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On 26 Jan 00, at 20:39, Chloe Macy wrote:


> This is a direct quote:
>
> "This isn't the answer to your question, but descending gluten
> content order:  spelt, wheat, kamut, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat"
>
> How can Buckwheat contain gluten if it's not technically a grain?
> From everything I've read, Buckwheat is gluten free.  It may present
> a problem if it is grown in the same fields as wheat.  Otherwise, it
> is safe for celiacs.
>
> Is there proof to the contrary?  (Please, no anecdotal information)

Hello All,

I too have a problem with this. Unless all I've ever read about buckwheat is
wrong - i.e. it's gluten-free - the poster concerned is mistaken. I think, in
our own interests, we have to be careful about blanket assertions.

The other thing I query in the same email is the inclusion, in the same
breath as it were, of oats along with spelt, wheat etc. Sure, there's gluten in
oats. But I think we ought to add the rider that the question of whether or
not they are a problem to coeliacs - bearing in mind that we're all
individually different - is an open one. Most people are probably aware of
the Finnish study which, as far as it went, absolved them. And also
perhaps of the later study reported in The Lancet which concluded that in
the group of coeliacs they tested oats had no detectable effect. Now,
whether you go along with any of that is up to each individual. But I do think
you have to bear it in mind whenever your'e dealing with the question of
oats. And for what it's worth, organic oats eaten for breakfast twice a week -
in the form of porridge made with a mixture of water and unflavoured Rice
Dream - certainly have no detectable effect on me personally.


Jeff in Sussex UK