<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hello, I am sorry it has taken me so long to get my summary posted. My questions were: 1) I have always read that a small amount of gluten ...trace amounts..will damage the intestines the same as large amounts..I am wondering if anyone knows what research has been conducted to substantiate that statement.. and 2) It is also understood that damaging the intestine over and over (even with trace amounts of gluten) increases our chance for intestinal lymphoma. Does anyone know what the average persons chance of getting intestinal lymphoma are..and what our odds are if we do continually damage our intestines with trace amounts and what research has been done to substantiate this statement.. Thanks to all who responded...some of the responses are listed below...please note that everyone has heard the same stories, but no one provided me with actual research that has been done to substantiate the stories... I am not looking for a reason to cheat...I am very strict with my gf diet. However, It would be nice to actually have substantiated research that tells us we need to panic with every crumb intake... here are the responses...thanks again. 1. I was told by the doc in Tex it's like taking a little bit of poison everyday and then you die. Sometime or other it can build up enough to make you kidneys quit and there is no return. The risk of lymphoma is real strong till about the eighth year of being gf. Why play around and tempt fate? 2. Sorry I don't have specifics, but here's what I can tell you: a couple of years ago there was a presentation at Montreal Children's Hospital organized by the English chapter of the local Canadian Celiac Group. The doctor - not sure if a PhD. or an MD presented the result of her study in layman's terms for the group. The study compared a gluten free celiac control group with a group of celiac volunteers who added purified wheat starch to their otherwise gluten free diets. Biopsies confirmed that intestinal damage was occurring even in the absence of symptoms. 3. I have been celiac since I was 6 months old. I am approaching my 40th birthday. When I was 18 I was part of a research study in England. I had the full range of tests and they confirmed that I had not out grown celiac. I was then told that a tablespoon of gluten took six months to repair. I believe the statistics I quoted said that you increase your risk by 75%. Staying gluten free presents no grater risk than anyone else. 4. Probably the best answer to your question is the skin test for tuberculosis, which you have probably had. The test involves putting a small amount of tuberculosis protein into your skin with a needle. If you are sensitive to TB any of your tissues will react to the TB protein. Since the test only exposes the place on your skin to the TB protein, only that place reacts to the injection. But what a reaction! Red swollen and painful. And it lasts for about three weeks. That reaction is permanent even 70 years later whenever one is exposed. The same mechanism is what causes the damage to the intestines of people who have become sensitized to gluten and it takes a very little bit. As for your second question, the number is seven times more frequent sticks in my mind, but I am not sure of that. 5. I did read a study once that mentioned that most celiacs would tolerate any amounts of gluten under 10mg. That is not a lot if you consider the size of a 1,000 mg. vit c pill. Ten mg. would be 1/l00 of that size. I have also read only that the odds are small for developing intestinal lymphoma even if you quadruple the odds. 6. 10 people asked that I post any actual studies that substantiate, what one person called "our possible unsubstantiated paranoia" 7. A study was done and people were fed 1/48th of a slice of bread per day and they had measurable intestinal damage. 8. I heard we are safe if our consumption is less than a crouton size of gluten at any one given time. Thanks again for all your responses. I must say, for a list this informed we celiacs are not very informed. Considering our complete lifestyle changes and the difficulties involved with this diet, I FOR ONE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT AMOUNT OF GLUTEN WILL DAMAGE MY INTESTINES TO THE POINT OF CREATING A REAL RISK OF LYMPHOMA... if slight or no reactions are the only consequence to ingesting trace amounts of gluten ..I would like to know that. I understand why people who get immediate or violent reactions to slight amounts of gluten would avoid it like the plague, but if there isn't any medical risk, shy of a minimal reaction (or sometimes no reaction) to trace or small amounts.. our lifestyles could improve..don't you think?