treats, Gravy, Ice cream, Medications, Mouthwash, Noodles, Non Diary Creamer, Nuts, Popcorn, Potato Chips-flavored, Prepackaged meat, Processed cheese, Rice cakes-flavored, Rice-enriched, Salad dressing, Sauce-any, Soft Drinks, Sorbet, Soup, Soy sauce, Taco shells, Toothpaste, Tuna w/broth, Veggie burgers, Yeast-bakers, Yogurt,

Personal Experiences:
Of the people that I know with gluten intolerance, I am one of the most sensitive, Lucky me! There is a soup that I can enjoy at my favorite Japanese restaurant. While eating it one time I discovered a quarter inch piece of wheat noodle that had fallen into it. I removed the noodle and finished the soup. Six hours later, I had diarrhea and vomiting, which is my normal reaction to gluten. I have also reacted to licking an envelope and my husband’s soap, which somehow got into my mouth…

You will soon become an expert on food additives. When I first went on this diet, I spent many hours in the grocery store reading labels. Every time that I found a food that I could eat, I considered it a small victory. When you make your first few trips to the store, I recommend that you go alone, take my list, put on your detective had, and plan to spend some time reading labels. You won’t be able to do it all in one day. I used to start crying by the time I got to the third or fourth isle.

It will take a while for you to learn which foods are gluten free and which ones are not. For the first week that you are on this diet, it is easiest to just eat unprocessed foods. If it’s fresh it’s probably OK. Fresh beef, pork and chicken (some chicken and port are injected, check the label) with salt and pepper. Eggs are fine. Fresh fruit and vegetables are good too. Coke and Pepsi products are gluten free at the time of this writing. M&M’s are gluten free. I know because I lived on them for the first few weeks I was gluten free.

Once you have eliminated all forms of gluten, you should start to feel better. The first signs that you will notice are usually less bloating and gas. I went down a whole pant size the first week because my stomach was flatter. Most people describe a new sense of well being within the first week or two. Other symptoms will start to go away, for instance, aches and pains, headaches, and diarrhea. The fatigue is usually the last to go. Expect this to take one month to a year. From the board's experience, I suspect that if you don’t start to feel completely better in three to six months, you should start to suspect other intolerances.

Each person reacts to accidental, or intentional, ingestion of gluten in different ways. Immediately after I eat gluten, my rings and pants start to feel tight and I get the wind something fierce (a great term I learned when visiting Ireland). Exactly six hours after I have eaten the offending food, I get explosive diarrhea and I sometimes vomit. For the next 48 hours, I ache all over my body and I’m fatigued enough to stay in bed. After the 48 hours are over, I feel great again. Interestingly, this reaction didn’t show up until I had been gluten free for over a month. Sensitivity seems to increase and no one has been able to explain exactly why.

People who have been gluten free for 2 years or longer report that their reaction has calmed down, for some it is just one hour of diarrhea 24 hours after ingestion. Others don’t react until they have cheated for a few days in a row, then they just get achy. What ever your reaction, it is worthwhile paying attention to. Your reaction will be the best indicator of hidden gluten.

When trying new items, it is always best to try one a day. That way, if you do react you will be able to pinpoint the offender. I often wait until I’m feeling better and try it again just to make sure that I’m not giving up something I don’t have to. I wish I would follow my own advice. It’s hard to come home from a new store with a bag of gluten free items and not eat them all. I have been caught more than once.

It would be helpful if I could print a list of Brand Name items that are gluten free. Manufactures often change ingredients because of cost, availability or new formulas. It is prudent to check the label each time you buy an item, I know this from firsthand experience! Even when you are buying a product that has been safe in the past, the company could have changed ingredients.

For up-to-date lists of gluten free Brand Name products I recommend two sources. The first is celiac.com. This website is a wealth of valuable information for the gluten intolerant. The second is the Tri-County Celiac Support Group Shopping Guide. It is published every year and it lists common products that are gluten free by categories. It is a great tool to take with you to the grocery store. You can find information about ordering it at tccsg.com. At the time of this writing, it was $12.

Landmines

The first week I was on the gluten free diet, my company had a party. I looked everything over, potato salad-no, fresh fruit-yes, cake and cookies-no, bean salad, not sure-no, potato chips, checked the bag-yes. I filled my plate, walked over to the grill got a hamburger on a bun and took a bite. The bun wasn’t exactly hidden gluten, it was just such a habit!

Habits are hard to break. One that has been very hard for me to break is licking envelopes. I know I can’t, but for months, every time I deposited my check into the ATM machine I licked the envelope. If anyone was watching me, they probably wondered why the heck I was frantically wiping my tongue with my hands and then spitting. I still forget sometimes, a year later.

Anti-caking. Many gluten free references warn about anti-caking ingredients being used in products and not listed. I have never had a problem with a product that didn’t list them. Items to watch are dried fruit, spices, powdered sugar, and hard candy.

Alcohol—There is a debate about alcohol. Some believe that the distillation process removes big molecules like gluten and are therefore are fine for the gluten intolerant. Grape products are fine like wine, champagne, brandy, ouzo, vermouth, sake and cognac. I find that clear liquors like vodka, gin, light colored rum, and tequila are OK. There are two schools of thought on brown liquors like bourbon whiskey, scotch whiskey, and dark rum. Some things are worth trying! Beer is not distilled so gluten is not removed. There is a microbrewery that makes gluten free beer (bardsbeer.com) and hopes to get it to stores in the near future. Liqueurs often have caramel coloring or flavoring added so they may not be safe. Kahlua is safe (but contains corn syrup). Alcoholic beverages are not required to follow the same labeling rules as food, so it is impossible to know what is in them without checking with the manufacture. Celiacs.com has an excellent list of safe alcohols on their website.