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Hi all,

I only received a handful of responses (which follow) my original post shown below. I do appreciate the responses and will pass them along to my friend so she can decide for herself whether to be concerned with the products that contain beta glucan from oats. From my own "research" online, I determined that beta glucan can be from oats, barley, yeast and other sources. From one source, wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oat: "Beta-D-glucans, usually referred to as beta-glucans, comprise a class of non-digestible polysaccharides widely found in nature in sources such as grains, barley, yeast, bacteria, algae and mushrooms. In oats, barley and other cereal grains, they are located primarily in the endosperm cell wall." Perhaps some others with additional information still want to weigh in on this topic. 

Some of the responses spoke to issues with oats in general. I totally agree with those concerns, but am happy to report that I have been eating the Gifts of Nature oats that are certified gluten free. I lead a small support group and everyone in the group is loving these oats and experiencing no problems. I have no affiliation with the company, but it is so much fun to eat oatmeal cookies again :-) . I even found a flourless oatmeal cookie recipe online (I was searching for flourless cookies, because I was temporarily out of GF flour) and it was great! (I will post that separately.) I understand there are other companies now offering GF oats as well.

Thanks so much,
Shirley in VA
____________
 
Original post:

 Hi all,

 A friend with limited computer access asked me to post to find out if 
 anyone has had issues with Beta-Glucan from oats. They have been using 
 shampoo that contains the Beta-Glucan and enzyme supplements from their 
 dentist that also contains it. Her daughter, who has been gluten free 
 for several years, was just tested by Dr. Fine's stool test and her 
 score is still showing quite a bit of gluten sensitivity. Please no 
 lectures on whether you think Dr. Fine's test is valuable or not and 
 none on whether you can ingest gluten through the skin. I just want to 
 hear back from those who have experiences with Beta-Glucan in either of 
 these forms.

 Thanks so much,
 Shirley in VA



Responses:



-We definitely reacted to McCanns oats.  It was a slower, less immediately 
severe reaction than from wheat gluten---but a reaction nonetheless.  I know 
I have heard that McCanns can have wheat in them--but we will continue to 
avoid even the certified gluten free oats.  I believe there is research that 
shows a certain percentage of celiacs cannot eat oats.



-I don't know about beta glucan, but I am gluten intolerant (biopsy negative, blood work positive unless I am absolutely gluten-free). Oats make me sick, even McCann's, so I include oats on my list of forbidden ingredients. Now I know about Beta glucan, I'll watch out for it. Your post helped educate me. Skin products that contain oats make me very itchy, so I avoid them. 


-Some beta glucan is derived from yeast.  If you are really worried about
contamination, perhaps one of those products work for you .  They are more
expensive but claim to have better immune defensive properties. I've been
taking it at the first sign of a cold and have gotten thru this winter
without getting sick (knock on wood!). It's hard to claim cause and effect, but so far so good!


-Yesterday, I was looking for Caprylic Acid (coconut oil) in a gelcap or capsule to help avoid intestinal yeast overgrowth in the future and came across a product by Nutritional Supply called NSC-24 Beta Glucan.  Obviously by the name of the product I wondered if it would be safe for celiacs.  The product details describes it as NSC-24 Beta Glucan Immunition 4 mg with Caprylic Acid- a natural probiotic-antifungal, and U.S. Patented MG Beta Glucan combine to provide a potent fungus fighter, including the battle against Black Mold common in flood prone areas.  Caprylic Acid is safe and proven enemy of Candida, Black Mold, Antibiotic Intestinal Damage, Toe Nail and other fungal problems. Under Ingredients it states MG Beta-1,3/1,6-Glucan 4 mg (microparticulate, purified isolate extracted from bakers yeast cell wall with no harmful yeast proteins) and Caprylic Acid 360mg. Then I wondered whether it would be okay for me, as I have a yeast allergy probably as a result of severe intestinal overgrowth of yeast 3 years ago. Probably without yeast protein I may not react but wasn't sure so I decided to go with a plain Caprylic Acid Gelcap. I would love to know what you learn about Beta Glucan. 

-I am taking a beta-glucan probiotics.  I do not have any problems with this product and I have extensive food intolerances besides gluten.  The product is from BioImmersion.




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