Wine And Celiac Disease

[meelaf]

Hi everyone!

I'm a new member. I live in Switzerland, which is a wine producing country and where drinking wine is part of the culture. I was having the usual horrible celiac reactions after drinking wine and couldn't understand the reason why until a friend told me that wheat is used in wine-processing!

Couldn't believe it, so looked it up on the net and, guess what, wheat fibres are used in the clarifying process! Asked a wine rep and he confirmed this - sometimes egg white is used, sometimes izingglass and sometimes WHEAT!

So, bye-bye wine!

Best wishes

meelaf

[Lisa]

  meelaf said:

Hi everyone!

I'm a new member. I live in Switzerland, which is a wine producing country and where drinking wine is part of the culture. I was having the usual horrible celiac reactions after drinking wine and couldn't understand the reason why until a friend told me that wheat is used in wine-processing!

Couldn't believe it, so looked it up on the net and, guess what, wheat fibres are used in the clarifying process! Asked a wine rep and he confirmed this - sometimes egg white is used, sometimes izingglass and sometimes WHEAT!

So, bye-bye wine!

Best wishes

meelaf

Would you please site your references for your conclusion. I have never heard of this.

Perhaps, it's the sulfites in the wine that you are reacting to. All wines contain sulfites with the exception of some US organic wines that do not add sulfites.

Unless you're drinking this:

Open Original Shared Link

[Phyllis28]

  Momma Goose said:

Unless you're drinking this:

Open Original Shared Link

Wheat Wine - I shutter just thinking that about it.

[jerseyangel]

Wow--read this...

Open Original Shared Link

and this....

Open Original Shared Link

[Ridgewalker]

  jerseyangel said:

Wow--read this...

Open Original Shared Link

and this....

Open Original Shared Link

OMG!!!! Can it be?! Is this true!? Because I have to say, folks, that if this is true it could explain a year-long medical mystery for me. My mom and I refer to it as Sarah's Sunday Runs. Ahem... Seriously, though, this is kind of depressing.

[GFinDC]

Now that's just not fair. Gluten in wine should not be there anymore than fish or bull's blood or egg whites or casein. What's wrong with just grapes and yeast?

.

Article in the Press Democrat saying that wheat is sometime used in the glue on wine barrels.

Open Original Shared Link

The company mentioned in the article that makes fining agents for wines: Page decribes thier fining agents.

Open Original Shared Link

Mad Cow disease from drinking wine?

BBC new article about bull blood being used to clarify wine in France.

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Happy Friday! Yuck.

[Lisa]

Open Original Shared Link

I would think that should there be any cross contamination from the barrels that it is less that the 200pps. [edit] Accuracy of "gluten-free" labels

I can't find any source for this, but I can't image this (wine containing gluten) to be accurate. Otherwise, there would have been screaming from all the support and lobby organizations for Celiac Awareness even without the lack of labeling laws that pertain to wine industry.

[jerseyangel]

I don't know, Lisa--I did a quick search this afternoon using the key words "wine" "fining" and "wheat". I was surprised at how much information came up. Vegan wines, evidently, sometimes use wheat and pea protein.

I'm not talking about the glue on the barrel, but the actual ingredient used in clarifying the wine itself. Although, some of us who are extremely sensitive certainly could react to that alone.

Since technically the wheat (or whatever was used to fine the wine) isn't an ingredient, they can get away with not listing it--and not providing a CC warning. For instance, egg is a common fining agent, but how many labels list it...and egg is a top 8 allergan.

[Lisa]

Open Original Shared Link

Here is a listing of common finings in beer and wine, none of which has a wheat derivative.

Could it be that the non-traditional wines may contain wheat as a fining agent? Don't know.

[jerseyangel]

  Momma Goose said:

Could it be that the non-traditional wines may contain wheat as a fining agent? Don't know.

Could be.... I'm sure it's not a common thing but it's good to know, nonetheless

[GFinDC]

  jerseyangel said:

Could be.... I'm sure it's not a common thing but it's good to know, nonetheless

From what I have read so far it seems bentonite clay is pretty commonly used for the fining/clarifying. But there is no way to know what each vinyard uses unless they reveal it. Clay doesn't sound like a bad deal at all. Seems they have a lot of options for what to use.

[jerseyangel]

  GFinDC said:

From what I have read so far it seems bentonite clay is pretty commonly used for the fining/clarifying. But there is no way to know what each vinyard uses unless they reveal it. Clay doesn't sound like a bad deal at all.

I thought the same thing

[babysteps]

Most wines are "fined" - but not all. There are some wines that specifically say "unfined and unfiltered" on the label, those should be safe as long as your system is okay with grapes & fermentation!!

Or if you already have some wine you can go on the winery's website or call and see if they fine (most wineries do) and if so what they use, if they ever use wheat.

here is a link Open Original Shared Link about red wine reactions and some possible causes, may help explain some of the mechanics.

Some folks with yeast issues react to virtually all alcohol - there are some threads on this site that go into more detail.

Good luck to all finding beverages that work with their bodies

[Judyin Philly]

I took this quote from one of the first 'references Patti listed.

"""Why freak out the ignorant when we are adjusting something that is already there in the wine?" says Clark Smith, chairman of Vinovation Inc., a Sebastopol, Calif.-based wine industry "fix-it shop."

Do you think we are just IGNORANT to try to drink wine anymore?

