<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

CSA/USA has consistantly said that quinoa and amaranth are questionable
grains.  They have also repeatedly said that there is not enough research
to be able to include them in their lists of edible foods for celiacs.

 Yet I have been sent articles from MIT trained food chemists who
specialize in grains that state, without question, that quinoa is
completely free of gluten (gliadin), and similar articles have been printed
in the literature about amaranth.  Neither is a grass product.  On the
philogenetic trees of what plant is related to what other plant, quinoa and
amaranth are miles and miles away from wheat, spelt, etc.  It would be like
assuming that the seeds from maple trees are related to the seeds from pine
trees.

 The same argument is true for buckwheat and wheat.  Unfortunately, when
someone named plants in the English language they used a term with the word
'wheat' in it for the plant we call buckwheat.  If it had been called
'buckpebbles' or even 'buckseed' there would, I believe, be no question
about whether or not celiacs could eat it.  A buckwheat plant is a broad
leaf plant, the buckwheat kernel itself is a distinctive shape a little
like a tetrapack, (or a three cornered hat), but tiny.  On the philogenetic
tree, buckwheat is related to rhubarb.  If you have ever seen a rhubarb
plant with it's huge, elephant ear leaves, you know that it is not even a
distant cousin of wheat.

This information does not eliminate the possibility that one can be a
celiac and also have an allergic reaction to one or another or all of the
above plants.  I, personally, cannot tolerate soy products.  That does not
mean that soy is gluten-containing, it simply means that ideosyncratically
I react negatively to soy.  I'm not arguing with anybody about whether or
not it is healthy for celiacs to eat soy, I'm just an individual who cannot
eat it.  No argument.  That does not mean that it is unsafe for the rest of
those on the LIST.

I wish CSA/USA would assign someone to look into the research about the
above three plants and make a report to their board.  The research does
exist.

Gayle Kennedy