<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Here's a summary of responses to a posting on questionale ingredients
that may be of interest to other listmembers:
Marilyn McCool wrote:
> Some experts claim that all traces of gluten have been removed during the
> distillation process. Is anyone aware of any chemical assays that have been
> conducted to verify that grain alcohols don't contain gliadin, hordein, or
> secalin to support this assertion?
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"When a liquid is distilled, tiny droplets of the liquid are thrown off.
Many of these fall back immediately, while others are suspended for a
while just above the surface. However, the smallest *are* in fact carried
off with the vapor.
So, you see there *will* be proteins from the original liquid in the
'distilled' product. The amount depends on various details of the
distillation. Was the original liquid boiled (many droplets) or just
heated to the vaporisation point (fewer droplets, but much slower). Were
'demisters' used to remove the droplets. And, of course, what was the
effectiveness of the 'demisters' (the more effective, the more of the
desired end product will be removed too, slowing things down).
.....real world distillation does not produce a 'pure' product.
I have somewhere a transcript of an old conference in which a doctor was
asked the amount of 'gluten' necessary to cause a reaction in a sensitive
celiac. The answer given was 'We're not sure, we think about four
molecules'. Think about that."
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> My question is this: How can you have an aroma and taste of malt or
> another grain used in a blended scotch if no traces of those cereals
> remain???
>
"You can't. If it is possible to taste or smell the raw product in the
distillate, then some chemical portion of your raw product has distilled
off with the alcohol and they been collected together. In theory
distillation is a good means of separation, but in manufacturing
practice some carry over appears to occur..."
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"I understand what you are saying. I have DH and here's an example of
what happened to me a few weeks ago. My husband prepared us a
"Screwdriver". We have two different types of vodkas, mine is potato and
his is grain. He mixed up the drinks and you can't taste the difference.
I was in real trouble within just hours after I had the drink. I've
been gluten free for many years and that episode threw me for a loop.
Here again, with me, grain alcohol is not good. Of course I have read
that introduction of gluten after obstaining from it for a long period
can cause a severe reaction.
I have heard that some celiac's can tolerate some gluten. I don't
understand. My condition has just gotten worse over time. At first I
could tolerate some gluten but not now. Maybe that is what some of these
people are refering to. Then again I don't think any of us know or
understand this thing completely but we need to keep trying."
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".....found myself wondering if it is the
complete protien, or can a fragment (specific peptide chain) be the culprit? Do
you know if they've ever tested fractions of protiens?"
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Re: the last response,
Toxicity is not confined to the entire gliadin fraction but also in the
peptides that result from enzymatic breakdown of the polypeptide chains
with proteolytic enzymes.
The World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, vol 51, pp 189-233 (Karger,
Basel 1987) contains information on this. Copyright laws may apply so have
included the reference for those who wish to research this further.
Marilyn McCool
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