Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×
  • 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:
    Where Your Contribution Counts!
    eNewsletter
    Support Us!

Are Puffins Cereal gluten-free? And gluten-free Questions.


yumyummum

Recommended Posts

yumyummum Rookie

I am totally new to this. If I product does not contain "wheat" does that make it gluten-free?

I am wondering about Barbara's Puffins Cereal Original.

Here are the ingredients:

Yellow Corn Flour, Corn Bran Flour, Molasses (Unsulfured), Oat Flour, Expeller Pressed High Oleic Oil (Canola and/or Sunflower), Salt, Baking Soda, Vitamin E (Natural), Vitamin C

On the website it says only the Rice Puffins are gluten-free. Could someone please educate me on what makes this product NOT gluten-free? Is it just that it is processed on a wheat machine? Or are there ingredients that should be avoided.

THANKS!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



psawyer Proficient

Oat flour, unless specially grown and processed, is not considered to be gluten-free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
yumyummum Rookie

Thank you very much, Peter. I appreciate it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Youdah Newbie

Some say oats are OK, some say it isn't. If you're new to being gluten-free, I'd avoid oats...then when you are well healed and feeling OK, try oats and see if you can handle it. Some can, some can't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
brigala Explorer
I am totally new to this. If I product does not contain "wheat" does that make it gluten-free?

Absolutely not!

This is a very good question coming from a newbie. :) I'm really glad you asked.

As an example, I was reading the package label for some granola bars at a friend's house today. The box stated "Wheat Free" prominently on the front (these were a Barbara's Bakery brand product). Not only did the granola bar contain oats, which are questionable for Celiacs, it also contained barley which is an absolute no-no.

I am among the majority of gluten-sensitive people who tolerate oats just fine. Even so, I now choose to avoid oats unless they are certified gluten-free. There is a significant minority of Celiacs who cannot tolerate oats even if they are gluten-free. There are two issues with oats: cross-contamination, and a similarity between oat protein and gluten. Almost all oats in the U.S. are contaminated with wheat, some a little, and some a whole lot. Using gluten-free oats avoids the cross-contamination issue, but if your immune system responds to "oat gluten" in the same way as it does to wheat/rye/barley gluten, then even gluten-free oats won't work out for you.

I am not sensitive enough to cross-contamination that I've felt symptoms from eating even "regular" oats, but eating them still risks damage to my intestines and so I choose to avoid them anyway. Like Youdah recommended, I think it's a good idea to consider oats "forbidden" until you've got yourself all healed up; then you can try some gluten-free oats and see how they work for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
happygirl Collaborator

Gluten free = no wheat, rye, barley, barley malt, and regular oats.

Welcome to the board!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ed-G Newbie
I am totally new to this. If I product does not contain "wheat" does that make it gluten-free?

I am wondering about Barbara's Puffins Cereal Original.

Here are the ingredients:

Yellow Corn Flour, Corn Bran Flour, Molasses (Unsulfured), Oat Flour, Expeller Pressed High Oleic Oil (Canola and/or Sunflower), Salt, Baking Soda, Vitamin E (Natural), Vitamin C

On the website it says only the Rice Puffins are gluten-free. Could someone please educate me on what makes this product NOT gluten-free? Is it just that it is processed on a wheat machine? Or are there ingredients that should be avoided.

THANKS!

Their honey rice cereal is gluten free, but the others are most definitely not because of the oat flour, which is a magnet for cross contamination.

Ed in MD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



SBisglutenfree Rookie

Puffins Peanut Butter cereal gave me D immediately after eating it. I tried it a few times because I really liked it and wanted to be sure it was the cereal - and it was. Bummer. I'd stay away from it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
ikerumba Newbie

I recently ate a large bowl of Puffins Cereal at night and had the the worst stomach, inner thigh, and pubic area itches all night long. Benadryl didn't help much as all.

Also, the next day I could not function at work. I felt drowsy all day long with symptoms of burnout and low blood sugar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GFMM88 Newbie

Just got this promising response from Barbara's Bakery (which makes Puffins), although I don't know that I'd feel safe trying even their gluten-free varieties if not made on dedicated equipment, Also, has anyone tried the Honey Rice Puffins she mentions below as having all gluten-free ingredients, or is the consensus to stay away from all Puffins as they are made on facilities shared with wheat products?

"Thank you for contacting Barbara's Bakery about making more of our products Gluten Free. We are considering this very seriously and have added a new Puffins cereal which is gluten free called Puffins Multigrain that will be on the store shelves soon. In the future we hope to expand our product line to include more gluten free products.

Below is our list of products made with Gluten Free Ingredients. This information can also be found on our Web site at www.BarbarasBakery.com, click on Healthy Lifestyles, select Special Diets from the menu on the upper left corner of the page.

