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At Fri, 25 Jun 1999 10:34:38 -0700 Vance wrote:

>It should also be mentioned that many who have investigated the oat
>controversy insist that there are no commercially grown oats in the US that
>are not cross contaminated with gluten. I think Don Wiss also insists on
>this. The way I found out I was celiac was from the harsh and steady
>reactions I was having from oatmeal fortified with oatbran every morning.

I am always amused by the argument that one grain or another is more likely
to be contaminated than another, as I believe the real source of danger for
contamination is found at mills and processing plants, and is more or less
spread out equally for most grains.  Oats are often cited as having a
higher chance of contamination than other grains because it is a rotational
crop with wheat or barley, and kernels of gluten-containing grain
occasionally get mixed in.  I  do not understand why the same people who
make the claim that oats are therefore not safe for celiacs do no also
include soy in this category, as it is one of the crops that is most
commonly rotated with wheat.

In any case, from the knowledge that I have gathered over the years about
farming and processing grains, I must say that with most grains there is
little likelihood of contamination due to the mixing of two different whole
grains (i.e., the rotational crop hypothesis).  This is due to the
different sizes and shapes of different grains, and the machines which sort
them after a harvest.  If any grains do get mixed the amount would be
extremely low.

At this URL: http://www.celiac.com/oats.html#pizzey  you can find a letter
to me from a Trevor Pizzey, Vice President of Operations for Can-Oat
Milling, which is a large farming operation in Canada.  Mr. Pizzey believes
that celiacs should avoid oats because they find between 2.1 and 4.1
kernels of barley or wheat in every 4,000 (0.0525% and 0.1025%
respectively).  He says that this level can legally go up to a maximum
level of 10 kernels per 4,000 (0.25%).  In either of these scenarios we are
talking about very low amounts, and the likelihood that one would eat 1 or
2 kernels of wheat or barley on a given day would also be very low.  Also,
since most people eat whole oatmeal the can take very simple additional
precautions to make their chances of eating any kernels of wheat or barley
practically zero.  The obvious way to do this is to look at the oats before
you eat them or mill them and pull out any kernels that are of non-oat type.

Now we turn to the other part of the argument to scare people away from
grains that, taken by themselves, do not cause harm to people with celiac
disease. This is the "wheat dust in the mill (or during transport, or
somewhere else) argument."  There are many reasons, both health and safety,
why mills take steps to keep dust levels down.  Dust contamination is still
possible, but I think we are also talking about even lower amounts that we
were with the occasional kernel of wheat that pops up in oats, although
there is no data that I know of to back this up.  I think with whole oats
(i.e., oatmeal) people can reduce any possible risk of wheat-dust
contamination to almost zero by rinsing off their oats well with water
before cooking them.

The famous oat study that was done in Finland and published in the NEJM
used a source of non-contaminated oats to eliminate any possible factors
that could ruin the results of the long and expensive work.  It is possible
that they could have used Quaker oats for their study and gotten the same
results.  Again, the reasons for not doing so were to eliminate any
possible factors that might affect the results of their study.

Last, there is a danger of contamination which comes from unclean equipment
at mills, and at processing plants.  This danger is present with any
gluten-free grain, bean, etc., that is milled using the same equipment as
is used to mill a gluten-containing grain.  In other words we cannot speak
of only oats with regard to this issue, as rice flour, soy flour, etc.,
could be contaminated equally in this way.  Aside from legislation to
require cleaning between milling runs, those who are worried about this
need to buy flours from mills which they have researched and found to be
gluten-free, or ones that adequately clean their equipment between runs.

I think contamination issues are real, but need to be put in perspective
with regard to other, perhaps more important issues, like labeling laws and
getting agreement between the major celiac organizations in this country
with regard to which grains are safe.

Scott Adams - San Francisco, USA
Celiac Support Page:
http://www.celiac.com/
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