Video: Converting ppm of Gluten to mg of Gluten
We received two questions about ppm of gluten and what this means in terms of a mg amount of gluten. The process sounds complicated but it really isn’t too bad once you understand that we are dealing with proportions. If any information in this video requires clarification please post a comment. Note: I have been asked to provide a transcript for all of the videos. These videos are “off the top of my head.” Transcripts are not available.
Comments (4)
With regard to the ppm to mg calculations, it would be useful to know how many mg/day is tolerable by celiacs. I’d guess this is a range and varies from person to person. Do you have links to any credible information on this?
I’ve long thought that product labels should give mg/serving as well as ppm.
Very few studies have been conducted on the daily threshold level of tolerance for gluten. Here is the link to the often quoted article by Catassi et al. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/85/1/160.long. Please read beyond the statement in the abstract that reads, “Conclusions: The ingestion of contaminating gluten should be kept lower than 50 mg/d in the treatment of CD.” In my opinion, the following is one of the more pertinent sections of the paper (and it is the reason 10 mg of gluten is often cited as the daily threshold level of gluten tolerated by most people with celiac disease):
“The gluten microchallenge disclosed large interpatient variability in the sensitivity to gluten traces. Some CD patients showed a clear-cut worsening of the small-intestinal architecture after ingesting only 10 mg gluten/d, whereas others had an apparent improvement in mucosal histology after the 3-mo challenge with 50 mg gluten/d (Figure 2⇑). Furthermore, one patient challenged with 10 mg gluten/d experienced clinical symptoms after a few weeks, whereas none of the 13 subjects receiving 50 mg gluten/d had clinical evidence of relapse. Despite this wide individual variability, which must be taken into account when implementing a threshold that is safe for all patients, we showed that 50 mg gluten/d, if introduced for 3 mo, were sufficient to cause a significant decrease in the Vh/Cd index in treated CD patients. This is an important new finding that must be interpreted with caution, for several reasons. Because of the limited number of patients, we were not able to reach firm conclusions about the potential toxicity of 10 mg gluten/d, which remained a “gray” area. For ethical reasons we had to limit the duration of the microchallenge to 3 mo, but it is well known that mucosal deterioration may become manifest after a longer gluten challenge (19). Reactions to gluten are not only influenced by the quantity but also the quality of the ingested protein, which may change according to cereal variety (20) and food processing (raw versus cooked grain, fermentation, etc) (21).”
Was able to watch your first video on an introduction to doing the chat videos. Now when I tried to view the chat, it said it is in restricted mode and I would have to disable restricted mode to view it. Does this mean I need to join the group to see it? It was the same when I went to YouTube.
Hi Pam. This is very odd. The video is publicly available and access is not restricted. Have you tried playing the video from a different browser?