Glutened By Caramel Colour In Coke?

[kristionii]

Hi

I've been on a gluten free diet for 2 months now. I've had both a positive and negative blood test, and an inconclusive endoscopy over the course of 1.5 years, and decided upon myself to go gluten-free to see if it made a difference. So far, I've only been sick once, during my 1st week doing gluten-free after I ate McDonalds fries :

I got incredibly sick right after dinner tonight, and I'm scratching my head. I had rice pasta with a slice of cheese, salad with ranch dressing, and a glass of coke (which I very very rarely drink). I looked at the Coke bottle and it said "caramel colour" on it. I know theres alot of debate surrounding caramel colour, and most people say its safe if made in teh USA or Canada (I live in Canada). And I've read others that say its NOT safe.

Has anyone else had any experience with this? I honestly can't figure out what made me so sick.

Maybe it's all the Halloween chocolate !

Thanks,

K.

[Lisa]

Caramel color should not be a gluten issue.

Some people have issues with dairy, while they heal.

I can't crawl in your shoes, but it took me about six months before I got a grasp on the diet. As well as learning the difference between a "glutenening" and the healing process, when every other thing I ate bothered me.

You will have lots of trials. And sometimes, answers are hard to figure out.

Chocolate, huh? Yum (my downfall), but too much of anything is hard on a compromised system.

[psawyer]

Coca-cola products in Canada and the USA are gluten-free. The caramel colour (color) is made from corn. The same is true of the beverages made by Pepsi.

[tarnalberry]

any chance you're using the same colander to strain the rice pasta that you used to use for wheat pasta? that would definitely be a risk factor.

[RideAllWays]

Maybe it's a corn issue? I know I can't havce corn...

[lovegrov]

There really is no debate about caramel color. It's safe. And Coke is most definitely gluten-free.

richard

[Ahorsesoul]

I can't handle McDs fries. I don't even drive in for a drink there. Too many kids working there that do not realise the importance of keeping clean a uncontaminated fryer.

I worked in fast foods and so did my ds. Know too much about what goes on when the managers are not looking (or not interested).

[Eric-C]

As I found out last year, Coke made in Mexico is not gluten-free.

Coke sold in glass bottles and made with 'real sugar', or Mexican Coke which they have been selling here in the US as a speciality item has malt in it and is not gluten-free.

[Lisa]

As I found out last year, Coke made in Mexico is not gluten-free.

Coke sold in glass bottles and made with 'real sugar', or Mexican Coke which they have been selling here in the US as a speciality item has malt in it and is not gluten-free.

I would assume that the Coca Cola formula is consistent world wide. Would you please show your source for this.

Maybe you are referring to something other than the trademark Coca Cola.

[Ahorsesoul]

I would assume that the Coca Cola formula is consistent world wide.

Never assume that a product that is gluten free in one country is gluten free in another. Many items items are not made with the exact same ingredients in another country. Just something else to give us all a headache or worse.

[Lisa]

I understand that, but we are (or I am) taking about a patented formula for Coca Cola, not a generic coke. I would find it difficult to believe that their formula differs from country to country

If there is contrary information, I would be glad to see that.

Open Original Shared Link

[Ahorsesoul]

There is plenty of information on the Internet showing the ingredients of how the Brand Name Coca Cola differs from country to country. I guess I just knew it differs since I've lived in other countries. Even between foods made in Canada and the USA differ.

[ravenwoodglass]

There is plenty of information on the Internet showing the ingredients of how the Brand Name Coca Cola differs from country to country. I guess I just knew it differs since I've lived in other countries. Even between foods made in Canada and the USA differ.

I agree. Even here in the states for example a beverage that comes out of a fountain or a speed bar can have different ingredients than one you buy bottled in a store even if the same company makes it and markets it under the same name. Companies change their formulas all the time I can't even count how many times a new Coke has come out. I do however agree that if it is one of the ones made here in the US it should be safe.

[Eric-C]

Lisa,

Here is a start:

Open Original Shared Link

That right there is a differnece in the main ingredient, sugar. That article you quoted most likely only concerned products produced and bottled in the US.

Coke and other products are bottled regionally and no, its not all the same. If you travel around the country you will find it tastes different everywhere. The 'formula' that Coke ships them might be the same, but there is a difference in the level of sweetening, the water used, etc.

Mountain Dew in Canada is caffeine free.

Coke in Europe has FAR less sugar than Coke here in the US. Do some reading on GI index tests of different products and you'll find nothing is the same.

