Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Wheat Starch

JodiC

Recommended Posts

JodiC Apprentice
JodiC
Posted

Hi,

I'm sure this has been asked already but I don't get on too often. What is the deal with Wheat Starch in foods? Is it safe for us or not? I noticed that alot of previously safe food have now added this but do not claim the wheat in the allergen label.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


blueeyedmanda Community Regular
blueeyedmanda
Posted

Hi,

Wheat starch is bad....sorry.

cruelshoes Enthusiast
cruelshoes
Posted

Open Original Shared Link

WHEAT starch By-product of WHEAT processing. Cannot be guaranteed to be 100% gluten-free. Sometimes added to food items during processing. No form of WHEAT starch is considered appropriate for a zero tolerance level gluten-free diet in the United States and Canada. Codex WHEAT starch is considered gluten-free by some foreign governments. Gluten level must be 200ppm or less to be labeled as Codex WHEAT Starch [Europe].
gfp Enthusiast
gfp
Posted

BAD BAD BAD ....

Food grade wheat starch is not particularly pure... its just what washes away from the wheat and bits of gluten get carried along and its 'food' so its not really important. I have had reactions to the much purer pharmaceutical grade wheat starch... used in some tablets as a binder/filler let alone food grade.

larry mac Enthusiast
larry mac
Posted
.... What is the deal with Wheat Starch in foods? ....

Sometimes, in a misguided bout of false hope, I'll read some cereal box ingredients at the grocery store. You know the drill. Corn, good. Rice, good. Everythings looking OK until towards the end. Then there it is, wheat starch. Or malt flavoring, or simply wheat. You know since it's at the end, and based on weight, it's got to be a miniscule amount. Surely it couldn't be that critical to the formulation.

Seems like they just throw that stuff in there so as not to have to deal with us.

best regards, lm

gfp Enthusiast
gfp
Posted
Sometimes, in a misguided bout of false hope, I'll read some cerial box ingredients at the grocery store. You know the drill. Corn, good. Rice, good. Everythings looking OK until towards the end. Then there it is, wheat starch. Or malt flavoring, or simply wheat. You know since it's at the end, and based on weight, it's got to be a miniscule amount. Surely it couldn't be that critical to the formulation.

Seems like they just throw that stuff in there so as not to have to deal with us.

best regards, lm

I guess its just short cut... and extremely cheap as its essentially a waste product.

I have to admit though, sometimes it FEELS like they just throw it in for good measure...

blueeyedmanda Community Regular
blueeyedmanda
Posted
Sometimes, in a misguided bout of false hope, I'll read some cerial box ingredients at the grocery store. You know the drill. Corn, good. Rice, good. Everythings looking OK until towards the end. Then there it is, wheat starch. Or malt flavoring, or simply wheat. You know since it's at the end, and based on weight, it's got to be a miniscule amount. Surely it couldn't be that critical to the formulation.

Seems like they just throw that stuff in there so as not to have to deal with us.

best regards, lm

I know....that bugs me! I get all happy looking at cereal and then at the end....I walk away disappointed :)

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


JodiC Apprentice
JodiC
Posted
  • Author

So they don't have to list it in the allergen warnings? Is it because it is listed in the ingredients? I'm so sick of these food companies messing up food. Additives, fillers, flavorings, etc........I'm tired of the fakeness of it all.

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted
Sometimes, in a misguided bout of false hope, I'll read some cereal box ingredients at the grocery store. You know the drill. Corn, good. Rice, good. Everythings looking OK until towards the end. Then there it is, wheat starch. Or malt flavoring, or simply wheat. You know since it's at the end, and based on weight, it's got to be a miniscule amount. Surely it couldn't be that critical to the formulation.

Seems like they just throw that stuff in there so as not to have to deal with us.

best regards, lm

They do that so they can say the cereal is 'multigrain' cause that is sooooo very good for us. :angry:

cruelshoes Enthusiast
cruelshoes
Posted
So they don't have to list it in the allergen warnings? Is it because it is listed in the ingredients?

