<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> In regard to GlutImmune, the glutamine powder supplement, I received a letter from the company stating: It is derived from an enzymatic process on wheat berries. We have had no problems with folks with gluten intolerance or Celiac. Start out slow with any new product. All wheat contains gluten. The enzymatic process seems to neutralize it and the reaction sensitive folks have to it. Wellwisdom Tel 619-469 8196 Fax 619-469-8142 www.immunepro.com Here are the responses from our group: ------------------------------ From what I am told by a friend who is a nutritionist, Wheat Berries are not wheat, but buckwheat groats, which are made from berries. Have you ever heard of Kasha? Well, this is from buckwheat groats, which are the same thing. It is safe for us. ------------------------------ Wheat berries are basically grains of wheat! I can't imagine anything made from them out not contain gluten. I'd steer clear of this. -------------------------------- These people should be imprisoned for statements like that. The wheat berry is the edible part of wheat, the part that contains the proteins toxic to us. ---------------------------------- There was someone at the CSA conference in 2000 who was a fanatic on MSG & any other compounds that was a hydrolyzed protein. ..... Unfortunately, he called everything with free glutamic acids 'MSG' even though mono-sodium glutamate is a specific chemical structure. In addition to being confusing, it kind of undermined his credibility, in my opionion, since science is a very exact art. You can check out that website at www.truthinlabeling.org ----------------------------------- Whether or not the 'enzymatic process' actually destroys or uses up all the gliadin proteins is a good question (and probably you'd need a testing kit to be sure)........ Another question is the shape of the glutamine molecule. Immune systems respond primarily to the shape of the outside coat of a protein: gluten happens to have the same shape as some viruses, and our immune system gets them confused. Oat 'gluten' and rye gluten and wheat gluten are NOT the same protein, but the shape is close enough that experts feel the immune system will respond to any of them. 'glutamine' sounds like it is derived from some gluten protein, but whether the shape is close enough to the gliadin protein that is a problem in Celiac is a really good question, and possibly one that only YOUR immune system can answer. ........ ...........On the other hand, a lot of people seem to get good results from glutamine, so maybe the shape is close enough to gluten that it acts like a kind of vaccine or homeopathic remedy, somehow re-training the antibodies or maybe bonding to them and 'using them up' so they don't cause other reactions. Just a wild guess though. --------------------------------- It's my understanding that gluten is in the berry of wheat, not the grass! This would not be good for us. Processing does not *kill* gluten. -------------------------------- l-glutamine is usually listed as being produced by the 'hydrolysis of wheat gluten'. Which for us, doesn't sound good. But, it is also listed as being really good for people's intestines (and lots of other things). It's usually listed as being gluten-free. And it is recommended by some gut docs for celiacs. And the clincher is, my favorite protein drink, by EAS, turns out to have it as an ingredient (and I've never had a reaction from EAS products). Other sources are: SOURCES Beans, brewer's yeast, brown rice bran, caseinate, dairy products, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, legumes, meat, nuts, seafood, seeds, soy, whey, whole grains. Hydrolysis of gluten, beet root or other proteins. Which means the chemical itself *can't* be the allergen that's a problem in celiac, or we'd all be avoiding eggs, meat, nuts etc. -------------------------------- Here are some great articles on glutamine and gluten. Basically it sounds like 'gluten' is a catchall word for a variety of proteins found in wheat. Glutamine is one of the proteins -- and may be THE protein that celiacs react to. So taking glutamine supplements would not seem, at face value, to be a good idea: http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/test16.html Since gluten has an abundance of the amino acid glutamine, it is especially vulnerable to this reaction with transglutaminase. This abnormally linked molecule is then perceived as a foreign antigen by the immune system and antibodies to transglutaminase begin to be produced, inhibiting the normal function of transglutaminase in repairing damaged intestinal mucosa. ---------------------------------------- I guess the best way to find out if glutamine supplements are harmful to us would be for people on this site to post whether they take glutamine supplements - if so, is it helpful for intestinal repair and reducing inflammation? Does it cause reactions? What brand? Steve - NYC