If You Are Sensitive To Gluten Free Oats Will It Cause The Same Damage As Gluten?

[Roda]

I'm not sure if this is the right category for this, but does anyone know about this? I am one who can not tolerate gluten free oats. I get the same symptoms as when I have gluten. Since the protein is similar to the protein in wheat, rye and barley, would it cause an elevation in the antibodies and damage the small intestine too?

[psawyer]

As I understand it, the answer is yes. The protein in oats (avenin) resembles the proteins in wheat, rye and barley enough that some celiacs react to it even if it is completely pure. Even those who don't are advised to limit the amount that they consume.

[Gemini]

I'm not sure if this is the right category for this, but does anyone know about this? I am one who can not tolerate gluten free oats. I get the same symptoms as when I have gluten. Since the protein is similar to the protein in wheat, rye and barley, would it cause an elevation in the antibodies and damage the small intestine too?

Although I always think Peter is right on with his advice, this time I have to respectfully disagree. You may not be tolerating them because of the fiber content of oats. If you weren't a person who regularly consumes large quantities of fiber every day, then oats will give you a problem. Some have to work up to eating oats very slowly. As long as they are gluten-free oats, I would highly doubt you would suffer villous atrophy from eating a product which is gluten free. I think this is why oatmeal is not a heavily consumed food in the US....many people (non-Celiacs included) cannot eat them because of the symptoms after wards and it generally is because of the fiber content.

I have always gone heavy on fiber, even before I was diagnosed and I think that is why I healed so well. As long as the oatmeal I buy is certified gluten-free, I have no problems whatsoever with them.

This is just an opinion because, depending upon which website you visit, the AMA are always in disagreement about oats. Some say no, some say yes. It makes it difficult to really know who's correct. I just go by my own experience and that is many, many people cannot eat oats for reasons other than celiac disease. They can be difficult to digest.

[tarnalberry]

I'm going to disagree with Gemini here - oats are not the fiber behemoth they are made out to be.

A cup of cooked oatmeal has 4g of fiber.

A cup of corn nibblets has just as much.

A baked potato has just as much.

An pear has 20% more.

A cup of blackberries has almost twice as much.

A cup of garbanzo beans has 150% more (10g).

A cup of baked beans has 150% more.

A cup of refried beans has three times as much (12g).

Heck, even a banana has 75% of the fiber as a cup of oatmeal.

So, if you don't get the same symptoms from these foods as you do from oatmeal - it's not the fiber.

(Open Original Shared Link

Studies done to investigate whether or not celiacs can tolerate oats DID find villious atrophy in approximately 10% of patients eating oats. (This is how they determined that some celiacs do not "tolerate" oats. They mean, "some celiacs have a celiac reaction which damages the intestines.) Why? Because the protein in oats is very similar to the protein in wheat, so the body "generalizes" and reacts to the oat protein exactly the same way as the wheat protein. It doesn't matter if the oats are "gluten free" or not - in that case, gluten free just means no wheat gluten, and does not tell you at all if YOUR immune system is generalized enough to react to something "very close to wheat".

References:

Open Original Shared Link

BACKGROUND: Celiac disease is a small intestinal inflammatory disorder characterized by malabsorption, nutrient deficiency, and a range of clinical manifestations. It is caused by an inappropriate immune response to dietary gluten and is treated with a gluten-free diet. Recent feeding studies have indicated oats to be safe for celiac disease patients, and oats are now often included in the celiac disease diet. This study aimed to investigate whether oat intolerance exists in celiac disease and to characterize the cells and processes underlying this intolerance.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We selected for study nine adults with celiac disease who had a history of oats exposure. Four of the patients had clinical symptoms on an oats-containing diet, and three of these four patients had intestinal inflammation typical of celiac disease at the time of oats exposure. We established oats-avenin-specific and -reactive intestinal T-cell lines from these three patients, as well as from two other patients who appeared to tolerate oats. The avenin-reactive T-cell lines recognized avenin peptides in the context of HLA-DQ2. These peptides have sequences rich in proline and glutamine residues closely resembling wheat gluten epitopes. Deamidation (glutamine-->glutamic acid conversion) by tissue transglutaminase was involved in the avenin epitope formation.

CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that some celiac disease patients have avenin-reactive mucosal T-cells that can cause mucosal inflammation. Oat intolerance may be a reason for villous atrophy and inflammation in patients with celiac disease who are eating oats but otherwise are adhering to a strict gluten-free diet. Clinical follow-up of celiac disease patients eating oats is advisable.

Open Original Shared Link

The current trend is to allow coeliac disease (celiac disease) patients to introduce oats to their gluten free diet. We sought further data from the clinical setting with regards to oats consumption by coeliac patients. Several oat products were tested for wheat contamination using a commercial enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA) kit, and six samples were examined by an ELISA using a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies, mass spectrometry, and western blot analysis. Nineteen adult celiac disease patients on a gluten free diet were challenged with 50 g of oats per day for 12 weeks. Serological testing and gastroduodenoscopy was performed before and after the challenge. Biopsies were scored histologically and levels of mRNA specific for interferon gamma were determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis. Oats were well tolerated by most patients but several reported initial abdominal discomfort and bloating. One of the patients developed partial villous atrophy and a rash during the first oats challenge. She subsequently improved on an oats free diet but developed subtotal villous atrophy and dramatic dermatitis during a second challenge. Five of the patients showed positive levels of interferon gamma mRNA after challenge. Some concerns therefore remain with respect to the safety of oats for coeliacs.

It is worth noting that there are a number of studies that do NOT find villous atrophy when consuming oats. (Though I find it interesting to read how many patients drop out of some of these studies...) It is, at the most conservative, still a very controversial issue, with no "scientific yes/no" determined yet.