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

Today, Barbara Jean Kuehl <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Those of you who expressed interest in the 'oat fiber in corn tortilla'
>dilemma might be interested in knowing what came of my letter to
>Azteca Foods. ....
>I received a letter from Barbara J. Riegler at Azteca Foods,
>....  Ms. Riegler included a
>letter from Radha Iyengar, Ph.D., director of R&D at Opta. It
>read:
>
>        "This letter is to confirm that all Opta Oat Fiber
>         products are gluten free.  If you have any questions
>         or need additional information, please do not
>         hesitate to call me at 617-276-5120."

I was surprised at the absolute statement in this letter, and so I called Dr.
Iyengar at the above number (she had already received other calls today, this
shows we think alike!)  She told me that their oat fiber product has been
tested as 0.3% protein by weight.  The testing method does not distinguish by
type of protein (or peptide, which would be included in the 0.3% she said).  As
a technical matter, she wants to retract the statement that it is gluten-free
-- she said she had not understood that celiacs use the term "gluten" to mean
_any_ toxic protein or peptide, be it from wheat or other grain.  She had
thought of the narrow technical definition of gluten.  She asked me to post
this, so that others would refrain from calling her on this same issue.

As Don Kasarda so eloquently brought out in an earlier post today, this does
NOT mean that tortillas with oat bran fiber are automatically off limits to
celiacs, it just means that each person needs to make their own decision about
what levels of questionable ingredients they are willing to tolerate.

As you all will recall, there is recent evidence that _all_ oat proteins may be
safe (the New England Journal of Medicine study).  While we urge everyone to
read the oats study carefully and discuss it with their medical practitioner,
it may be that when you look at the small amount of tortilla in your diet, and
the small portion of tortilla which is oat fiber, and the small (0.3%) of oat
fibre which is protein, and the possibility that the protein may be nontoxic to
celiacs even in high concentrations.... that you might conclude this is one
food which you need not lose alot of sleep over.  Others will have a zero
gluten policy -- this is a personal choice.

Bill Elkus
Los Angeles