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

In a recent post, Debi from Alberta Canada reported that the overall
consensus of Celiac's is that white/clear vinegars are probably derived
from distlled grains and the probability of gluten is high.  This is an
opinion I have seen many times on the listservers and in Celiac related
material.  As a celiac and a chemical engineering professor I must insist
that the consensus of Celiac's is wrong in this case.

The probability that there is enough gluten in white vinegar to cause
problems for Celiac's is extremely low.  White vinegar is made from
distilled alcohol.  A good description of the process used for making
vinegar can be found at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A2=ind9604D&L=celiac&P=R772.
Although the alcohol used to make vinegar may have been made from
fermentation of wheat, distillation is an incredibly effective means of
separating non-volatile proteins from volatile chemicals like alcohol.
Distillation is a method of separating chemicals by evaporating them and
then recondensing them.  Proteins don't evaporate.  Their vapor pressures
are too low to be measured by any conventional means.  I have been unable
to find any vapor pressures for proteins in published literature.  In my
research, I have worked with proteins in ultra high vaccum conditions and
have found that the vapor pressure of common proteins is lower than
0.00000001 torr.  If we use this as an upper limit for the vapor pressure
of proteins, this would indicate that in a one stage distillation one
should find less than 10 parts per trillion protein in the overhead
product.  Since alcohol is produced in multi-stage distillation processes
this is a very liberal upper limit for the protein content of distilled
alcohol.  This amount of protein would be below the detection limit for all
chemical assays with which I am familiar.  This hypothesis is confirmed by
the makers of distilled alcohol who state that the nitrogen content in
distilled alcohol is below the detection limit.

Although the chance of finding gluten in distilled alcohol is not zero, it
is pretty darn close to zero.  It is alot lower than your chances of
winning 50 million dollars in this weeks lottery.   I can not see any
reason why Celiac's should avoid products that contain either white vinegar
or distilled alcohol.

Now that I have given you the science perspective, let me share my
experience as a Celiac.  I was diagnosed with Celiac disease last october
(by biopsy) and have recovered very well on a diet which contains small
amounts of distilled vinegar and distilled alcohol.  My primary symptom was
iron deficiency anemia which did not improve when I was given massive doses
of Iron.  After 6 weeks on a gluten free diet my serum iron levels went
from 8.5 to 14 mg/ml.  My other malnutrition symptoms have abated as well.
I feel better than I have ever felt.  I have not been back for a follow up
biopsy to see if my intestinal villi have recovered.  My doctor is of the
opinion that since I have had complete resolution of all my clinical
symptoms on the GF diet a follow up biopsy is not needed.

I know that some Celiac's experience apparent celiac related symptoms in
response to vinegar.  There are several possible explanations for this.
Some celiac's may have an allergy or intollerance to vinegar in addition
to gluten intolerance.  Since vinegar is almost always consumed in
processed foods, they may be responding to some gluten source other than
vinegar.  Some celiac's may be experiencing something equivalent to a
placebo effect.  If our brains are capable of healing our bodies solely
because we think we are being treated, our brains can certainly cause
"celiac symptoms" simply because we think we are eating something that
contains gluten.  And finally, since some celiac's are more sensitive to
trace amounts of gluten than others, some people may actually be reacting
to that one gliaden protein which defied the laws of probability and made
it through the distillation process.  This last explanation seems the most
unlikely.