Gluten in wood

[Melscho]

This might be a crazy question, but I can’t seem to find anything on the subject. I have celiac and colitis. I recently started working in a wood shop where we work with softwoods. Lots of sawdust in the nose and mouth. I have had a colitis flare.  There has been no change in my diet, so this got me thinking about other possible ingested items. I have read there is gluten in softwoods, but not hardwoods. My question: is the gluten in wood, the same gluten in typical edible items, and should be avoided by people with celiac? (I am aware of the use of sawdust/cellulose in breads, so we don’t need to go there.) Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[trents]

No, there is no gluten per se in wood. Gluten is only found in wheat, barley and rye. But there are many other plants (and even in some animal food products) that contain bio chemical protein chains that closely resemble gluten and some people seem to react to them in similar fashion. I have heard people speak of corn gluten and oat gluten but strictly speaking this is a misnomer.

[Scott Adams]

This is pure speculation, but I am not sure about the glues used in various plywood products, and I suppose it could be possible that some of them may contain gluten. I have heard of certain types of dry wall products that contain gluten, but I've not seen this verified by any testing.

[Scott Adams]

I should have also mentioned that there are likely all sorts of other chemical used to make plywood, and I'd imagine that breathing in sawdust, even without any chemicals on it would not be healthy. I think you should be wearing an N95 rated mask when working in an wood shop.