Companies are not required to have an allergen warning per-se. They are, however, required to include the "big 8" somewhere on their ingredient statement if it is added to the product. They can do this one of 2 ways:

In the list of ingredients, put the name of the food source of the major food allergen in parenthesis after the common or usual name of the ingredient when that name does not already appear in the ingredient statement.

-or-

Immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients, put the word "Contains" followed by the name of the food for each of the major food allergens present in the food

NorthernElf Enthusiast
NorthernElf
Posted

Yep, wheat starch is bad.

I LOVE Tera chips - but watch out for the Mediterranean ones ! I glutened myself a couple of weeks ago at Costco. I bought what I thought was regular Tera chips and scarfed done a couple of handfuls driving to another store. Ugh - it was quick enough for me to check the ingredients when I stopped and there it was - wheat starch.

Hello gut cramps, sinus pain, etc.

Isn't a terrible feeling to know you just ate some wheat and knowing that shortly you're going to be feeling ill ?!?!??!??! :angry:

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest swezzan
Guest swezzan
Posted

all the responses are sooooo right........It is horrible to know you are going to be sick and sometimes boy r u. not to mention your thinking process has slowed as well. :(

hathor Contributor
hathor
Posted
Companies are not required to have an allergen warning per-se. They are, however, required to include the "big 8" somewhere on their ingredient statement if it is added to the product. They can do this one of 2 ways:

In the list of ingredients, put the name of the food source of the major food allergen in parenthesis after the common or usual name of the ingredient when that name does not already appear in the ingredient statement.

-or-

Immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients, put the word "Contains" followed by the name of the food for each of the major food allergens present in the food

  • 4 years later...
Huntress Newbie
Huntress
Posted

I find the topic of wheat starch confusing given the following statement in this research publication. (It would appear that the researchers considered the wheat-starch based bread as gluten-free.):

Gluten-Free Bread from Sorghum: Quality Differences Among Hybrids

Tilman J. Schober,1

JNBunnie1 Community Regular
JNBunnie1
Posted

It's likely this research was done in a country where the govermnment has decreed wheat starch below a certain gluten ppm threshold is considered acceptable to a gluten free diet. Many of the residents of said countries would disagree.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):



    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):



  • Recent Activity

    1. cristiana
      - cristiana replied to Dizzyma's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      2

      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      Hi @Dizzyma I note what @trents has commented about you possibly posting from the UK. Just to let you know that am a coeliac based in the UK, so if that is the case, do let me know if can help you with any questions on the NHS provision for coeliacs. If you are indeed based in the UK, and coeliac disease is confirmed, I would thoroughly recommend...
    2. trents
      - trents replied to Dizzyma's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      2

      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      Welcome to the celic.com community @Dizzyma! I'm assuming you are in the U.K. since you speak of your daughter's celiac disease blood tests as "her bloods". Has her physician officially diagnosed her has having celiac disease on the results of her blood tests alone? Normally, if the ttg-iga blood test results are positive, a follow-up endoscopy...
    3. Dizzyma
      - Dizzyma posted a topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      2

      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      Hi all, I have so many questions and feel like google is giving me very different information. Hoping I may get some more definite answers here. ok, my daughter has been diagnosed as a coeliac as her bloods show anti TTG antibodies are over 128. We have started her on a full gluten free diet. my concerns are that she wasn’t actually physically s...
    4. Scott Adams
      0

      Better-Than-Takeout Gluten-Free Chicken Fried Rice

    5. Kimmy88
      - Kimmy88 commented on Scott Adams's article in Winter 2026 Issue
      2

      Gut Healing After a Celiac Diagnosis: What Science Says About Recovery Time (+Video)

      Excellent article!! I shared with my family, so they would understand!
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):

  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,923
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    cmckurtz
    Newest Member
    cmckurtz
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • cristiana
      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      By cristiana · Posted

