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I apologize for this being so late. 

 

The most informative answer I received, I have pasted in for you to read.
It should be noted that celiacs are like snowflakes.  None of us are the
same so each of us are different in our sensitivity to the amount of wheat
etc we can ingest.  What is okay for some, is not for others.  In the end,
no matter how small the amount of wheat starch there was, I was still unable
to tolerate the product.  I believe that much of our quest in going gluten
free is spent figuring out the level of our tolerance or intolerance as it
is.  I also believe that that level may change and go either way, as time
goes on.  For me, my tolerance is becoming more sensitive.  That is purely
my experience though.  Thanks  Now for the e-mails:

 

The first one:

 

If the ingredient is "wheat, derived carbohydrate", that just means wheat
starch, but in the US, a common usually means two different ingredients (in
this case, wheat and a derived carbohydrate from some other source, the name
of which should have followed in the ingredient list.

Wheat starch always contains some amount of protein; that's why you have
"regular" and "declared gf" versions, but with testing limits - 200 PPM in
the EU, 20 PPM in Canada, etc. The theory is that "most" people with CD
won't have measureable damage from consuming wheat starch with very low
gluten content. The reality is that most people don't have actual symptoms
from wheat starch ingestion, but for those that do, any PPM is too many.
The same applies to many with IgE allergies - some react to extremely small
amounts, while others can tolerate traces without symptoms ... with CD, you
also have an delayed allergy to gliadin (IgA/IgG mediated) and the allergic
reaction from that will vary amongst individuals.  The PPM levels are set
based on the auto-immune reactions, not symptoms.


The second one:

 

You can look for Codex standards (they are supposed to be international, but
tend to be set by country instead). Unfortunately, there is no law in the US
that defines "gluten free" and the laws we have on allergies don't even
apply to supplements and drugs (only foods), so I'd say you were lucky to
even get the stick-on label. There are a number of studies done in Europe
that are on how much wheat protein someone with CD can "tolerate" (ie, until
damage is seen on a scope) and very little one how much is needed to trigger
immune responses below that level (but there is much mention there of
drop-outs in their studies due to symptoms, which is usually discounted as
irrelevant).

You'll also see a number of products marked "gluten free" in the US that
contain wheat grass, oat grass, oat fiber, wheat fiber and even (my all-time
favorite) "wheat protein, gluten removed". Since there is no law about
"gluten free" labeling, I've even seen it on spelt bread (which at least now
is banned from claiming it is wheat free).

www.celiac.com has lots of easy to read summaries of medical studies and GF
standards. www.pubmed.com is a good place to look up actual medical
summaries and sometimes has links to the actual studies that you can read.

I don't know why you are taking the supplement, but hope it isn't one that
is supposed to build up your tolerance for wheat.  That can work with an IgE
allergy (it retrains the immune system and is similar to how the shots
allergist work), but it doesn't work with CD - any exposure triggers an
auto-immune response, where the body destroys it's own tissue.

 

Thank you

Elizabeth

 

 


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