Glutened - Boxed Wine?

[DownWithGluten]

Hi all,

Not sure what happened last night. I've been gluten-free since January of 2007. Here and there, my stomach's gotten a sharp pain, discomfort...making me think something must have had gluten during the day that I had eaten. Usually the pain comes an hour after eating something suspect, but never TOO bad.

But last night...dang. Haven't had it this bad in the whole year I've been Gluten Free. But I can't figure out what it was...? I was over at some friends' apartment. They had different alcohol...one offered vodka. I was going to drink it until I saw it was "flavored", and didn't drink it just to be safe. In case of malt or whatever. So...they also had wine. Which I thought was safe...and have drunken throughout the past year, and never had a problem. So I went for it...it was out of a box, though...does THAT make a difference? Maybe the manufacturers put something different in there when it is in a box? Or possibly the cup was contaminated? It seemed like a new cup. Anyway, I had a few glasses, and sure enough, after an hour, this pain just began to creep and radiate throughout all of my intestines. Like I've had it in the past year, only worse. It would hurt more when I moved around. It wasn't enough for anyone around me to notice the pain (and I wasn't writhing or anyting)...but it seemed clear to me that there was a connection between the wine and the after-pain. It even hurt to breathe. I kept wanting to take a deep breath, but whenever I did, pain sort of spread throughout my body/chest. It was bad. I went home and went straight to bed to try to sleep through the pain. It feels better today, although still feels like my poor intestines took a beating, still rather sore inside.

So...what the heck?

IT was also a bit of a wake up call. Just to think...here I was "glutened" by this wine or whatever, and it had such an obvious adverse affect on my insides. It's pretty scary/creepy to think that I was CONSTANTLY saturating my poor body with gluten before being on the diet. You know what I mean? My body was like "Ahhh!!" last night just from that gluten-ingestion. But before I went gluten-free, I was always eating gluten. So...yeah. Kind of a wake up call. My poor body was just pounded and suffering, no wonder I would have those painful monthly "attacks"...it's just made me feel kind of sorry for how badly beaten my body was before, at a pretty constant and chronic rate. Kind of boggles the mind, too. How the heck did I even live.

Anyway. Now I'm in a mini-paranoid state to eat anything.

[ravenwoodglass]

I had the same experience with a boxed wine. I do so wish they would put ingredients on the labels of alcoholic beverages. I will never buy a boxed one again but haven't had an issue with any of the bottled wines I have purchased. They are not required to let us know if they have put any flavoring agents in the beverage, and they don't.

[Megra]

Hi all,

Not sure what happened last night. I've been gluten-free since January of 2007. Here and there, my stomach's gotten a sharp pain, discomfort...making me think something must have had gluten during the day that I had eaten. Usually the pain comes an hour after eating something suspect, but never TOO bad.

But last night...dang. Haven't had it this bad in the whole year I've been Gluten Free. But I can't figure out what it was...? I was over at some friends' apartment. They had different alcohol...one offered vodka. I was going to drink it until I saw it was "flavored", and didn't drink it just to be safe. In case of malt or whatever. So...they also had wine. Which I thought was safe...and have drunken throughout the past year, and never had a problem. So I went for it...it was out of a box, though...does THAT make a difference? Maybe the manufacturers put something different in there when it is in a box? Or possibly the cup was contaminated? It seemed like a new cup. Anyway, I had a few glasses, and sure enough, after an hour, this pain just began to creep and radiate throughout all of my intestines. Like I've had it in the past year, only worse. It would hurt more when I moved around. It wasn't enough for anyone around me to notice the pain (and I wasn't writhing or anyting)...but it seemed clear to me that there was a connection between the wine and the after-pain. It even hurt to breathe. I kept wanting to take a deep breath, but whenever I did, pain sort of spread throughout my body/chest. It was bad. I went home and went straight to bed to try to sleep through the pain. It feels better today, although still feels like my poor intestines took a beating, still rather sore inside.

So...what the heck?

IT was also a bit of a wake up call. Just to think...here I was "glutened" by this wine or whatever, and it had such an obvious adverse affect on my insides. It's pretty scary/creepy to think that I was CONSTANTLY saturating my poor body with gluten before being on the diet. You know what I mean? My body was like "Ahhh!!" last night just from that gluten-ingestion. But before I went gluten-free, I was always eating gluten. So...yeah. Kind of a wake up call. My poor body was just pounded and suffering, no wonder I would have those painful monthly "attacks"...it's just made me feel kind of sorry for how badly beaten my body was before, at a pretty constant and chronic rate. Kind of boggles the mind, too. How the heck did I even live.

Anyway. Now I'm in a mini-paranoid state to eat anything.

I had a huge problem with wine at this "chain" winery. I have drunk wine all my life and have never ever had that before! I was sick for 2 days!!! Now I am afaid to drink any wine. My girlfriend and I take in all the Michigan wineries every summer and I am deathly afaid now!

[DownWithGluten]

Hmm okay, thanks for the two who responded. I guess wine isn't always safe and boxed wine should be avoided.

All right. Just add that to the list of a million other things I can't have/must be wary of.

[psawyer]

I missed this when it first came up.

I don't know of any wine that has gluten. It is not something that I worry about.

There is nothing in the packaging of a boxed wine that would contain gluten. The components are derived from wood pulp and petroleum (plastic).

It is possible that you had a reaction to something in either the wine itself or the box liner that was not gluten. As celiacs, when we have a bad reaction to a food we are tempted to assume that gluten is the culprit. But many of us are sensitive to other things besides gluten.

False logic:

Peter is a celiac.

Celiacs react violently to gluten.

If Peter eats shrimp, he gets violently sick.

THERFORE: Shrimp must contain gluten.

Not true. I am a celiac who also has an allergy to crustacean shellfish (including shrimp). Shrimp do not contain gluten.

[DownWithGluten]

Hmm...I mean, maybe the wine was just bad or something? The reaction seemed a direct result of drinking that wine. But I've never had a problem with any wine before that, but also have never had it in a box before. So maybe there was something in the box...?

Ehh, it's just annoying sometimes when even something I deemed 'safe' causes a reaction. I purposefully avoided the other drinks to err on the safe side, but end up choosing the wrong thing anyway. Guess bring my own every time is the solution.

[psawyer]

Yes, it could be something in the wine itself.

[ravenwoodglass]

I found this while looking for something else.

"We appreciate your concern in regards to gluten-free foods. As perhaps your own investigations have disclosed, wine itself is gluten free. However, there may be some possible contamination from other sources, including yeast, fining agents, filters, fortifying alcohol, and barrel sealing materials.

So as Peter said it could be something in the wine itself.

[Puddy]

I've had the Almaden Golden Chablis boxed wine a few times and had no problems. Guess it depends on the brand?

[ravenwoodglass]

I've had the Almaden Golden Chablis boxed wine a few times and had no problems. Guess it depends on the brand?

Yes, the same as anything we consume.

[georgie]

What about the glass ? I have been glutened 2x now and about all I can trace it to - is a glass. One was a wine glass from a commercial dishwasher ( wiped with a tea towel ?? ) and the second was this week ( see post I did here ) with a glass of water. I may be wrong ...but that is my hunch with what happened to me. Perhaps your friends house had tea towels with gluten in them ?