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

>It might be useful if one of you good folks in chemistry could
>explain the distillation process for vinegar in detail. This would
>serve to support the argument against exclusion of distilled vinegar.

Sarah,
Since Mary Alice was probably the culprit in starting the ban on
distilled vinegar, I will try to answer some of the questions.

>Comment from Don Kasarda, Albany, CA.
>
>...The only vinegar that there is the slightest
>reason to think might have any harmful peptides (harmful for celiac
>patients) in it would be barley malt vinegar.

Dr. Kasarda has repeatedly stated that he sees *NO* reason for gluten
proteins to be in distilled vinegar, even though the distilled vinegar
starts with a grain mash to make the alcohol that will be used to make
the vinegar.  I am confident he is correct.  When he states he has not
researched vinegar, I think he refers to the manufacturing processes
used versus the chemical reactions involved.  Distilled vinegar prepared
in a laboratory using normal laboratory procedures would not contain any
gluten.  The manufacturing process, however, may be subject to cross
contamination by some gluten-containing material.

I am equally confident that Mary Alice reacted to distilled vinegar.
Lorraine Dowdle also echos this observation.  The real question, I
think, is whether the reaction is to gluten (and thus damaging the
mucosa) or some other sensitivity that may be fairly benign.  There
seems to be enough anecdotal evidence that celiacs react to distilled
vinegar so as to merit further investigation.  As a further
complication, Mary Alice did not appear to react to wine vinegar, cider
vinegar or rice vinegar but she did react to citric acid and citrates
(bio-flavonoids?) as well as soya.

Perhaps there is someone out there in food technology that can help at
least verify or rule out the manufacturing cross contamination question.

Sorry this has not lead to a resolution of the question but only to more
uncertainty :>(
Joe S. Warren
Titusville, FL 32796-3902