Oat Contamination....

[motherduck5]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum and have been reading some previous posts, and then wondered where in the heck have you all been the past 3 years? I'm so glad to find this forum!

I have a 3 yr. old with celiac. I had read that oats themselves were gluten free and it was the cross-contamination and the factories that "glutenized" them. My son loved oatmeal, but it took 6-9 months for him to react, but boy did he. He went back to sleeping all day, and all night, intolerance to any noise, and a new one, severe stuttering. Boy was that scary. When I pinned down oats and stopped feeding them to him, within 4 days the stuttering stopped along with everything else.

Now we're at the "purposefully feed your child a food that makes him sick to get a reaction" stage I HATE and I wondered something. If the contamination happens at the factory, what if I buy my own oat groats and flake them myself? If the oats themselves don't make him sick, than in theory, the home flaked oast won't either?! I own a flaker, and oat groats are WAY cheaper that gluten-free oats, so doing it won't be hard.

ANY comments would be welcome!

[MaryJones2]

I guess the big question would really be what happened to the groats before they came into your kitchen - how were they harvested, where were they stored, how were they packaged, etc. We don't fully understand why some people can tolerate them and others can't beyond the proteins being slightly different and technically not being gluten so it won't hurt and certainly would rule out cross contamination. I'd give it a try. Let us know how it works out!

[irish daveyboy]

Now we're at the "purposefully feed your child a food that makes him sick to get a reaction" stage I HATE and I wondered something. If the contamination happens at the factory, what if I buy my own oat groats and flake them myself? If the oats themselves don't make him sick, than in theory, the home flaked oast won't either?! I own a flaker, and oat groats are WAY cheaper that gluten-free oats, so doing it won't be hard.

ANY comments would be welcome!

Hi,

The majority of the contamination occurs in the Field, Oat Crops are rotated with Wheat Crops!

'Rogue' wheat generally grows along side the oats and is gathered up with them during harvesting.

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In theory. if you bought oats unhulled and could identify whole wheat among the oats and seperate and remove any wheat dust particles from the oats then they MAY be safe.

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There are brands of 'Safe' 100% oat meal.

What's your childs health worth ??, Don't cut corners!!

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Best Regards,

David

[FMcGee]

Right, it's field contamination that's the issue, not the processing. I just saw my dietician on Wednesday, and she told me she has many celiac patients (where are these Gainesville people, and why aren't they on the board?!) who eat oats with no problem. They buy the expensive uncontaminated oats. Apparently the problem for a lot of people is that their systems just can't handle food that's that hard to digest.

irish daveyboy - I admit I'm a bit hesitant to say this, but is it our job to tell a mom not to cut corners and guilt-trip her about her son's health? I had a knee-jerk reaction to your post, and I don't mean to offend you, but if I posted about my (hypothetical) son's health and someone tried to scare/guilt me, I don't know if I'd come back.

[irish daveyboy]

irish daveyboy - I admit I'm a bit hesitant to say this, but is it our job to tell a mom not to cut corners and guilt-trip her about her son's health? I had a knee-jerk reaction to your post, and I don't mean to offend you, but if I posted about my (hypothetical) son's health and someone tried to scare/guilt me, I don't know if I'd come back.

Hi,

Never be afraid to speak your mind! I believe that's what the constitution is all about 'free speech'

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I wasn't try to guilt trip anybody, maybe I shouldn't have made my comment so short and to the point.

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Would this way have been better (I'm not being flippant here)

Please don't take chances with your childrens health, saving money is fine if,

it doesn't cause unnecessary suffering for those consuming it?

.

An old Irish saying 'save a penny and spend a pound or

save a cent on a purchase and spend a dollar on medication.

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I need to correct slightly my previous post,

rotation crops with Oats can be either Barley or Wheat.

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Best Regards,

David (posting with best intentions)

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[FMcGee]

Hi,

Never be afraid to speak your mind! I believe that's what the constitution is all about 'free speech'

.

I wasn't try to guilt trip anybody, maybe I shouldn't have made my comment so short and to the point.

.

Would this way have been better (I'm not being flippant here)

Please don't take chances with your childrens health, saving money is fine if,

it doesn't cause unnecessary suffering for those consuming it?

.

An old Irish saying 'save a penny and spend a pound or

save a cent on a purchase and spend a dollar on medication.

.

I need to correct slightly my previous post,

rotation crops with Oats can be either Barley or Wheat.

.

Best Regards,

David (posting with best intentions)

.

Thanks for understanding the spirit in which I made my comment! I think we're all on the same page here.

[swalker]

MacCann's Irish oats are grown nowhere near wheat and are one of the expensive brands they're talking about. I just bought 50 pounds of oats from Honeyville Grains that are reportedly safe but I haven't opened and tried them to give you my own opinion. I did find that we weren't digesting any of our whole grains; I grind brown rice, teff, gluten free oats myself, until I started soaking the flour with the water from the recipe (minus 1/2 cup if I have to bloom yeast) with

[irish daveyboy]

MacCann's Irish oats are grown nowhere near wheat

And Nowhere near Ireland either !!

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Sorry I couldn't resist that, (I know it's only a brand name)

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I'm in a funny Ha! Ha! humour today.

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Best Regards,

David

[ChemistMama]

Swalker,

McCann's are not gluten free.

Open Original Shared Link

Also, it says so right on their web site.

Open Original Shared Link

"But we cannot guarantee that McCann

[swalker]

I am SOOO sorry. It was on this website that I originally heard about MCCann's and now I see both this site and MCCann's themselves have indicated they are cross contaminated.

[sixtytwo]

There are, I think, those of use that just can't eat oats, too. I think I am one of them. It is specially interesting as I am gluten intolerant/not celiac. I just don't do oats either and feel much better.

[curiousgeorge]

I used to eat McCann's occasionally and would sometimes feel something. I recently made a purchase from Open Original Shared Link The oats are really yummy and tastier than any I've had before.