Oye.........on this 'quote' i'm going to bed

nite all

Judy

[FredB]

From believing that I was only wheat intolerant I've now worked out that I'm probably reacting to all gluten too (self-diagnoses through trial and error - no help from medics, being told to "just carry on the way I am doing"). Anyway, slowly removing all gluten from my diet I find that one thing left is a reaction to wine, both red and white, which even in small amounts now gives headaches and fatigue for 24 hours.

The hard thing about all this is the huge extent of unlisted gluten use. Even on the celiac web site there is an article that states that all wine is okay. My experience suggests that this is untrue, and that the only real test is ones own reaction. Now I don't trust anything until I've been symptom free after use of any amount - process that gets easier now that I've eliminated almost all sources. I now only drink gluten-free beer.

[Ridgewalker]

  Judyin Philly said:

I took this quote from one of the first 'references Patti listed.

"""Why freak out the ignorant when we are adjusting something that is already there in the wine?" says Clark Smith, chairman of Vinovation Inc., a Sebastopol, Calif.-based wine industry "fix-it shop."

Do you think we are just IGNORANT to try to drink wine anymore?

Oye.........on this 'quote' i'm going to bed

nite all

Judy

Yeah, I was really annoyed with that comment- that guy's quote. Pretty arrogant, and ignorant himself. I think most of us could tell him a thing or two about why it's important for people to know what they're ingesting.

[Judyin Philly]

  Ridgewalker said:

Yeah, I was really annoyed with that comment- that guy's quote. Pretty arrogant, and ignorant himself. I think most of us could tell him a thing or two about why it's important for people to know what they're ingesting.

AGREE 100% Sarah but with people like the 'quoted' know it all.......... I'm just considering the source and will carry on with what I know is safe for me today..............now............the debackel is..................will it still be safe tomorrow.

[Gemini]

  FredB said:

From believing that I was only wheat intolerant I've now worked out that I'm probably reacting to all gluten too (self-diagnoses through trial and error - no help from medics, being told to "just carry on the way I am doing"). Anyway, slowly removing all gluten from my diet I find that one thing left is a reaction to wine, both red and white, which even in small amounts now gives headaches and fatigue for 24 hours.

The hard thing about all this is the huge extent of unlisted gluten use. Even on the celiac web site there is an article that states that all wine is okay. My experience suggests that this is untrue, and that the only real test is ones own reaction. Now I don't trust anything until I've been symptom free after use of any amount - process that gets easier now that I've eliminated almost all sources. I now only drink gluten-free beer.

What you are most likely reacting to are sulfites in the wine....that is very common and will give a person the symptoms you listed. Many people automatically think they are ingesting gluten when they react and this is not always the case. The Celiac websites that tell people wine is OK are pretty much correct. As I am a wine drinker, I visited a vineyard near to me and questioned the wine experts on this and they all seemed to be in agreement that they have never heard of a gluten component added to wine in the process. Beer is a big no-no, obviously, but wine is not.

The other issue that many get caught up in is the "hidden" gluten idea. A few of the prominent gluten-free magazines have covered this topic and concluded that it is mainly a myth. With labeling laws being what they are, manufacturer's list what is in a product. If there are any questionable ingredients, the status of that ingredient can easily be made clear with a call to the company. I think most of this confusion is a person's unfamiliarity with food ingredients when first starting out on the diet.

I had severe, advanced celiac disease and if there was any gluten in wine, I would be back in the hospital by now as I drink wine every day. The vast majority of it is gluten-free and if you are reacting, I would bet it's the sulfites. They can produce a reaction as bad as any gluten reaction. Remember, Celiacs can and often do have other food sensitivities so don't always assume a reaction is caused by gluten.

[GFinDC]

Hi FredB,

I am cutting out all wine now, due to my feet and ankles swelling. I think I have a reaction to the yeast in the wine. I ate some peanuts with added yeast and had symptoms from that. I usually get the plain peanuts but got the dry roasted Planters for a change and they have yeast added.

Anyway, here is a link to an article about Crohn's patients having antibodies to brewers yeaast in their blood.

Here's a link to an article about baker's yeast antibodies showing up in Crohn's patients. My younger brother had Crohn's.

Open Original Shared Link

[babysteps]

For me this thread definitely underscores the 'know your own body' concept!

Luckily I tolerate wine just fine (my spouse's #1 hobby is tasting wine). But I certainly used to love bread and barley, and have decided that my health is a lot more important than eating gluten

For those of us celiac's who do not tolerate wine, it may well be a reaction to some non-gluten but still problem-causing component of wine.

For anyone who suspects their trigger from wine is the yeast or the alcohol or the sulfites, it's easy enough to test those from non-wine sources. If you suspect the trigger is related to fining materials, it may be worth some research & experimenting to find a few wines that you can tolerate.

Some of us may come to the conclusion that, whatever the trigger, wine is not something that works in our bodies. Perhaps not the answer we're hoping for, but just the way it is.

In the end, for me my health is more important than being able to eat "anything". The better we know our bodies, the healthier we can become. Even if we are told that we "should" not react to a food, if we *do* react we have the power to avoid it. And add it to the long list of things that are *not* 'all in our heads'.

Healthier is better, and knowledge is power

[sickchick]

I quit drinking wine already, but this explains why I get SO sick from one wine and I am fine with another.

Clark Smith's got my blood boiling now

bastid!

lovelove

[GFinDC]

I thought this link might interest people as it has response from some makers on gluten-free status.

Open Original Shared Link

Also, I got a response from Almaden wine that they cannot guarantee their wines are gluten free. They are the only one I checked on. The web page I linked lists some gluten-free wines though.