You are correct that the problem with oat products is not the grain but rather the harvesting & manufacturing processes. When oats are processed in the same facilities as wheat, a common practice in the U.S., contamination can occur even with the best cleaning protocol. Although more grain millers are producing gluten free oats, they are still very limited in availability. Because of the risk, even though slight, of cross contamination, Barbara's does not consider any of its products that contain oats to be gluten free.

Because we don't test for gluten and do not manufacture in gluten free environments, we cannot guarantee that there is no cross contamination from gluten containing grains in these products.

MADE WITH GLUTEN FREE INGREDIENTS:

Honey Rice Puffins Cereal

Brown Rice Crisps, Organic

Cheese Puff Bakes, White Cheddar

Corn Flakes, Organic

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail Barbara's Bakery. We hope this information helps you out with your dietary needs.

Regards,

Kathy Zorn

Technical Services Coordinator

Weetabix North America

Barbara

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Help Celiac.com:
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - cristiana replied to Larzipan's topic in Related Issues & Disorders
      16

      Has anyone had terrible TMJ/ Jaw Pain from undiagnosed Celiac?

    2. - Julie Riordan replied to Julie Riordan's topic in Traveling with Celiac Disease
      3

      Any ideas for travelling

    3. - Nedast replied to Larzipan's topic in Related Issues & Disorders
      16

      Has anyone had terrible TMJ/ Jaw Pain from undiagnosed Celiac?

    4. - trents replied to SuzanneL's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      1

      Weak Positive Test

    5. - SuzanneL posted a topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      1

