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Hi Everyone,

I was quite pleased that so many of you took the time to respond to my post.
I really appreciated the support.  As usual it was a mixed bag of opinions.
Each one of us is different in our illness with multiple symptoms and often
multiple other related and non-related medical problems that help muddy up
the water.  So sorting out what comes from what is often difficult for us.
I guess that is the challenge with auto-immune type diseases from my
experience.

I do know for sure that I react to Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce.  I am positive
that I react to distilled vinegar.  I’ve heard all of the arguments that
have gone on with this group for the past several years regarding the
distillation process and I did review the archives again before posting this
question to you guys. Thank-you that all of you who responded honored my
request to focus on the issue with reacting to the sauce and not stirring up
the controversial issue of whether there is gluten in distilled vinegar
again.   I guess all I can say is that we are all individual and unique as
God made us such for his special purpose.  Praise to him that we can rely on
each other and on Him for support.

God Bless you all!
Gina

I was diagnosed in 1994 and have been GF ever since.  I eat Sweet Baby Rays
Barbecue Sauce quite regularly and have never had a reaction to it.  I also
use distilled vinegar and have never had a reaction to it.  As you know,
Celiac is asymptomatic so it will not always present in the same way.

I do not react to either vinegar or Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce.

My suggestion is... who cares what is in it if you feel bad after eating it!
If it makes you feel bad find another one. Nothing tastes good enough to me
to endure feeling bad after I eat it. I hope you find another one that you
like and I hope you keep feeling good.

I still think that the distilled vinegar question remains viable.  I have
seen distilled vinegars that had flavors added back in.  Albertson's brand,
for example.  I don't know what it is, but they take distilled vinegar and
make it brown, and then call it "Apple Cider flavored Distilled Vinegar."  I
have given up on the barbeque sauce question; I make my own maybe once a
month.

My daughter is 19 months old and has Celiac Disease.
She was diagnosed at 13 months and I immediately began to look for a
barbecue
sauce that she could have because she has always loved to eat barbecue
chicken form 7 months old. I tried Sweet Baby Ray's first because I read on
the list that it was gf and I believe I also read on Celiac.com that is was
gf. She immediately began to vomit after eating the chicken. I was so
discouraged after that I have not gotten up the nerve to try another
barbecue
sauce. She has been eating plain meat without any sauces for the past 6
months. Good Luck finding a good barbecue sauce. I tried ordering one from
GF
pantry but it was too hot, more like a hot wing sauce.  Hope this helps and
reassures you that you are not the only reacting to Sweet Baby Ray's sauce.


I must say that I like the Baby Ray's but I also get a  reaction
from it - the problem is my main reaction is heart-burn.  So I
could be getting it from the tomato base - as I don't do well
with ketchup either.
Just wanted to remind you that distilled vinegar can also mean
that it is made from Corn or wood pulp.  It's quite often something
other than wheat.  Distilled is just the process it's put through.

i try to stay way clear of debates on this list - but i *do* react to
disteilled vinegar.  I also react in a similar manner to msg or free
glutimates.  i don't know why.  but i do.  it is a rial and error thing for
some of us.

I have a reaction to vinegar also.  I use Balsamic vinegar which doesn't
even come from wheat, it comes from wine, and it makes me gurgly and gassy.

right now my system is so sensitive that I react to anything acidic,
like vinegar - don't know anything about Sweet Baby Rays but maybe for some
reason your system is reacting differently - we can start to get allergies
to any number of things at any time in our lives...good luck figuring it
out.

Please summarized when you can. I have an unopened bottle here! Thanks.

My daughter has had no reaction at all to Sweet Baby Rays Barbecue Sauce.
She's a person that knows within 10 minutes if she's had wheat or gluten.
She's doubled over and can't stand up. We just had chicken with Sweet
Baby Rays sauce again tonight. All is well.

No reaction from me.

I am always reacting to vinegar in salad dressings and bbq sauce. I don't
think it is gluten, i think it is the acid of the vinegar or the
fermentation that we react to........???

You may just have a sensitivity to vinegar in addition
to gluten.

Could you be reacting to MSG in the sauce?  Almost all BBQ sauce has it.

I have trouble with corn and I noticed tonight that Sweet Baby Ray's has
corn syrup as the very first ingredient.  Have you considered this
possibility?

Your reaction is not from vinegar, nor the Sweet Baby Rays. Perhaps you
have other digestive issues that are not related to celiac. All of the
leading experts (Dr. Fasano, etc.) who are absolute experts in this
field are sure that vinegar is fine. Perhaps you should have mentioned
what kind of symptoms you were having, and others could have better
helped finding other outside causes. Good Luck and I hope your problems
resolve quickly!

Here is the exact copy of the email I received from Sweet Baby Ray's:
However companies can't always be trusted.  It sounds like they know
what they are talking about though.  ????


Dear ,
Our product is 100% gluten free.  Sweet Baby Ray's does not contain
protein from any of the following potential allergens: barley,
crustaceans, eggs, fish, milk, oats, peanuts, rye, soybeans, tree nuts
or wheat.  The source of the modified food starch used in Sweet Baby
Ray's Barbecue Sauce is corn. Natural flavoring-yeast extract/does not
contain soy.  Vinegar is Distilled Dilute Ethyl Alcohol (from corn)
Carmel is derived from Sugar.  Natural Smoke Flavor-burning of wood
notably hickory.  Spices-black pepper, red pepper, and mustard flavor.
The Hot 'N Spicy also contains capsicum (flower of a tree) and jalapeno.
Only the Hot 'N Spicy contains casein.  It is not found in any other
flavors.
Please send your mailing address and I will send some coupons to you.
Thank you for your interest in our product.

Please summarize.  I also use Sweet Baby Rays and love it.  I have
contacted the company and was told it was gluten and casein free. Am
curious what others will say concerning it.

I have been GF about 4 months and eat this SBR's BBQ sauce all the time with
no problem that I can tell.  I am gluten intolerant not full blown celiac.

I've been gluten free for almost 25 years and never reacted to distilled
vinegar.
(Being a scientist, I always knew the fear of distilled vinegar was silly).
However, I do react to onions and guar gum, which are in many GF products.
But I
have no reason to think that celiacs react to onions and guar gum any more
frequently than the general population.

If you react to something, avoid it. But if it's GF, it probably has nothing
to do
with CD. Out of the 3000 people on this list, some will almost surely
respond that
they react to distilled vinegar just like you do. But any sample of 3000
people
will have a few who react to anything you could name. It proves nothing.

If you had checked the archives you would have seen lots of controversy
about
distilled vinegar....MANY of us react to it.  I questioned two friends, one
a
pharmacist and ther  other a college prof of science...both said that altho
technically distillation is supposed to remove all traces of gluten, in
reality it
doesn't happen and  traces of gluten remain to drive us nuts.  We can react
to one
milescule of gluten.

I avoid all white vinegar in all products.  Since doing that, I have had no
gluten
reactions.

I dont eat this sauce, but I do have distilled vinegar with no symptoms.  I
react to Lays contaminated chips though.

i happily read that gluten peptides cannot survive the distillation process
of grain based vinegars, none the less, i cannot tolerate white distilled
vinegars from grain.  i don't think it's in my head.  i can eat distilled
vinegars from corn (like vlasic pickles) with no problem and have no
problems with gf vinegars like rice wine, balsamic, etc.

in other words, yes i think you are not the only one that can't tolerate
white distilled vinegar from unknown grain sources.

Sorry... we use it all the time, with no problem whatsoever. Hope for your
sake it isn't the Baby Rays

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *