16
Oct
2025
26
Jun
2025
Eating gluten-free during a road trip in mainland Greece
We recently returned from a wonderful family vacation in mainland Greece. Because we were road tripping and traveling to remote areas well outside of Athens, I translated into Greek my dietary needs and provided this translation to restaurant staff when necessary. This was very helpful as I sometimes found that even in restaurants that advertised gluten-free options online, the waitstaff didn’t always know what I meant by “gluten”. What I ate: Stuffed Grape Leaves The dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with rice, meat,...
21
Nov
2020
Lessons Learned from 16 Years of Testing Food for Gluten
https://youtu.be/YndPtvzMm_I This video presentation with audio is about 30 minutes long. The focus is on lessons learned from 16 years of testing food for gluten. The positive news is that the vast majority of the hundreds of foods tested through GFWD have tested below 20 parts per million of gluten. There have been a few unwelcome surprises over the years, including the level of cross contact in lentils and the number of products impacted by facial misbranding. We’ve also learned through...
04
Aug
2020
Child led gluten-free product reviews
Children with celiac disease occupy a very special place in my heart. I love to hear about the positive ways they are approaching the gluten-free diet. Luke's mom Julie (a subscriber to Gluten Free Watchdog) recently reached out to me about a YouTube channel she started called No Glu Tube. In the videos Luke and Julie taste and review gluten-free products. According to Luke, “Making videos means a lot to me, so people know what to buy and know what...
27
Mar
2020
Food is Love: My weekly pandemic gluten-free dinner menu
This information is provided here in the hope that it is in some small way useful. Sending love. My family of three is back together again (as of tomorrow--Tuesday). We have varying tastes, likes and dislikes, and of course one of us is gluten-free, egg white-free, and milk protein-free (me). My kitchen is not 100% gluten-free but dinners tend to be naturally gluten-free. My son is now home from graduate school so meals have to accommodate his preferences (smile). To...
23
Oct
2019
Products in the Testing Queue 10/23/19
The products in the photo have been requested for testing by subscribers to Gluten Free Watchdog. They will be sent to the lab beginning next week. Requests are made for any number of reasons, including peace of mind regarding favorite foods.
18
Sep
2019
Gluten and Cross-Reactivity
For the past several years there have been rumblings in the celiac disease community about gluten and foods that are “cross-reactive”. These foods supposedly include coffee, dairy, yeast, corn, millet, and rice. Where does this information come from? The information comes from a study published in 2013 and co-authored by the Chief Scientific Advisor at Cyrex Laboratories. We're not going to get into the weeds in this brief post but the full article entitled Cross-Reaction between Gliadin and Different Food and Tissue Antigens...
02
Mar
2019
Yeast extract confusion made worse by the lack of manufacturer transparency
Gluten Free Watchdog received a consumer complaint about Health Valley Gluten Free Café Chicken Noodle Soup. The product includes the ingredient “flavors (including yeast extract).” Long story short, according to the consumer who contacted us, she was told by Health Valley customer service representatives that the source of the yeast extract was brewer's yeast. However, she never received a definitive answer regarding whether the brewer's yeast was spent brewer's yeast. Generally speaking, we do not advise contacting manufacturers about labeled gluten-free foods containing yeast extract. The...
12
Mar
2018
Significant Study Published on the Amount of Gluten Eaten by Folks with Celiac Disease on a Gluten-Free Diet
Study authors have affiliations with ImmunogenX and Biomedal/Glutenostics Gluten Free Watchdog has no affiliation with either Biomedal/Glutenostics or ImmunogenX. The study, “Determination of gluten consumption in celiac disease patients on a gluten-free diet” was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the opinion of Gluten Free Watchdog this is one of the more significant studies published on celiac disease and the gluten-free diet in recent memory. It is the first study that attempts to analytically determine the...
27
May
2017