<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Thanks to all who wrote with "oat updates". I tried to condense the
responses for everyone to read, but left most notes complete - as they were
all very helpful. I guess when it comes to oats, there is much to digest.
***
The Canadian Celiac Association does not endorse oats.
http://www.celiaccanada.com
***
I eat oats. Mostly when I visit Scotland. I never, ever seem to react to
them, either. There are wonderful oat-flour biscuits (kind of like thick
crackers)there that I eat with cheese. They also have something called flap
jacks, which are like small oat cakes with fruits in them. Pure heaven.
***
I spoke with Mc Canns last spring and they recommended against their Oats.
The manager said that one of their staff has a child with celiac and so
they are very aware of the consequences of contamination. He stated that
there is no way to be certain that contamination does not occur before the
oats arrive at their mill. I contacted them after reading their Web site
because it sounded so good in terms of the mill being dedicated.......
***
There's a lot of controversy about this, but I eat McCann's oats without
problems, and I tend to be pretty sensitive to even small amounts of
accidently ingested gluten.
***
I emailed the company. They told me not to eat their oats because they
couldn't guarantee the cross contamination process or their lines either.
I do have a bowl anyway about one to every two months and it hasn't
bothered me so far.....it tastes so good to me.
***
This was discussed at our Celiac meeting on Sunday. The nutritionist said
the it seems from the studies in Finland(I think that's where they were)
that oats are OK, but the big problem is the cross-contamination. She said
there were no GF Oat in the US. Maybe in other countries.
***
...oats put me over the edge and made me really sick
***
I live in Sweden and celiacs over 18 are allowed to use oats here since
last fall. A new brand of non-contaminated oats just came out. We are
advised to talk to our doctor before we start eating oats. I feel fine when
eating oats.
***
There have now been a half-dozen studies on oats, all of which say that
pure oats are ok. Some people worry about contamination. According to Dr.
Don Kasarda, the foremost authority on Celiac grains in the US, even plain
old Quaker oats are pure enough to be ok for celiacs.
***
Pure oats may have no gluten in them, but their grains are just about the
same size and looks as wheat. Fields are rotated: wheat is grown one year,
and oats the next. When the wheat is harvested, lots of grain gets left
behind and this sprouts with the oats the next year. Because of their
similarity there is no good way to separate them so lots of wheat gets in
with the oats. So almost all commercially grown oats have wheat in them.
Short of growing your own, I don't know any safe way to be sure the oats
are not contaminated with a lot of wheat.
On top of that, oats have their own form of gluten called maybe "aveeno".
I'm not sure about that name suddenly, but it's something like that. The
controversy lies in whether or not this aveeno has any of the harmful
gliadin (which is actually the harmful part of gluten) in it, and I'm not
sure anyone has ever shown satisfactorily that it doesn't. So the
controversy rages. I know that I react to oats as strongly as to wheat. In
fact, it was a bowl of oatmeal every morning that set me off to discover I
had this disease. A good substitute for a hot cereal is Rice and Shine.
It's brown rice, healthy, easy to fix in the microwave, and tastes very good.
***
...contamination-free oats are apparently not available in North America
yet, unless you grow your own. A listmember specifically complained of
reacting to McCann's oats during a discussion of oats not long ago.
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