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

I asked: "on what basis a product was not (or was) considered GF? Was
 it that it was known to have a hidden gluten in it, or that it could not be
 _verified_ as being GF?"


I got the following responses:

From: Jones <[log in to unmask]>

Most shampoos show wheat protein on the ingredients label...
more and more of them.

Conditioners, too.

So far, the type of Pantene I'm buying is OK.

---

From: Ann Sokolowski <[log in to unmask]>

A lot of these products contain either wheat germ oil or Vit e, both wheat
based!

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From: ejking <[log in to unmask]>

I look for references to wheat and also "hydrolized protein" (which can be
ok depending on the source, but it often comes from a gluten-containing
source).

----

From: Elizabeth Margareta Griffith <[log in to unmask]>

Some cosmetics contain wheat germ oil.  I think barley comes in there too
often, although I forget how.  Essentially, plant oils are great
moisturizers; we celiacs just need to be aware of which plant oil.

---

I also got two responses (that I accidentally threw out, sorry) that said
the whole thing was hogwash because one needed to ingest gluten to have it
affect celiacs saying that gluten needed to contact the small intestine.
This sounded inacurate to me -- it is not the gluten that damages the
villi, it is an autoimmune reaction TO gluten that does. Therefore any
pathway into the blood stream would do it. I don't know if gluten could be
absorbed through the skin though --  don't react to gluten applied in
topical allergy tests?


- Larry Leveen

OlyBikes Worker-Owned Bike Shop
http://www.olybikes.com

Velorution! The Bike Info "Freeware" Zone
http://www.olywa.net/leveen/