<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I would like to clarify my prior email.  During the flurry of emails on our
list about grain vinegar, I wrote in part:

>In the meantime, those on the GF side of this issue should at least
>understand that it is the position of most celiac societies in the US that
>grain vinegar must be avoided.  As long as this is the case, many people on
>this list will not eat it.

Don Kasarda replied:

>This certainly seems to be true. Should the quality of information coming
>from "most celiac societies in the US" be of concern to this list?

Perhaps I did not make my point clear enough.  As a listowner, I was
trying to remind people that while we encourage spirited debate on
controversial celiac issues, we expect the debates to be conducted in a
dignified manner.  We want our list to be a safe place for people to
express their views without being attacked (after all, many of us have
survived ridicule from our relatives and/or medical professionals about
our celiac condition prior to diagnosis).

A few prior posts (by whom is not important right now) might have given
the impression, to a person who believes that grain vinegar is harmful,
that he/she was being called foolish or uneducated.  As a listowner, I
am not comfortable with anyone feeling that way, and I was trying be
sure this feeling (if it existed) did not remain.  So, I made the point
that those who do not choose to eat foods with grain vinegar currently
have the support of most celiac support groups in America.  They should
NOT feel that they are in the minority.

I have no personal experience with grain vinegar in celiac -- I am not a
celiac, and my celiac son has never (to my knowledge) eaten grain
vinegar.  As I said in my prior email, it is great for each side of this
debate to make their points, but it would be even better to create a
process for resolution -- perhaps via some double-blind testing.

Don has made the excellent point that celiacs may be reacting to
something else in the vinegar besides the (alleged) gluten.  If there
were a few volunteers who have had the experience of reacting to grain
vinegar but not to pure cider vinegar, and this could be replicated on a
double-blind basis, it would create a powerful incentive for the
detailed research that may be required to determine if there are toxic
gluten-type substances in grain vinegar.  If you are such a person,
please email me privately at <[log in to unmask]> . I will collect the
replies and send them to Don, and/or others who could design a test
protocol and assist in presenting the results.

Bill Elkus
Los Angeles