      Weak Positive Test


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      120,496
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    JamesDavid
    Newest Member
    JamesDavid
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      120.2k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • cristiana
      Thank you for your post, @Nedast, and welcome to the forum. It is interesting to read of your experiences. Although I've not had TMJ, from time to time I have had a bit of mild pain in my jaw, sharp stabbing pains and tingling in my face which appears to have been caused by issues with my trigeminal nerve.  I read that sometimes a damaged trigeminal nerve in coeliacs can heal after adopting a gluten free diet.  I try to keep out of cold winds or wear a scarf over my face when it is cold and windy, those conditions tend to be my 'trigger' but I do think that staying clear of gluten has helped.  Also, sleeping with a rolled up towel under my neck is a tip I picked up online, again, that seems to bring benefits. Thank you again for your input - living with this sort of pain can be very hard, so it is good to be able to share advice.
    • Julie Riordan
      I am going to France in two weeks and then to Portugal in May   Thanks for your reply 
    • Nedast
      I made an account just to reply to this topic. My story resembles yours in so many ways that it is truly amazing. I also suddenly became lactose intolerant, went a little under 10 years attributing all my symtoms to different body parts, never thinking it was something systemic until much later. I had the same mental problems - anxiety, depression, fatigue, etc. In fact, the only real difference in our story is that I was never formally diagnosed. When I discovered that my myriad symtoms, that had been continuous and worsening for years, all rapidly subsided upon cessation of consuming gluten, I immediately took it upon myself to cut gluten out of my diet completely. I live in America, and had lost my health insurance within the year prior to my discovery, so I could not get tested, and I will never willingly or knowingly consume gluten again, which I would have to do in order to get tested now that I have insurance again. But that is not the point of this reply. I also had extreme TMJ pain that began within months of getting my wisdom teeth out at - you guessed it - 17 years old. I was in and out of doctors for my various symptoms for about 5 years before I gave up, but during that time I had also kept getting reffered to different kinds of doctors that had their own, different solutions to my TMJ issue, an issue which I only recently discovered was related to my other symptoms. I began with physical therapy, and the physical therapist eventually broke down at me after many months, raising her voice at me and saying that there was nothing she could do for me. After that saga, I saw a plastic surgeon at the request of my GP, who he knew personally. This palstic surgeon began using botox injections to stop my spasming jaw muscles, and he managed to get it covered by my insurace in 2011, which was harder to do back then. This helped the pain tremendously, but did not solve the underlying problem, and I had to get repeat injections every three months. After a couple of years, this began to lose effectiveness, and I needed treatments more often than my insurance would cover. The surgeon did a scan on the joint and saw slight damage to the tissues. He then got approved by insurance to do a small surgery on the massseter (jaw) muscle - making an incision, and then splicing tissue into the muscle to stop the spasming. It worked amazingly, but about three months later it had stopped working. I was on the verge of seeing the top oral surgeon in our city, but instead of operating on me, he referred me to a unique group of dentists who focus on the TMJ and its biomechanical relationship to teeth occlusion (i.e. how the teeth fit together). This is what your dentist did, and what he did to you was boderline if not outright malpractice. There is a dental field that specializes in doing this kind of dental work, and it takes many years of extra schooling (and a lot of money invested into education) to be able to modify teeth occusion in this manner. Just based on the way you describe your dentist doing this, I can tell he was not qualified to do this to you. Dentists who are qualified and engage in this practice take many measurments of your head, mouth, teeth, etc., they take laboratory molds of your teeth, and they then make a complete, life-size model of your skull and teeth to help them guide their work on you. They then have a lab construct, and give you what is called a "bite splint." It looks and feels like a retainer, but its function is entirely different. This is essentially a literal splint for the TMJ that situates on the teeth. The splint is progressively modified once or twice per week, over several months, in order to slowly move the joint to its correct position. The muscles spasm less, stress is taken off the joint, as the joint slowly moves back into its proper position. The pain reduces each month, each week, sometimes even each day you go in for a visit. The joint has to be moved in this manner with the splint BEFORE the modification to the teeth begins. They then add to your tooth structure with small bits of composite, to keep the joint in its proper place after it has been sucessfully repositioned. Subtracting from your teeth, by grinding down bits of your natural tooth structure, is done very conservatively, if they have to do it at all. This process worked for me - after six months, my face, jaw, neck all felt normal, and I had no more pain - a feeling I had not had in a long time. It also made my face look better. I had not realized the true extent that the spasming muscles and the joint derangement had effected the shape of my face. The pain began to return after a few months, but nowhere near where it had been before. This immense reduction in pain lasted for a little over two years. The treatment still ultimately failed, but it is not their fault, and it is still the treatment that has given me the most relief to this day. Later on, I even went about three years with very, very good pain reduction, before the joint severely destabilized again. This field of dentistry is the last line treatment for TMJ issues before oral surgery on the TMJ. There aren't as many denists around who practice this anymore, and the practice is currently shrinking due to dentists opting for less espensive, additional educations in things like professional whitening, which have a broader marketability. Getting this treatment is also very expensive if not covered by insurance (in America at least). My first time was covered by insurance, second time was not, though the dentist took pity on me due to the nature of my case and charged like a quarter of usual pricing. Most cases seen by these dentists are complete successes, and the patient never has to come back again. But occasionally they get a case that is not a success, and I was one of those cases. A little over a year ago, I began seeing the second dentist who keeps my TMJ stable in this manner. The first dentist retired, and then died sadly. A shame too, because he was a truly amazing, knowledgable guy who really wanted to help people. The new dentist began to get suspicious when my joint failed to stay stable after I was finished with the bite splint and his modifications, so he did another scan on me. This is ten years after the first scan (remember, I said the surgeon saw "slight" damage to the tissue on the first scan). This new scan revealed that I now no longer have cartilage in the joint, on both sides - complete degeneration of the soft tissues and some damage to the bone. The dentist sat me down and had a talk with me after these results came in, and said that when he sees damage like this in cases like mine, that the damage to the joint is most likely autoimmune, and that, in his experinece, it is usually autoimmune. He has sent patients with cases like mine to Mayo Clinic. He said he will continue to see me as long as the treatment continues to offer me relief, but also said that I will probably have to see a dentist for this type of treatment for the rest of my life. He is not currently recommending surgery due to my young age and the fact that the treatment he provides manages my symptoms pretty well. I still see this dentist today, and probably will see this kind of dental specialist for the rest of my life, since they have helped with this issue the most. I did not inform him that I am 100% sure that I have celiac disease (due to my complete symptom remission upon gluten cessation). I didn't inform him because I thought it would be inappropriate due to not having a formal diagnosis. I was disappointed, because I had believed I had caught it BEFORE it had done permanent damage to my body. I had never suspected that my TMJ issues may be related to my other symptoms, and that the damage would end up complete and permanent. Luckily, I caught it about 6 months after my other joints started hurting, and they stopped hurting right after I went gluten free, and haven't hurt since. I of course did the necessary research after the results of the second scan, and found out that the TMJ is the most commonly involved joint in autoimmune disease of the intestines, and if mutliple joints are effected, it is usually the first one effected. This makes complete sense, since the TMJ is the most closely related joint to the intestines, and literally controls the opening that allows food passage into your intestines. I am here to tell you, that if anyone says there is no potential relationship between TMJ issues and celiac disease, they are absolutely wrong. Just google TMJ and Celiac disease, and read the scientific articles you find. Research on issues regarding the TMJ is relatively sparse, but you will find the association you're looking for validated.
    • trents
      Welcome to the forum, @SuzanneL! Which tTG was that? tTG-IGA? tTG-IGG? Were there other celiac antibody tests run from that blood draw? Was total IGA measured? By some chance were you already cutting back on gluten by the time the blood draw was taken or just not eating much? For the celiac antibody tests to be accurate a person needs to be eating about 10g of gluten daily which is about 4-6 pieces of bread.
    • SuzanneL
      I've recently received a weak positive tTG, 6. For about six years, I've been sick almost everyday. I was told it was just my IBS. I have constant nausea. Sometimes after I eat, I have sharp, upper pain in my abdomen. I sometimes feel or vomit (bile) after eating. The doctor wanted me to try a stronger anti acid before doing an endoscopy. I'm just curious if these symptoms are pointing towards Celiac Disease? 
×
×
  • Create New...