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I Think There's Gluten In That "gluten Free" Food!


The Gigglah

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The Gigglah Rookie

Has anyone else gotten sick from eating something marked Gluten free? I picked up a new type of Gluten free pizza crust that Giant Food started to carry, and got Violently ill. I used all the same products(sauce,cheese, pepperoni) that I usually use, so I know it was the crust. I thought it tasted to good to be true. I can't remember the brand name , but I have never gotten sick from Schar pizza crusts.


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OptimisticMom42 Apprentice

I haven't gotten a gluten type reaction from anything marked gluten free but I know that these foods contain ingredients by body is not use to and my reactions have been weird.

marie06 Rookie
Has anyone else gotten sick from eating something marked Gluten free? I picked up a new type of Gluten free pizza crust that Giant Food started to carry, and got Violently ill. I used all the same products(sauce,cheese, pepperoni) that I usually use, so I know it was the crust. I thought it tasted to good to be true. I can't remember the brand name , but I have never gotten sick from Schar pizza crusts.

Yup....several times. Some Trader Joes products, Bella Monica pizza and a salad dressing. The first 2 I doubt were made on a gluten-free only line and when I turned the salad dressing around (that was marked "Gluten Free" on the front), the ingredients listed BARLEY.....so now I read EVERYTHING two and three times. :angry:

FMcGee Explorer

I do too. I have a gluten reaction from Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce, which is totally fine for most people.

Foxfire62 Newbie

Unless it's a company that caters specifically to celiacs, I don't buy it.

The Gigglah Rookie

I checked and the brand was kinnikinnick. The only weird thing listed was Yeast...so not sure if it was a Gluten free yeast or not. Oh well. Thanks for the replies everyone!

Lisa Mentor
I checked and the brand was kinnikinnick. The only weird thing listed was Yeast...so not sure if it was a Gluten free yeast or not. Oh well. Thanks for the replies everyone!

Yeast should not be a problem. Kinnikinnick is an excellent company. Have you writtten or called the company and inquired about their ingredients? I'm pretty sure they they test their products for quality controll regarding the gluten free status of their products, and they have dedicated facilities.

Here's a little background:

Open Original Shared Link


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bklynceliac Apprentice

Yes, I would say it's extremely unlikely that you were glutened by kinnikinnick. In fact, I'm not sure I could name a company I trust more. But the good news you've just gotten a new clue about other intolerances you might have.

hannahp57 Contributor

I read that you used all the same cheese sauce and things. did you double checks those? like companies say in their disclaimer they can change their ingredients at any time without public notification. I would look into that, Kinnikinnick is one of those products i trust completely and they havent ever burned me. im not totally discounting what you're saying. every company can mess up. but it could be one of those other products

JennyC Enthusiast

My son was getting glutened by Wellshire kids dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. The Chicago Tribune even did an article stating that their products tested positive for gluten , at times very high levels, on numerous occasions! I am still furious. My son's tTG level went from 4 to 19 (reference range <21) during the year he was frequently eating their products. Since I removed them from his diet his tTG is back down to 3.

nasalady Contributor
Has anyone else gotten sick from eating something marked Gluten free? I picked up a new type of Gluten free pizza crust that Giant Food started to carry, and got Violently ill. I used all the same products(sauce,cheese, pepperoni) that I usually use, so I know it was the crust. I thought it tasted to good to be true. I can't remember the brand name , but I have never gotten sick from Schar pizza crusts.

I've been glutened by Arrowhead Mills Millet Flour. I read a post on this forum that said that some Arrowhead Mills products had issues with cross contamination and sure enough, as soon as I stopped using it my symptoms went away.

Please see topic at following URL:

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?showtopic=56278

stillclueless Newbie
I've been glutened by Arrowhead Mills Millet Flour. I read a post on this forum that said that some Arrowhead Mills products had issues with cross contamination and sure enough, as soon as I stopped using it my symptoms went away.

Please see topic at following URL:

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?showtopic=56278

I would also greatly trust Kinnikinniknnikninknkkiin whatever - I love, love their products and have never had a problem and I seem to be very sensitive. I cannot, however, eat Van's gluten-free waffles. I have tried several times over the last three years with no success with that brand... Anyone else?

Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular

I react quite strongly to maltodextrin, even though my gluten reactions are mild to the point of being unnoticeable at times.

At first, I was convinced that maltodextrin must contain gluten, since I was reacting to it--but apparently, it doesn't. I can only conclude that rather than being allergic to it or intolerant to it, my body simply recognizes it as something it doesn't like and tries to get rid of it quickly!

Our systems, as a rule, are awfully sensitive, what with damaged intestines, etc. So I think we are likely to react to things that aren't necessarily gluten, especially until our intestines are fully healed--which can take months.

I also had unpleasant reactions in the beginning to ALL gluten-free bread products--it felt like I'd swallowed a brick. I didn't learn until later that that is typical for a celiac with unhealed intestines.

If you've only been gluten-free for a short time, the usual (and good) advice is to avoid gluten-free bread products entirely and stick with fresh fruits, veggies, meat, fish, chicken, rice, potatoes, eggs, etc. AVOID MILK PRODUCTS, as damaged intestinal villi are unable to produce lactase, and the resulting irritation from the milk products will prevent healing.

jerseyangel Proficient

My guess is that there's something else in the crust that you are reacting to. Although Kinnikinnick is an excellent company, I can't eat their products because they use pea (legume) flour. I'm extremely sensitive to legumes, and get a reaction from them much worse that with gluten. It's as though I've been poisoned.

Another reason I can't eat certain certified gluten-free foods is that they contain tapioca or soy. Perhaps you have an additional intolerance?

  • 2 weeks later...
Bella Monica Newbie
Yup....several times. Some Trader Joes products, Bella Monica pizza and a salad dressing. The first 2 I doubt were made on a gluten-free only line and when I turned the salad dressing around (that was marked "Gluten Free" on the front), the ingredients listed BARLEY.....so now I read EVERYTHING two and three times. :angry:

Dear Marie06

My name is Trevor Chambers and I am the owner of Bella Monica FlatBread Company. I hope this note finds you well as I was very sorry to hear that you think you may have been "glutened" by one of our products. Although I am not sure what may have caused your illness I want you to know that we do take our responsibility to make clean, safe food very seriously. All of our products are tested at the ingredient stage before production begins and retested upon completion. We use the ELISA EZ Gluten Test which will measure down to 10ppm, the level currently under consideration by the FDA for a product to be Gluten Free. We have never had batches test beyond the 10ppm limit and if we ever do test beyond 10ppm the product would never be put into distribution.

I understand your concern and if I became ill after eating something it would be suspect in my mind as well. Was this the first and only time you have tried our pizzas? Is it possible that you may have an allergy or intolerance to some other ingredient? Was there something else that you ate within a short period of time before or after eating our pizza? Was there any chance of cross-contamination during preparation? I can only assure you and all our customers that we take every precaution possible to produce a Gluten Free product and will continue to use good manufacturing practices to that end.

Dialogue with our customers provides both parties with the chance to better understand each other and ultimately make their experiences with our family

Nancym Enthusiast

Wow! How neat is that that they responded? I love to hear about manufacturer's manufacturing processes.

I also think there are lots of things out there we eat, breathe, accidentally ingest, that might not have anything to do with gluten but could make us sick. Like stomach flu viruses, other intolerances, other food eaten earlier in the day, food poisoning (which usually takes a day or two to set in), etc.

FMcGee Explorer
Wow! How neat is that that they responded? I love to hear about manufacturer's manufacturing processes.

I also think there are lots of things out there we eat, breathe, accidentally ingest, that might not have anything to do with gluten but could make us sick. Like stomach flu viruses, other intolerances, other food eaten earlier in the day, food poisoning (which usually takes a day or two to set in), etc.

That's very true. My boyfriend (who does not have celiac disease) developed symptoms similar to mine when I'm glutened, but he had salmonella (he's traveling, too, and had to find a medical clinic in a pretty remote area!). I think it's easy to assume a lot of things are from gluten that aren't, necessarily.

virginiabeach Rookie

Has anyone else gotten sick from eating something marked Gluten free?

Unfortunately, companies that make "gluten free" products do not have to inform us that they were made on equipment shared with wheat.

Van's gluten free and Nature's Path both claim to clean their equipment very well before they produce the gluten free products. Open Original Shared Link for example.

Don't trust anything from Trader Joe's either. General Mills, however, does not put that label on a box that was not entirely produced in a gluten free envireonment. Does anyone know if there is a site here or on another site where lists are kept as to how gluten free a particular brand it?

It would be good if we could collect all the responses from different companies in one spot so that we would not each have to do all this research.

TearzaRose Explorer

i recently came across a lot of testimonies that cocoa pebbles and fruity pebbles were gluten free and even processed on a separate manufacturing line.

well, i was excited to treat myself to some because they smell darn good and satisfied my sweet tooth.

a couple weeks ago i had a couple bowls-which was the ONLY thing i ate out of the ordinary and ended up getting glutened.

:angry:

another reason to stick to my semi-vegan diet......can't trust any processed foods.

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    • trents
      So, essentially all of the nutrition in the food we eat is absorbed through the villous lining of the small bowel. This is the section of the intestinal track that is damaged by celiac disease. This villous lining is composed of billions of finger-like projections that create a huge amount of surface area for absorbing nutrients. For the celiac person, when gluten is consumed, it triggers an autoimmune reaction in this area which, of course, generates inflammation. The antibodies connected with this inflammation is what the celiac blood tests are designed to detect but this inflammation, over time, wears down the finger-like projections of the villous lining. Of course, when this proceeds for an extended period of time, greatly reduces the absorption efficiency of the villous lining and often results in many and various nutrient deficiency-related health issues. Classic examples would be osteoporosis and iron deficiency. But there are many more. Low D3 levels is a well-known celiac-caused nutritional deficiency. So is low B12. All the B vitamins in fact. Magnesium, zinc, etc.  Celiac disease can also cause liver inflammation. You mention elevated ALP levels. Elevated liver enzymes over a period of 13 years was what led to my celiac diagnosis. Within three months of going gluten free my liver enzymes normalized. I had elevated AST and ALT. The development of sensitivities to other food proteins is very common in the celiac population. Most common cross reactive foods are dairy and oats but eggs, soy and corn are also relatively common offenders. Lactose intolerance is also common in the celiac population because of damage to the SB lining.  Eggs when they are scrambled or fried give me a gut ache. But when I poach them, they do not. The steam and heat of poaching causes a hydrolysis process that alters the protein in the egg. They don't bother me in baked goods either so I assume the same process is at work. I bought a plastic poacher on Amazon to make poaching very easy. All this to say that many of the issues you describe could be caused by celiac disease. 
    • catnapt
      thank you so much for your detailed and extremely helpful reply!! I can say with absolute certainty that the less gluten containing products I've eaten over the past several years, the better I've felt.   I wasn't avoiding gluten, I was avoiding refined grains (and most processed foods) as well as anything that made me feel bad when I ate it. It's the same reason I gave up dairy and eggs- they make me feel ill.  I do have a bit of a sugar addiction lol so a lot of times I wasn't sure if it was the refined grains that I was eating - or the sugar. So from time to time I might have a cookie or something but I've learned how to make wonderful cookies and golden brownies with BEANS!! and no refined sugar - I use date paste instead. Pizza made me so ill- but I thought it was probably the cheese. I gave up pizza and haven't missed it. the one time I tried a slice I felt so bad I knew I'd never touch it again. I stopped eating wheat pasta at least 3 yrs ago- just didn't feel well after eating it. I tried chick pea pasta and a few others and discovered I like the brown rice pasta. I still don't eat a lot of pasta but it's nice for a change when I want something easy. TBH over the years I've wondered sometimes if I might be gluten intolerant but really believed it was not possible for me to have celiac disease. NOW I need to know for sure- because I'm in the middle of a long process of trying to find out why I have a high parathyroid level (NOT the thyroid- but rather the 4 glands that control the calcium balance in your body) I have had a hard time getting my vit D level up, my serum calcium has run on the low side of normal for many years... and now I am losing calcium from my bones and excreting it in my urine (some sort of renal calcium leak) Also have a high ALP since 2014. And now rapidly worsening bone density.  I still do not have a firm diagnosis. Could be secondary HPT (but secondary to what? we need to know) It could be early primary HPT. I am spilling calcium in my urine but is that caused by the high parathyroid hormone or is it the reason my PTH is high>? there are multiple feedback loops for this condition.    so I will keep eating the bread and some wheat germ that does not seem to bother me too much (it hasn't got enough gluten to use just wheat germ)    but I'm curious- if you don't have a strong reaction to a product- like me and wheat germ- does that mean it's ok to eat or is it still causing harm even if you don't have any obvious symptoms? I guess what you are saying about silent celiac makes it likely that you can have no symptoms and still have the harm... but geez! you'd think they'd come up with a way to test for this that didn't require you to consume something that makes you sick! I worry about the complications I've been reading about- different kinds of cancers etc. also wondering- are there degrees of celiac disease?  is there any correlation between symptoms and the amnt of damage to your intestines? I also need a firm diagnosis because I have an identical twin sister ... so if I have celiac, she has it too- or at least the genetic make up for having it. I did have a VERY major stress to my body in 2014-2016 time frame .. lost 50lbs in a short period of time and had severe symptoms from acute protracted withdrawal off an SSRI drug (that I'd been given an unethically high dose of, by a dr who has since lost his license)  Going off the drug was a good thing and in many ways my health improved dramatically- just losing 50lbs was helpful but I also went  off almost a dozen different medications, totally changed my diet and have been doing pretty well except for the past 3-4 yrs when the symptoms related to the parathyroid issue cropped up. It is likely that I had low vit D for some time and that caused me a lot of symptoms. The endo now tells me that low vit D can be caused by celiac disease so I need to know for sure! thank you for all that great and useful information!!! 
    • trents
      Welcome, @catnapt! The most recent guidelines are the daily consumption of a minimum of 10g of gluten (about the amount found in 4-6 slices of wheat bread) for a minimum of two weeks. But if possible stretching that out even more would enhance the chances of getting valid test results. These guidelines are for those who have been eating gluten free for a significant amount of time. It's called the "gluten challenge".  Yes, you can develop celiac disease at any stage of life. There is a genetic component but also a stress trigger that is needed to activate the celiac genes. About 30-40% of the general population possesses the genetic potential to develop celiac disease but only about 1% of the general population actually develop celiac disease. For most with the potential, the triggering stress event doesn't happen. It can be many things but often it is a viral infection. Having said that, it is also the case that many, many people who eventually are diagnosed with celiac disease probably experienced the actual onset years before. Many celiacs are of the "silent" type, meaning that symptoms are largely missing or very minor and get overlooked until damage to the small bowel lining becomes advanced or they develop iron deficiency anemia or some other medical problem associated with celiac disease. Many, many are never diagnosed or are diagnosed later in life because they did not experience classic symptoms. And many physicians are only looking for classic symptoms. We now know that there are over 200 symptoms/medical problems associated with celiac disease but many docs are only looking for things like boating, gas, diarrhea. I certainly understand your concerns about not wanting to damage your body by taking on a gluten challenge. Your other option is to totally commit to gluten free eating and see if your symptoms improve. It can take two years or more for complete healing of the small bowel lining once going gluten free but usually people experience significant improvement well before then. If their is significant improvement in your symptoms when going seriously gluten free, then you likely have your answer. You would either have celiac disease or NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity).
    • catnapt
      after several years of issues with a para-gland issue, my endo has decided it's a good idea for me to be tested for celiac disease. I am 70 yrs old and stunned to learn that you can get celiac this late in life. I have just gradually stopped eating most foods that contain gluten over the past several years- they just make me feel ill- although I attributed it to other things like bread spiking blood sugar- or to the things I ate *with* the bread or crackers etc   I went to a party in Nov and ate a LOT of a vegan roast made with vital wheat gluten- as well as stuffing, rolls and pie crust... and OMG I was so sick! the pain, the bloating, the gas, the nausea... I didn't think it would ever end (but it did) and I was ready to go the ER but it finally subsided.   I mentioned this to my endo and now she wants me to be tested for celiac after 2 weeks of being on gluten foods. She has kind of flip flopped on how much gluten I should eat, telling me that if the symptoms are severe I can stop. I am eating 2-3 thin slices of bread per day (or english muffins) and wow- it does make me feel awful. But not as bad as when I ate that massive amnt of vital wheat gluten. so I will continue on if I have to... but what bothers me is - if it IS celiac, it seems stupid for lack of a better word, to intentionally cause more damage to my body... but I am also worried, on the other hand, that this is not a long enough challenge to make the blood work results valid.   can you give me any insight into this please?   thank you
    • trents
      The biopsy looks for damage to the mucosal lining of the small bowel from the inflammation caused by celiac disease when gluten is ingested. Once you remove gluten from the diet, inflammation subsides and the mucosal lining begins to heal. 
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