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

Vicks NyQuil, mfg. by Proctor & Gambel, (800) 362-1683

The customer service person said that both the liquid and liqui-cap forms of
NyQuil contain gluten.  He was unable to tell me whether the gluten was from
corn or some other grain.  Rats! this stuff got me through many colds in the
past.
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Sudafed, 30 mg tablets, mfg. by Warner-Lambert Consumer Healthcare,
(800) 223-0182

The customer service persons repeated, over and over, that they could not
recommend their product for Celiacs.  They chanted this mantra even after I
explained I that was not looking for a guarantee and that I know life is
uncertain, but that I just wanted all the information they could give me in
order to make my own decision.  Here's what I learned.

Two ingredients in the tablets _might_ be from grain sources: hydroxypropyl
methylcellulose and sodium starch glycolate.  Neither of these ingredients
appears on the label because each makes up less than 1% of the tablet.  They
could not tell me the total weight of the tablet.

There are no guarantees that Sudafed is GF, then.  For many, that's enough
knowledge to avoid the product.  But here's my own guess, for what it's
worth, of the practical risks.

If we assume that each tablet is 50% inactive ingredients -- and this is
just a guess -- the tablets would weigh 60 mg.  Assuming conservatively (1)
that there were a full 1% of each of the questionable ingredients, (2) that
these ingredients were in fact derived from an "offending grain," and (3)
that they had the same gluten composition as wheat flour (8-12%), then the
maximum amount of gluten in one day's maximum dose (8 tablets) would be
about 1.2 mg.  (The figure for gluten composition of wheat flour comes from
the List's MXGLUTEN file:
http://rdz.stjohns.edu/library/medic/celiac/mxgluten.html.)  If the tablets
weigh 100 mg each, the maximum gluten in one day's dosage would be about 2
mg.

If anyone knows of any GF decongestants or cold remedies, I would _love_ to
hear about them.

______________________________

Advil 200 mg ibuprofen tablets, mfg. by Whitehall Laboratories, (800)
962-5357

The customer service representative said that while they "strive" to use
corn starch in their product, they cannot guarantee that any particular
batch of Advil is GF.

On further questioning, I learned that, in addition to 79 mg corn starch,
each tablet has 7 mg of "starch" of uncertain origin.  Assuming the
information I received is correct and, again, that the starch is from an
offending grain and 8-12% gluten, the maximum amount of gluten in a one
tablet dose of Advil would be less than 1 mg.

Again, no guarantees, but that's some information to consider in making your
choices.

If anyone knows about a GF pain reliever / anti-inflammatory / fever
reducer, I'd _love_ to hear about that too.

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Michael E. Coe
Arlington, Virginia, USA
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