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Hi, all,

I'm a little nervous about posting on the oats issue, because I try to
stay out of the controversial issues except in private discussions.  But
Christie's post included the remark:

the cashew date flavor is not gf,
due to the oat flour the dates are coated with. (Of course, there is
still disagreement out there on whether oats cause any problems with
celiacs.)

So I had to post, because, to my surprise, nobody has commented on the
studies described at the 9th Symposium on Celiac Disease, which showed
that consumption of uncontaminated oats over time has not been found to
cause gluten-type damage or give positive results on the blood tests. As I
recall, Don Kasarda demonstrated that the protein structure of oats is
more like corn than it is like wheat, and he considered it more closely
related to corn, which is safe for (non-allergic) celiacs, than to wheat,
barley, or rye, which are not considered safe for any celiacs.

Several of the speakers commented that oats would be a welcome addition to
the celiac diet, not just for variety's sake, but for better nutrition.
They sounded as if oats could now be added to the celiac diet, but I
notice that nobody has made that official!

Of course, the problem would be to find uncontaminated oats, if one chose
to add them. We have the same problem with buckwheat and some other gf
substances, but only CSA insists on throwing those out of the diet
entirely.

Is there still an oats controversy (aside from the CSA)? Do any of the
experts out there feel that we could add them to the diet? And if so, is
anybody going to check the uncontaminated status of different oat
products?

Thanks in advance!

Bobbi, wondering about oats, in Baltimore, MD, USA