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

Some of the responses to my post concerning the supposed maximum daily
allowance for gluten suggest a need for further discussion.

 

A celiac should never knowingly eat foods containing gluten whether the
individual is newly diagnosed or a veteran of the diet.  However, achieving
zero gluten in the diet is analogous to creating a truly frictionless
surface or producing the complete absence of gravity.  The real world does
not have absolute zero levels.

 

Cross-contact with gluten may occur in fields where grain is grown, in
storage facilities, or in transport containers.  It may occur in processing
and manufacturing foods or in cooking and serving foods.  Fresh fruits and
vegetables, which normally are exempt from scrutiny, may be coated with
waxes to keep them fresh longer; do we know assuredly that the wax does not
contain gluten or that the produce did not come into contact with gluten
before it was waxed?  In other words, cross-contact with gluten may occur in
any food product that has been processed before it gets to our tables, and
it can occur at our tables if our homes are not gluten-free zones.

 

The intention of the aforementioned study (see reference below) was not to
determine how much gluten a celiac could eat intentionally without suffering
ill effects.  It was an attempt to discover what level of trace amounts of
gluten ingested unintentionally through cross-contact would not cause
damage.  It may be helpful to think of this in the same terms as other
contaminants which we regularly ingest.  The Environmental Protection Agency
has a tolerance limit of 0.5 parts per million (ppm) for the amount of
Diazinon insecticide residue on almonds and apples.  National Primary
Drinking Water Regulations permit water delivered to the consumer's kitchen
faucet by a public water system to contain up to 0.010 milligrams of arsenic
per liter of water.  If a person obtains water from a private well, it may
contain a higher level of arsenic since the element can come from such
natural sources as erosion of natural deposits and runoff from orchards.

 

Why do we not require a zero tolerance for contaminants?  It is because it
is impractical, if not sometimes impossible, to do so.  Accurate testing for
contaminants, gluten or otherwise, may not be accurate enough to determine
an absolute zero level.  Testing for extremely low levels may be so costly
and exclude so many products that items passing the test may be too
expensive for the typical celiac consumer to afford them.  Therefore,
researchers conduct studies such as the one we referenced in an attempt to
discover realistic limits for gluten as an unintended contaminant.

 

(The study report under consideration was "A prospective, double-blind,
placebo-controlled trial to establish a safe gluten threshold for patients
with celiac disease," by Carlo Catassi, et al., published in American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 85, No. 1, 160-166, January 2007, and
available as a reprint online at http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/85/1/160.)

 

Deborah Holladay

Alamo Celiac GIG Membership Database

http://alamoceliac.org <http://alamoceliac.org/> 

 


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