<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> The responses to my Kool-Aid question have finally quit coming in. I got a variety of responses about celiacs reacting in some way to artificial flavors and dyes, including one who only reacted to green items! I will try to summarize as briefly as possible: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- my son, 4 yrs. old, cannot take any of those artifically flavored drinks--Tang, Kool-Aid, whatever. I don't know if it's the sugar or the dyes, his doctor is baffled...When he used to drink those powdered artifical drinks, he'd get diarrhea and stomach cramps. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check the dye number against the number in other red drinks (eg, Red Dye #40) and see if it is a certain type that causes problems? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- My three-year-old celiac son reacted to GREEN Kool-Aid on two separate occasions. Green is his favourite colour, so that is the only Kool-Aid he has ever tried. I have two theories: 1. Might there be gluten in some food colours and/or in Kool-Aid? 2. Perhaps the kids are reacting to the colours independently of Celiac Disease? He has also reacted to green Skittles, even though we are told Skittles are gluten-free. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Possible allergies were mentioned: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Has your daughter been tested for other allergies? ... Also, I don't understand vomiting to be a CD reaction, but a toxic reaction. Do you find vomiting as a response to gluten ingestion? (There are a few items my celiac children have reacted to with vomiting and even fever. They could possibly be allergic responses. The oldest was tested for allergies at 2 1/2 but they can develop at any time so who knows?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Several questioned whether this was this real Kool-Aid brand which is supposed to be gluten free: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- My daughter reacts to the 'off named brands' severely...but NEVER to Kraft Brand Kool-Aid. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you say Kool-Aid, are you referring to the Kraft brand of Kool-Aid? I haven't had that in two years (since going gf) because Kraft was so difficult to get any ingredient answers from. However, in the last 2 weeks, someone posted to the list that they got a mini list of gluten-free items from Kraft and Kool-Aid (all flavors) was on the list... In the back of my mind, though, I was thinking that I still didn't trust Kraft since it was so difficult to get any sort of information from them in the past. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (I tend to agree with this last one, though maybe they are getting better as a response to our continual questioning of their products. We are a bigger market than they knew before.) One person wrote to me about salicylates: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cherry is a high salicylate food....Have you checked out Feingold Asso of America????? Salicylates are naturally occurring substances in a lot of foods that have negative effects on a certain percentage of the population. (I can forward the rest of the reply to my question about salicylates to anyone interested. It may be useful information. I will have to do more research here.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- And finally, of course my favorite response to "the Kool-Aid question": ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry--but as a long time teacher, I MUST ask you why in heaven's name are you giving your child that junk? Read the ingredients--the only natural ingredient is the aluminium foil on the packet. You're giving your child artifical colors, flavors and way too much sugar. PLease reconsider what you are putting down your child's throat. Give pure spring water! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I totally agree that Kool-Aid is a non-nutrient and we don't use it often, but sometimes you do what you have to do to survive the day. :-) Thank you to all the respondents to this question. It's always good to know we're not alone in this journey.