<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Someone recently posted our group's restaurant card on the list. One
of the forbidden grains listed was "millet". Let me be the first to
say that I disagree with the card; from what I now know I believe that
millet is gluten-free. I believe the information in the restaurant
card comes from our group's national organization, CSA/USA; information
which is not (in my opinion) correct.
I'm not alone in this view. Here is what Don Kasarda, a grain chemist
at the USDA, says about millet (and other grains):
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If we accept corn and rice as safe, then members of the grass family
that are more closely related to these species (on the basis of
taxonomy) than to wheat are likely to be safe. Such grasses include
sorghum, millet, teff, ragi, and Job's tears, which appear to be
reasonably closely related to corn...
Certain cereal grains, such as various millets, sorghum, teff, ragi, and
Job's tears are close enough in their genetic relationship to corn to
make it likely that these grains are safe for celiac patients to eat.
However, significant scientific studies have not been carried out for
these latter grains.[1]
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in Hitchcock's taxonomy, wheat, rye, and barley are in Tribe 3,
oats in Tribe 4, rice in Tribe 9, while Zizanieae is the name of Tribe 10,
millets are mostly in Tribe 12, sorghum is in Tribe 13, and maize (corn) in
Tribe 14. The tribe number in taxonomy has a limited relationship to
evolutionary relationship, but it is moderately safe to say that species
with neighboring tribe numbers are more likely to be closely related than
those with more distant numbers. Of course, taxonomies are not perfect, but
in the absence of detailed molecular analysis of all possible proteins from
all possible species, which we are not likely to have in the foreseeable
future, they are about the best we have to go on.[2]
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Mavis Malloy, RDN, spoke at last year's Canadian Celiac Association
conference. Millet is one of the "safe" grains:
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In the 90's the Canadian GF diet includes:
meat, fish, poultry
vegetable and fruit
milk & milk products
rice & corn based breads and baked goods
no wheat starch products
buckwheat, millet, sorghum, quinoa, amaranth, cassava, teff, and
flax
distilled alcohol, distilled vinegar, malt vinegar, and yeast
(including brewer's yeast)
no spice and seasoning mixtures
no oats
no pharmaceuticals containing grain fillers[3]
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As long as millet has not been cross-contaminated by wheat or some
other gluten grain, it should be safe for celiacs.
References:
[1] GRAINS reference file. Available on the web at:
<http://rdz.acor.org/lists/celiac/grains.html#Taxonomy>
[2] GRAINS reference file. Available on the web at:
<http://rdz.acor.org/lists/celiac/grains.html#Wild Rice>
[3] _The Sprue-nik Press_, July/Aug. 1998. Available on the web at:
<http://rdz.acor.org/lists/celiac/sn/spnk9808.html#Nutrition>
------- Jim Lyles --------
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-- Holly, Michigan, USA --
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