<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Dear Friends, Recently I posted a request for thoughts on why I had a strong painful reaction apparently from eating some Swiss cheese from a deli. Thank you so much to all who responded! I know some others struggle with dairy and lactose intolerances, so this may be useful information. Unfortunately, once again, there are no clear cut answers, except that cheese can cause misery. One person said her research revealed Swiss cheese may be made with wheat to aid in fermentation, but she found a couple other cheeses to be gf. I called the deli. The clerk read off the ingredients to me, which sounded fine but, as we know, that could be misleading. When I'm feeling brave, I could try one of those gf cheeses recommended below. According to my mail, some people build or rebuild a tolerance to cheese and other dairy by starting with very small quantities and adding gradually. This reminds me of a movie in which someone slowly built a tolerance to arsenic so he could attempt to get away with murder. In other words, is building a tolerance to something your body doesn't want a good thing? I look at my peeling finger nails and think it might not be a bad idea to get calcium from tastey cheese. Then again, there are always kale and brocoli and calcium pills. Yum! I did buy a tofu cookbook, so I'll be looking for recipes for things mentioned in the last post below. Thanks again to everyone for the excellent responses! Mara ___________ 3 persons said the reaction was to the dairy. ___________ 2 persons thought it could be cross-contamination from the slicer at the deli, and one suggested trying cheese from a pure source. ___________ One person recommended "the book Eating For Your Four Blood Types by DR D`Adamo at the library. This might be something in addition to a Celiac reaction." ___________ One person reacts similarly to lactose. Her doctor recommended building tolerance by introducing 1/4 c. of milk for a few days and slowly increasing it. Now she can consume what she wants, but, if she stops consuming it for a while she would react again. ___________ Lactose Intolerance [for the writer] takes about 2 hours. If the attack took 24 hours it was probably some thing else. [A reaction to dairy usually hits me in a couple of hours, too! That's why I started to suspect gluten.] ___________ I avoid all dairy due to mild intolerance, but swiss cheese makes me double over in terrible cramps as you described. I have never learned why it is worse than other cheeses, but I avoid it completely! ___________ Mine [reaction to lactose] cleared up after 18 months GF. However, I didn't start by consuming 1 1/2 slices of cheese! I started slowly, like a bit of only natural, not processed cheese. And worked my way back from there. intoducing a little at a time. At first the "nautral" cheeses caused some flatulence, but as I progressed it went away. It was at least a year after natural cheeses didn't bother me before I ventured the same tecnique using milk. TOday I eat any dairy. No problemo! ___________ I am a cheese lover and have researched the gluten connection. Wheat is used in cheese to aid the fermentation process and also as a binder. I have found a couple of cheeses that are gluten free. One is Tillamook Cheese, all flavors and another is Cabot Cheese, all flavors, these come in a small loaf and can be found at places like Costco, Sams Club and Waremart/Cub Foods. For Italian type cheeses there is Stella, Frigo and their subsidiaries Gardenia, Dragone etc. All of these have free 800 #'s (which I don't have handy at the moment and/ or websites. I have personally contacted these companies and they are super nice and will send you lists of their gf products. Stella is in Wisc and Cabot is in Maine, and you just call 800 555 1212 for the toll free #. I have not actually spoken to Tillamook I don't think but got their name from the CSA GF Consumer Guide, which is a godsend when shopping. A wonderful benefitof the wheat free cheeses is they do not mold like other cheeses. I can keep them for weeks and months with no molding. Actually the wheat is used in Bleu cheese to promote the blue mold that gives it's name so stay away from any cheese that has veins running through it. Hope this helps. For years I suffered from diarrhea when I ate cheese now I eat it all the time with no reaction. I am a happy woman! ___________ I don't know about gluten in Swiss cheese but I can tell you that if you are dairy-intolerant connected to the CD, as I am, you will have a ferocious reaction to any and all dairy products. I have also been GF for about two years and my expereince is that the longer you are GF, the worse the reaction not only to gluten but also to dairy (and in my case, eggs and corn too. Ugh!) Luckily I have no problem with soy, chocolate, coffee, rice, potatoes, all meats and fish, and some other foods that make life worthwhile. If you don't have a soy reaction, I would suggest that you get a good tofu cookbook; I have just discovered that I can have all sorts of goodies like cheesecake, quiche, cakes and cookies and lots of other delicious foods made with no eggs or dairy.