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

Hi folks,

Joanne writes:

>SO, the moral of the story is: SOME alcohols used in natural flavorings (and
>thus, probably other things) DO contain gluten!!!   Since we don't know/can't
>control the processing of all the alcohols manufactured and used, we can't be
>sure they are not a potential source of gluten contamination.

The Canadian Celiac association and its American counterpart
have different opinions conerning the acceptability of certain foods.
Specifically, the Canadian Celiac association deems distillied alcohol to be
gluten free.  The association's gluten-free dictionary states that " In
assessing the acceptability of foods, consideration has been given not only
to clinical data but also to the origin, nature, and processing of the food
or food ingredient."

Since the process for producing alcohol requires distilling, and proteins
cannot be distilled, distilled alcohol does not contain measurable amounts of
gluten.

While there is no proof that distilled alcohol contains gluten, there is also
no evidence to the contrary.  Consequently opinions as to the acceptability
of distilled alcohol differ.

While you determine that distilled alcohol causes you to have celiac-like
reactions, and you believe that alcohol does indeed contain gluten, you
should not make such a definitive claim about something for which we have no
proof.

I believe that your reaction to alcohol and alcohol-containing food is very
real.  And I do not doubt that your reaction may be caused by gluten.  I just
think we all have a responsibility to each other to be cautious about how we
offer our opinion and what we proclaim as fact.

Healthy eating.

Patrick Dean
Documentation Manager
TXbase Systems Inc.