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From:
"Donald D. Kasarda" <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 6 Jun 1996 20:11:53 PDT
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Comments on over-the-counter medications from Don Kasarda, Albany, California
 
I have been reluctant to get into the whole medication question because I
cannot offer solid proof for my opinions and many list members are extremely
conservative when it comes to the question of avoiding gluten, even to the
extent of refusing to drink or eat anything that might have grain alcohol in
it. In consideration of the large amount of continuing discussion on this
list of medications, however,I will just say I suspect that medications are
hardly worth worrying about unless you are consuming them in very large
amounts over long periods of time.  I would guess that almost all are
"gluten-free" in the celiac sense, whereas those that are not would, with
some possible rare exceptions, have very little gluten in them. I doubt that
traces of gluten (less than say 5 mg per day) are significantly harmful for
99 and 44/100 percent of celiac patients.
 
With regard to the following from a recent posting:
 
>He began by
>confirming that the product is gluten free and then added that one of the
>ingredients--zein--is sometimes derived from gluten but insisted that when
>their customer service people say the product is gluten free that this is
>correct information.  He finally did agree that celiacs should probably not
>use it, but continued to insist that the customer service reps were giving
>out correct information!  Pretty unbelievable.  He did say, by the way,
>that he is a pharmacist.
 
Once again, we run into semantic problems.  Zein is a protein from corn (the
equivalent of gliadin in wheat). Most unfortunately, in recent years some
companies have begun calling the protein residue left after starch
processing, corn gluten. This residue does contain zein proteins.  I suspect
the contention that zein might be prepared from gluten is related to this
use of the term corn gluten.  Strictly speaking, gluten is only found in
wheat, but celiac patients began extending the term to any harmful proteins
and peptides, such as those from rye and barley, so I guess we can't condemn
the maize (corn) processors too much for also appropriating the term. My
guess is that the customer service reps were indeed giving out correct
information to celiac patients.
 
Disclaimer: As I said, I cannot offer solid proof for these opinions and I
do not offer them as medical advice.

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