      Hi @Dizzyma I note what @trents has commented about you possibly posting from the UK.  Just to let you know that am a coeliac based in the UK, so if that is the case, do let me know if can help you with any questions on the NHS provision for coeliacs.    If you are indeed based in the UK, and coeliac disease is confirmed, I would thoroughly recommend you join Coeliac UK, as they provide a printed food and drink guide and also a phone app which you can take shopping with you so you can find out if a product is gluten free or not. But one thing I would like to say to you, no matter where you live, is you mention that your daughter is anxious.  I was always a bit of a nervous, anxious child but before my diagnosis in mid-life my anxiety levels were through the roof.   My anxiety got steadily better when I followed the gluten-free diet and vitamin and mineral deficiencies were addressed.  Anxiety is very common at diagnosis, you may well find that her anxiety will improve once your daughter follows a strict gluten-free diet. Cristiana 
    • trents
      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome to the celic.com community @Dizzyma! I'm assuming you are in the U.K. since you speak of your daughter's celiac disease blood tests as "her bloods".  Has her physician officially diagnosed her has having celiac disease on the results of her blood tests alone? Normally, if the ttg-iga blood test results are positive, a follow-up endoscopy with biopsy of the small bowel lining to check for damage would be ordered to confirm the results of "the bloods". However if the ttg-iga test score is 10x normal or greater, some physicians, particularly in the U.K., will dispense with the endoscopy/biopsy. If there is to be an endoscopy/biopsy, your daughter should not yet begin the gluten free diet as doing so would allow healing of the small bowel lining to commence which may result in a biopsy finding having results that conflict with the blood work. Do you know if an endoscopy/biopsy is planned? Celiac disease can have onset at any stage of life, from infancy to old age. It has a genetic base but the genes remain dormant until and unless triggered by some stress event. The stress event can be many things but it is often a viral infection. About 40% of the general population have the genetic potential to develop celiac disease but only about 1% actually develop celiac disease. So, for most, the genes remain dormant.  Celiac disease is by nature an autoimmune disorder. That is to say, gluten ingestion triggers an immune response that causes the body to attack its own tissues. In this case, the attack happens in he lining of the small bowel, at least classically, though we now know there are other body systems that can sometimes be affected. So, for a person with celiac disease, when they ingest gluten, the body sends attacking cells to battle the gluten which causes inflammation as the gluten is being absorbed into the cells that make up the lining of the small bowel. This causes damage to the cells and over time, wears them down. This lining is composed of billions of tiny finger-like projections and which creates a tremendous surface area for absorbing nutrients from the food we eat. This area of the intestinal track is where all of our nutrition is absorbed. As these finger-like projections get worn down by the constant inflammation from continued gluten consumption before diagnosis (or after diagnosis in the case of those who are noncompliant) the efficiency of nutrient absorption from what we eat can be drastically reduced. This is why iron deficiency anemia and other nutrient deficiency related medical problems are so common in the celiac population. So, to answer your question about the wisdom of allowing your daughter to consume gluten on a limited basis to retain some tolerance to it, that would not be a sound approach because it would prevent healing of the lining of her small bowel. It would keep the fires of inflammation smoldering. The only wise course is strict adherence to a gluten free diet, once all tests to confirm celiac disease are complete.
    • Dizzyma
      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      By Dizzyma · Posted

      Hi all, I have so many questions and feel like google is giving me very different information. Hoping I may get some more definite answers here. ok, my daughter has been diagnosed as a coeliac as her bloods show anti TTG antibodies are over 128. We have started her  on a full gluten free diet. my concerns are that she wasn’t actually physically sick on her regular diet, she had tummy issues and skin sores. My fear is that she will build up a complete intolerance to gluten and become physically sick if she has gluten. Is there anything to be said for keeping a small bit of gluten in the diet to stop her from developing a total intolerance?  also, she would be an anxious type of person, is it possible that stress is the reason she has become coeliac? I read that diagnosis later in childhood could be following a sickness or stress. How can she have been fine for the first 10 years and then become coeliac? sorry, I’m just very confused and really want to do right by her. I know a coeliac and she has a terrible time after she gets gluttened so just want to make sure going down a total gluten free road is the right choice. thank you for any help or advise xx 
    • xxnonamexx
      Fermented foods, Kefir, Kombucha?

      By xxnonamexx · Posted

      very interesting thanks for the info  
    • Florence Lillian
      gluten free cookie recipes

      By Florence Lillian · Posted

      More cookie recipes ...thanks so much for the heads-up Scott.  One can never have too many.  Cheers, Florence.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.