<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
WOW! I got a lot of responses! I'd say 95% of the people said that both
coke and M&Ms are fine for us. There were a lot of different responses so I'll
just summarize them below instead of creating a synopsis of them. I told
people not to respond if they agreed, but naturally I got like 100 responses,
which is good because now I feel 100% sure about eating one of my favorite candies
and drinking my favorite soda! A lot of people reccommended calling the
companies to be 100% sure.
caramel color can be a problem, but you just have to check the source. I
beleive all coke and pepsi products ARE GF as well as the M&M's. People report
problems with M&M's, myself one of them, but I don't believe it is the caramel
color. It could just be some of us are sensitive to chocolate and also they
make the crispie M&M's and I don't know about how strict they are with cross
contamination issues. Any time you have a problem, try the archives of this
list and also the delphi forums list has lots of GF candies. I personally called
pepsi and coke and they said GF!!!
I drink the caffeine free classic coke, I have eaten the M&M's also, the
crispy ones are not GF, but the others are okay
All Coke & Pepsi products are GF!!
I actually called Coke last week because I am also new to this and I wanted a
Vanilla
Coke. The guy told me that NONE of the Coke products made in the US contain
gluten. So, drink up!
There are several things, dies and carmel coloring that have to be watched.
However, after time,,,,that your body starts to 'clean out the bad stuff' you
will find what you can/ can not tolerate! I am pretty much the wheat stuff, you
will find people that suffer with all sort of other allergy complications,
along with this. I think it has to do with the system being so 'weak' from
trying to stay 'strong' fighting the gluten/wheat/rye/oats/barley etc that we
can't ingest any more!
As for caramel color in general - I believe the latest information is that
in the US it is never made from wheat. It is possible that in some foreign
products it MIGHT be made from wheat, so you would need to deal with those
on a case-by-case basis.
As far as the food coloring goes, I have checked into this and not been able
to find any food coloring that is made with wheat. There are some people out
there (not experts) who claim to have been told that the "lake" versions of
food colors are made with wheat. Every time I have seen this brought up I
have asked for the source of their information and no one has been able to
provide a source or a single shred of evidence. They usually have some
recollection of it being on the Canadian Celiac Society Web site, but if you
check there you will find no mention of it. So I think this is a piece of
outdated information that continues to linger around. I am sure one of these
people will respond to your email with a warning about the lake food colors,
so if they do, just ask them to provide a source for their information. If
they can provide one, please pass it back to me, because I am very
interested in this subject.
The link below provides a very good summary of food colors used in the US.
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/colorfac.html
As you can see, the colors are divided into two groups, the certifiable
colors, and exempt colors. Certifiable colors are man-made, while "color
additives that are exempt from certification include pigments derived from
natural sources such as vegetables, minerals or animals, and man-made
counterparts of natural derivatives." This implies that if a color additive
were made from wheat, it would be in the exempt category. Therefore one can
assume that the certifiable colors, the ones that appear as FD&C somecolor
#suchandsuch, are NOT made from wheat. If they were, they would be in the
exempt category and would have to be listed under their natural name. At the
bottom of the page you have a listing of all the certifiable and exempt
additives approved for use in food.
Dr. Kenneth Fine spoke to our support group Monday. I asked him that
question. He said that dyes do not have anything to do with celiac or gluten. People
who have trouble with dyes have chemical sensitivity. He says that has nothing
to do with celiac.
the problem is with caramel coloring which contains gluten in Europe. NOT in
the USA so coke and caramel coloring in ok in the USA.
Coke does have caramel color. Carmael color may or may not be gluten free.
The caramel color used in Coke products, however, does not have gluten..
M & M are still g.f. last I heard. My only concern would be them adding the
new crisp (not g.f.) flavor and that is would somehow introduce
contamination.
the caramel coloring in Coke, as in most all food products made in the US, is
corn-derived. It makes a better caramel coloring and is much cheaper than
using another grain.
If the companies say the product is gf that is good enough for me. Been
consuming both of them for over 10 years and no problem.
ONLY TWO RESPONSES THAT DISAGREED
Unfortunately, the lady was correct. Caramel coloring is a product derived
from wheat. In M&M's, the product you should worry about is Artificial and
Natural Flavors, which may contain gluten (e-mailing the company often results in
a quick response). Instead of M&M's, I eat natural SunDrops (plain or
peanut) from my local co-op.
I had trouble with artificial colors long before I was diagnosed with celiac
disease a few years ago. It appears that those of us with celiac manifest
different systems, better skip the cokes!
Hope everyone finds this helpful. I for one will continue to enjoy my
coca-cola and M&Ms but it is up to each individual to decide for themselves. Have a
great holiday weekend!
~Eleis
*Please provide references to back up claims of a product being GF or not GF*
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