ECG, nothing in that recital addresses Deeg’s question, which was whether there are people who are so sensitive to gluten the situation described by jsgoddess would trigger a reaction:
[QUOTE=jsgoddess]
I know nothing about coffees, so this may be impossible, but I know that in many places there are glutens in the prep areas that can contaminate other things that wouldn’t usually have gluten.
[/QUOTE]
…of course there was nothing in Deeg’s question which was specific to jsgoddess: if the intention was to direct the question at jsgoddess then quoting jsgoddess is generally regarded as the way to direct a question at someone.
I asked Deeg for clarification of what “that sensitive” means. Sensitive enough to have problems from contaminated food? You can have extremely high levels of contamination. Imagine a pizza place that preps a regular pizza crust on a board covered in flour that then preps a gluten free crust on that same flour-covered board.
I don’t think there are any scientific studies that show exactly what level of gluten exposure is safe for celiacs. I’ve seen the figure of 6 milligrams thrown around. Somewhere between 6 and 100 mg is where damage appears to show up in the villi.
Because they are a scientist and have collected data over many years of elimination diet trials. Also, a lot of commercially available products change their ingredients slightly without saying so. Products they eat regularly have at times suddenly caused problems. A comparison of ingredient lists from old and new packaging shows that gluten has been added, usually as modified food starch that an email to the manufacturer confirms to be wheat-based. This means they now read ingredient lists every time they buy even a staple product.
My family member underwent a medical chemotherapy treatment that caused this gluten-intolerance as a side effect. It was a sudden change in physical response that was very clear.
This isn’t somebody deciding that teh wheat is bad. This is a person who likes sugar, is of normal weight, and as far as I know, has never been on a diet or been swayed much by popular culture’s ideas of good eating. This is someone who can order a gluten-free muffin, eat a couple of bites, and say, “This is not gluten-free” based on immediate side effects like numb lips. Every time I’ve seen this happen, a trip to the kitchen has revealed that someone pulled the muffin or whatever from the wrong container.
The evidence is very clear and attested to by restaurant staff or commercial manufacturers.
And dolphin-free.
That trace amounts of gluten products (that could be picked up in a prep area) in a food could trigger a serious reaction.
When the best muffin shop in the world announced that it was offering gluten-free muffins, I was deliriously happy. First muffin, I felt a bit off but didn’t attribute it completely to the gluten-free muffin. The second muffin (at a later time) also caused a reaction which I attributed to cross-contamination as everything else I ate that day was tried and true gf.
I consider a reaction serious when my digestive system shuts down for two or three days and the brain fog and fatigue turn me into a sloth. A dangerous reaction causes anxiety attacks and severe mood swings.
I have a friend with a deadly allergy to plants in the nightshade family, including potato. He says that “gluten free” means “this is death” to him, as more than a third of gluten-free stuff includes potato flour.
I wonder if he would avoid the lattes.
What do you consider trace amounts?
As I said in an earlier post, somewhere between 6 mg and 100 mg is where damage appears to start happening for celiac sufferers. I would consider these pretty small amounts, though I’m certainly no expert in visualizing milligrams. 100 mg is 1/7 of a plain M&M. Most grains of rice are 20-30 mg. (I’m taking these numbers from web searches.)
I used to baby sit for a toddler with celiac disease. If he accidentally got a nibble of the wrong cookie, he’d be doubled over in pain. He was unaware of why some foods made him sick and why some didn’t, so there was no confirmation bias on his part. A bite of the right cookie and he was fine; a bite of the wrong one and he was sick.
My sister is a celiac and the threshold her doctors and nutritionist give is 20 parts per million.
Flavorings are some of the hardest things for her to find gluten-free. She loves ethnic and spicy food, and our old Sichuan haunts are off limits to her. Most restaurants don’t stock the wheat-free soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar or Pixian bean paste.
There may be a few dishes she can theoretically eat (e.g. pea tendrils with garlic) but it is also the cross-contamination of implements, surfaces and kitchenware that will get her. She argued fiercely with the nutritionist when she insisted that my sister had to get rid of her beloved practically-antique but wicked cool toaster, because the nutritionist said it would be impossible to eliminate all gluten from the old toaster no matter how it was cleaned, baked, or vacuumed. And that using it for future gluten-free breads **would **still make her sick.
Supposedly my other sisters and I are at risk of developing celiac as well. I was a baker years ago and still make most of my own bread. I eat maybe more good bread with great crust now than ever, in the dread fear that I’ll become celiac some day.
Toaster can never be cleaned? Are you fucking kidding me? What the ghost of gluten past will infect the bread?
Find a nutritionist that does not have their head jammed squarely up their ass. This one is a scaremongering idiot.