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I received so many replies.  Thanks to you all.  I gave up on replying to each of you individually but I really appreciate the time you took to e-mail me.  My question was regarding McCann's Irish Oatmeal.

I will start by saying that everyone has to decide for themselves what to do.  Obviously a few have had some sort of reactions.  However, if there was a jury, I believe the Irish Oats would win.  See below:

32 people replied that they eat Irish Oats regularly/often except for one who eats it once a week and they all have no reactions.  Most of those have been eating them for quite some time--not just a short time.

7 of those people are very sensitive to gluten and react very quickly but have not reacted to the Irish Oats or Wessex Irish Oatmeal (two liked the Wessex best).

3 of those who eat it often have been retested and their tests showed no damage--that's really encouraging.

3 people said they or their child/relative reacted to it.  One wondered if it was something else.  One of the three had a daughter who became ill after being on it for a while.  One said she wouldn't touch them with a 10-ft pole.

1 said she had a lot of gurgling but wondered if it was more of a personal thing with her.

3-4 said there may be a little gas or "questionable" feelings at first since our bodies are not used to the fiber.  They settled down after a couple or three days of that.  Some said it had improved their bowels.

2 (maybe more) use the oats in bread and cookies.  The bread is made with 1 1/2 cups oatmeal and less water (approximately 1/2 cup less water) and it made the bread very good, bendable, etc.  Just have to see the consistency and decide how much water to eliminate.  She used the steel cut oats.

Several said the Oats in Ireland are not likely to be cross contaminated.  Some said they don't grow wheat in Ireland but someone (I think from Ireland) said they do but not near the wheat fields. 

McCanns said they are GF from the time they reach their plant to finish as they do nothing but the oats in their plant.  However, they have no way of knowing if the truck that transports them was cleaned well if it had wheat in it previously.  I suppose that could be a possibility for those who reacted--but maybe more rare from the response I got.

1 said eat Pocono's Cream of Buckwheat (www.thebirkettmill.com)  - has vitamins and lowers cholesterol.

1 support group in California actually uses them for foods at their meetings.

I feel really good that so many people get along fine--even those who are really sensitive--and even better that some have been retested since eating them for a long time and they had no damage.  So-----I started eating them and am doing fine at this point.  It is probably a coincidence but my gut has felt better the two mornings after eating it.  

Again, I'm not saying "do it."  You decide.  I decided.  Thanks again for all the responses.  You are great.

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *