It's Official... We Can Eat Oats!

[jkmunchkin]

I went to a meeting yesterday where Dr. Peter Green from the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University was the main speaker. He and Anne Roland Lee, the expert celiac nutritionist, said that it is infact safe for us to have oats. They suggest introducing them in very small quantities to start with but say it is a good idea to eat them if you can as it is a good source of fiber.

The 2 brands that Anne said are safe are McCann's Irish Oats and Country's Choice.

I know a lot of people are still unsure of whether to eat oats but if Dr. Green and Anne say it's ok I trust them more than any other source.

[Carriefaith]

From what I understand, pure uncontaminated oats are safe for most celiacs to eat. However, some celiacs will react to the safe oats since the protein is so similar to the protein in wheat barely and rye. The body mistakes the oat protein for the other. I would persoanlly never eat oats because with my luck, I would be the 10-20% or whatever it is that reacts to oats.

[VydorScope]

If I turn out to be celiac disease, I would be willing to try it, but only after being gluten-free for a while so that I can see if I react at all.

[Guest Viola]

I have a sample pack coming from a company in Canada that guarantees un-contaminated oats, so I am going to give them a try. I'm really looking forward to it as I miss my oatmeal in the winter.

If you want to check out a company in the U.S. you can find it at

www.glutenfreeoats.com

[Jnkmnky]

I've decided to wait till my son is a lot older so he can really describe to me how his body reacts. I'd hate to mistake a stomach bug for a neg reaction, or to not quite get a clear understanding from him if he reacts badly.

[Guest Viola]

Yes, that would be a good idea to wait. It is hard enough for an adult to figure out a trigger to contamination, let alone a child.

[RiceGuy]

The 2 brands that Anne said are safe are McCann's Irish Oats and Country's Choice.

Interesting. I saw some Scottish oats and wondered if they might be safe. I don't know where they are grown or processed though. I'll ask the company and post about it if they're definitely ok.

[jkmunchkin]

Yeah I saw a brand in the store last night, Breadshop - that all the ingredients seemed ok. I called the company but they wouldn't say if it is gluten-free or not because under their guidelines oats are not ok. But she said if Oats are ok then it seems they would be fine. I think I'll get the ingredients and send Anne and e-mail to see what she thinks.

[CeliaCruz]

The 2 brands that Anne said are safe are McCann's Irish Oats and Country's Choice.

It's funny. Back when I thought I only had a wheat allergy, I used to eat oatmeal and never had a reaction.

Now that I think about it, I only ate McCann's. I didn't know it was "safe", I just liked the way the can was designed.

[RiceGuy]

Yeah I saw a brand in the store last night, Breadshop - that all the ingredients seemed ok. I called the company but they wouldn't say if it is gluten-free or not because under their guidelines oats are not ok. But she said if Oats are ok then it seems they would be fine. I think I'll get the ingredients and send Anne and e-mail to see what she thinks.

Ingredients? You must be looking at a flavored one, yes? While that's good to know if you plan to buy them, the real concern with oats is the cross-contamination issues, which isn't going to show up on the ingredients list.

[Guest Viola]

Riceguy is right ... your oats need to be completely un-contaminated, and only a very few brands can say that. Quaker Oats ARE NOT safe! They are contaminated, as is their puffed rice! Take care

[Emme999]

I would *love* to have oats again. But I don't think I will. Before being diagnosed with celiac disease, I was completely asymptomatic - well, except for the osteoporosis I might be one of those people who react to oats - but asymptomatic there as well And wouldn't that suck? All this stuff I'm doing to fix my bod tossed away for a handful of granola.

The other food intolerances/allergies I have also come without severe intestinal symptoms. I'm afraid that my body would react just enough inside to cause damage, but not enough for me to realize it.

Mmmm granola though

Best wishes to those of you who try it! I think I'll opt out until I have free access to an endoscopic clinic - then I'd love to have one done, eat some oats, and have another one done. I think that would be the only way for me to know enough to decide it was okay for *me*

- Michelle

[jnifred]

Well I went out and bought some McCann's Oats. I am going to make oatmeal choc chip cookies, and pray HARD!!! The stuff I read about McCann's is still iffy, but I am going to try it and see.......I'll let you know if it turns out bad....

[Guest Viola]

Michelle ... from what I understand .. if you have a reaction to oats, it's more of a intollerance. Apparently it does not cause intestenal damage. As long as the oats are pure and uncontaminated.

[tarnalberry]

From the studies on oats in celiacs, a small percentage of celiacs DO get intestinal damage (as determined by biopsy) when eating oats. The number is small, but the avenin protein is very similar to the gliandin protein, and it's thought that the similarity causes the immune system in some celiacs to still recognize it as "evil". It's very much a "eater beware", even outside of contamination issues.

In tests, both Country Pride and McCann's has samples of oats that were found to be contaminated above the CODEX standard of 200ppm, so there is no guarantee with those as well. Don't forget that many doctors believe the diet is so hard to follow that they'll err on the side of allowing some stuff that the stricter people wouldn't want in their diet. Not saying not to trying, just saying to be careful.

[key]

My son and I both tried McCann's. I never got nauseous with them. I did have horrible gas. Maybe the fiber though. My son liked them too, but he started having some diarhea after two weeks. WHo knows though with him. IT may have been a bug.

[Guest Lucy]

The cost of uncontaminated oats puts them still on my "forbidden" list. I wish so much to make "monster" cookies for my son. But.....not for the price.

[darlindeb25]

I wont ever try oats again--they made me ill before I was gluten free and I wont ever trust them. I like Dr. Green and I do believe most everything he says, but I feel he is wrong about oats. I have listened to him talk too and at that meeting he spoke of oats. He asked the room of over 200 how many would try oats again and only 1 person raised their hand. So, I am not alone in the belief that I will never trust oats. Deb

[elisabet]

It was a research in Norway ,studying oats and celiac in 8years ,and the result was that oats is safe,regarding gluten,but soy is also safe ,in this regard but most people with celiac can t tolerate it,some can,I am going to try oats for my son and will let you know.

[jenvan]

I would hesitate to encourage any one to try oats unless they had a tangible way of measuring a reaction...meaning, there could be a reaction, but not one someone would pick up on. Sometimes our reactions can be pretty subjective too...so if I was going to try them (which I'm not at this point), I would make sure I had a concrete way of measuring potential symptoms or damage. I guess that could be several things, ie. a follow-up blood test perhaps...but, that's just my take on it.

[KaitiUSA]

I would also hesitate to encourage oats because a portion of celiacs do get intestinal damage from pure oats and all the oats in the US have had problems with contamination.

[2Boys4Me]

Riceguy is right ... your oats need to be completely un-contaminated, and only a very few brands can say that. Quaker Oats ARE NOT safe! They are contaminated, as is their puffed rice! Take care

What?! Quaker puffed rice is unsafe? The Quaker 800 # has a press one for English, press three for gluten free items thingy on the automated answer and the voice told me that Quaker puffed rice is gluten-free. (This wasn't one of the usual voices I hear, it came from the phone )

I guess it doesn't matter anyway, I've never found Quaker puffed rice, I found Nature's Path gluten-free rice puffs at Sobeys and the Safeway finally has some that "ingredients: rice, manufactured in a facility that also produces wheat products."

[Felidae]

The US and Canadian Quaker gluten-free products are not necessarily the same.

[Rachel--24]

Well...I bought some McCann's oats but now I dont think I can eat them...ever.

I'm too scared.

I think I will return the nice round can next week.

[VydorScope]

hye... the GPL test lists...

Food Allergy Comprehensive (IgG-96 foods)

almond; amaranth flour; apple; apricot; asparagus; avocado; banana; barley; bean: string, kidney, lima, pinto, soy; beef; beet; blueberry; broccoli; buckwheat; cabbage; carrot; casein; cauliflower; celery; cheese: cheddar, cottage, mozzarella; chicken; clam; cocoa bean; coconut; cod; coffee bean; corn; crab; cranberry; cucumber; egg white; egg yoke; filbert; garlic; gliadin; gluten; grape: red; grapefruit; halibut; honey; lactalbumin; lamb; lemon; lentil; lettuce; lobster; milk: cow, goat; mushroom; oat; olive, black; onion; orange; oyster; papaya; pea; peach; peanut; pear; pecan; pepper: bell; pineapple; plum; pork; potato: sweet & white; pumpkin; radish; raspberry; red snapper; rice: white; rye; salmon; sesame; shrimp; sole; spelt; spinach; squash: zucchini; strawberry; sugar cane; sunflower; tomato; tuna; turkey; walnut; wheat; yeast baker's; yeast brewers; yogurt

SOOOO That would tell us right????