Entering the Spooky World of Gluten and Food Additives

I am constantly amazed at the number of people that still don’t know what gluten is, but I do enjoy helping to educate anyone willing to listen. I was checking out at the grocery store the other day and the girl noticed as she was scanning my groceries, that I had several items labeled Gluten Free. She asked what is that like for diabetes? So I explained to her what gluten was and that we had Celiac Disease and why we had to avoid gluten. I could see the light come on behind her eyes! ( I love it when that happens) ( Oh and BTW, I was the only one in line, there was not anyone behind me waiting while we had a gluten lesson.)

Anyway I’ve noticed that a lot of you are new to eating Gluten Free are having trouble figuring out what is and what isn’t gluten free. It is confusing I know, with all of the food additives that have hidden gluten. So here is a partial list to help get you started.

Anything that obviously contains wheat

Barley

Rye

Malt ( is derived from barley)

Cellulose ( this can be made from wood chips, wheat or barley straw)

MSG, monosodium glutamate  ( a lot of people believe that this is not gluten, but when you research how it is made, it becomes clear, that the base of this product is wheat gluten) MSG, is a big scary one for our family. My sister and I both have extreme reactions to it.

The FDA says there is not gluten in MSG, but here are some links that prove them wrong.  http://msgtruth.org/msgand2.htm

http://msgtruth.org/

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/90/3/728S.full

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/HowIsItManufactured.html

http://dogtorj.com/what-is-food-intolerance/gluten-vs-glutamate-vs/

Other Possible sources of gluten are:

Maltodextrin ( in the US maltodextrin is supposed to be safe, my problem with this is, how do you know that a product made in the US did not buy some of their ingredients from other countries?) That is why we have to be diligent and do our research.

Citric Acid

When in doubt go to the company’s web site or some have phone numbers you can call and just ask.

If you have a reaction to a product, don’t eat it. There are most usually alternatives.