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Gluten Free Watchdog Special Report: Gluten Contamination of Spices

Gluten Free Watchdog tested brands of domestically processed spices that appear to be the most widely used by the gluten-free community based on inquiries made to subscribers of Gluten Free Watchdog. Gluten Free Watchdog focused primarily on testing the spices that tested at or above 20 ppm in the Canadian survey. These spices (all ground) are clove, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, mace, sage, thyme, and white pepper. Gluten Free Watchdog also tested leaf basil (dried), garlic powder, curry powder, and Italian seasoning...

Gluten Contamination of Gluten-Free Foods Sold in the US

Thomas Grace and I recently published two years worth of testing data from Gluten Free Watchdog in the journal Practical Gastroenterology. The pdf is available here. Excerpt: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released the long awaited rule on the labeling of food as gluten-free. Labeled gluten-free food regulated by the FDA and sold in the United States must contain less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten. The objective of this evaluation is to assess the actual gluten content of labeled gluten-free foods...

Do retainers contain gluten?

Do parents of children with celiac disease really have to worry that their children's retainers contain gluten? Amy Jones, MS, RD and Tricia Thompson, MS, RD Many of you may have heard about the article “An Orthodontic Retainer Preventing Remission in Celiac Disease” recently published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics. In short, this is a case presentation of a 9 year old girl diagnosed with celiac disease. IgA tTG at diagnosis was 172 U/mL (normal defined as < 20). The authors state...

Survey on Rice Consumption: Impact on Inorganic Arsenic Intake

Poster Presentation from ICDS: Survey on Rice Consumption among US Adults with Celiac Disease: Impact on Inorganic Arsenic Intake If we missed seeing you at ICDS2013 here is the link to the poster. Brian and I also presented on the issue of arsenic and rice at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Food and Nutrition Conference. Full size poster which looks best on screens and can be printed letter size with "resize to fit." Letter size poster which can be printed as is. Please feel...

Omission Beer: The controversy over gluten-free labeling of malt-based beverages continues

Update July 12, 2013. I don't know about all of you but I am getting a little fatigued from the beer “issue.” BUT … Last evening I was forwarded some documents related to Craft Brew Alliance (Omission). According to the email included with these documents they are not considered confidential and will be in the public domain soon (when they are, I will post the links). When I have more information regarding how the scientific community views the information contained in these...

Hair styling products: Must they be gluten-free?

If you have celiac disease, do you really need to worry about ingesting gluten from hair styling products? Let's take a logical look at this issue. Remember that parts per million of gluten is a proportion—ppm tells you how many parts out of a million parts are made up of a contaminant (e.g., gluten). If a product (food or hair wax) contains 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten it contains close to 0.6 milligrams of gluten in each ounce of product....

Product Alert Good Greens Bars

Good Greens Nutrition Bars and Greek Yogurt Bars are labeled gluten-free and contain the ingredient “wheat sprout powder” or “wheat sprout” in the ingredients list according to information on the manufacturer website and product labels. Wheat sprouts with the germinating seed still attached should not be eaten by people with gluten-related disorders, including celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. While sprouting starts the process of breaking down gluten, harmful gluten peptides may still remain. I first learned about Good Greens...

Gluten Content of Wine Aged in Oak Barrels Sealed with Wheat Paste

Amy Jones, MS, RD, Lisa Almenoff, MS, RD, Luke Emerson-Mason (Bia Diagnostics), Thomas Grace (Bia Diagnostics), Kristin Voorhees (NFCA), Cheryl McEvoy (NFCA) and FA (winery) contributed to the birth of this article. Bottom Line: Two bottles of wine aged in oak barrels sealed with a wheat flour paste were tested for gluten using both the sandwich and competitive R5 ELISA. All results were below the lower limit of quantification for gluten for these assays of 5 and 10 parts per million,...

Arsenic and Rice: Update for Gluten-Free Consumers

I first covered the issue of arsenic and rice in 2009 at the urging of a concerned consumer. That initial article can be accessed at http://www.glutenfreedietitian.com/newsletter/gluten-free-diet-arsenic-and-rice/. The present article could not have been written without the helpful and generous email correspondence from arsenic researchers at Dartmouth College. Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that is found in both organic (carbon-containing) and inorganic (non-carbon-containing) forms. It may be present in soil, water, and air. Inorganic arsenic is a known carcinogen and ingestion...