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Many thanks Gayle for your marathon posting.

I have been fairly active on the "scientific" side of the
debate and am therefore distressed to find that some
members of the list read contributions like mine  as though
they claim that those who report a reaction are "imagining
things " or other negative perception of what we are saying.

I have never intended that any such view should be read
from what I have written and apologise if anyone has
understood me to be putting such a message across and been
offended by it.

What I have attempted to bring out is the position that
others have also taken - that there may be other aspects
involved, whether it be a "homeopathic" reaction, a
Pavlovian/Skinnerian reaction or another more acute
response to incredibly tiny quantities of gluten or some
other substance.

None of these things are intended to suggest anything other
than that a clear distiction of where there is a known
GLUTEN/COELIAC problem causing members of the list to
advise against using a substance in the diet (ie ALL
coeliacs get reactions from this) as against where some
people get reactions and others don't, eg with vinegar and
the "Codex Alimentarius" purified wheat starch (only a tiny
minority of European Coeliacs show problems with this
material.)

The big  problem with going wholly OTT is that many people
then get onto a diet which is unnecessarily restrictive,
with all that that entails in terms of problems in vitamin
uptake and boring meals.  Certainly some people will find
it necessary for whatever reason to abstain from these
things but it should be an informed decision, not one
forced on others simply because a minority DO have problems.

I spend much of my own time trying to bring flavour and
decent texture back into the life of my poor wife - a
gourmet with a food intolerance is a sad thing!  To do
this, I may need more help than a bare listing of items
which are believed to have caused problems.  I need to know
the probabilities.

My impression is that at least a significant minority of
coeliacs can tolerate some oats in their diet, while none
can tolerate more than exceedingly small amounts of wheat
gluten (a few milligrams per day max).
When we come to vinegar, we need to know what percentage of
coeliacs actually cannot tolerate it.  It does appear to be
a minority.  It certainly is not 100%.

Ought we to take a straw poll on this?

Regards

David

David J Walland
University of Bristol Radiation Protection Adviser
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Tel +44 (0)117 928 8323
Fax +44 (0)117 929 1209