Kraft Thousand Island in Canada has a more tomatoe taste and look to it. Arby Sauce in Canada is totally different than here. Having travelled a lot, name brand foods differ from region to region.

I posted what I posted as a courtesy to others who may buy this product.

Pepsi has a product made with real cane sugar and it is bottled here in the US and is gluten free.

The issue with Coke from Mexico and malt has been discussed here before since it became available in the US. I know first hand what it does and believe it is better to error on the side of caution.

[Ahorsesoul]

Yep, we have to be on our guard all the time.

Of course Coca Cola was also the brilliant company that thought they'd change the formula for coke, the world's number one selling soft drink.

Open Original Shared Link

[Eric-C]

Just another example.

Worcestershire sauce made in Canada by Lea and Perrin's is malt based and is not gluten-free, but L&P made in the US is made without malt, and is gluten-free.

[Lisa]

This is an interesting article. This does not make reference to malt, but to the difference in sweetner used in processing Coke. I learn something every day here!

By ROB WALKER

The New York Times

October 11, 2009

Spend a few years writing about consumer culture, and you might get a

little jaded about products or brands with cult followings. The

extreme-loyalist customer always insists that there are perfectly

rational reasons for his or her devotion; to the disinterested

observer, the reasons seem dubious. This is good news for me, because

it assures that I have plenty to write about. But this week, for

once, I'm casting myself in the role not of the reasonable observer

but of the dubious product-cultist.

The product is Coca-Cola that is made and bottled in Mexico. I'm not

the only person who believes that it's better: there's a Mexican Coke

Facebook page with more than 10,000 fans. "I am a (Mexican) Coke

fiend," wrote Richard Metzger on the Web site Dangerous Minds this

past August. "It is SO FREAKING DELICIOUS." Mexican Coke is "a lot

more natural tasting," another fan recently told a news program in

Idaho. "A little less harsh, I would say."

Mexican Coke cultists of course have a rational explanation:

Coca-Cola bottled in Mexico is sweetened with sugar, while the U.S.

version is (almost) always made with high-fructose corn syrup. That

is so. And it's surprising, given the degree to which uniformity

defines the Coke idea. Who knew the "secret formula" could

accommodate ingredient variation? Andy Warhol once suggested that

Coke's sameness united us all: "A Coke is a Coke and no amount of

money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is

drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz

Taylor knows it, the president knows it, the bum knows it and you

know it."

My own induction into this product cult was inadvertent and based on

aesthetics. Some years ago I noticed a glass bottle of Coke for sale,

and that was something I hadn't seen in a while. It looked great; I

enjoyed drinking it immensely. I didn't notice the "No Retornable"

and "Refresco" phrases on the 12-ounce bottle, or the ingredients. My

rational explanation was that Coke tastes better from a glass bottle

than from a plastic one or from a can. It happens that Popular

Science examined this very contention on its Web site not long ago

and allowed that as the "most inert" material in which the cola is

packaged, it's possible that glass results in a subtly more "pure,

unaltered" product than plastic or aluminum. Of course a commenter on

that site promptly chimed in that glass-bottle Coke often comes from

Mexico: "In the United States, Coke is made with CORN SYRUP. . . .

It's disgusting."

I've now heard this contention many times, but never more so than

lately, as high-fructose corn syrup has become one of the most

demonized ingredients in contemporary food culture. There's a

political angle (corn subsidies), an authenticity angle (it's

processed, very pervasive and just sounds industrial) and a paranoid

angle (the entertaining conspiracy theory that the 1985 New Coke

fiasco was an intentional failure, orchestrated to distract consumers

from an ingredient switch in Coke Classic). The upshot is the curious

celebration of sugar as natural and desirable. Pure-sugar soda fans

motivate other product cults, including Passover Coke (using sugar

instead of not-kosher-for-Passover corn syrup) available only around

the Jewish holiday, and Dr Pepper from a particular bottler in

Dublin, Tex.; Coke's biggest rival has put out a product called Pepsi

Throwback, "sweetened with natural sugar." Somehow all the reverence

for sugar manages to make high-calorie carbonated drinks sound like

health food.

The Coca-Cola Company is by now quite familiar with the Mexican Coke

cult. It is true, acknowledges a Coke spokesman, Scott Williamson,

that different sweeteners are used by the company's bottling partners

in different parts of the world, for reasons having to do with price

and availability. But, he says, "all of our consumer research

indicates that from a taste standpoint, the difference is

imperceptible."

The company principally imports the Mexican version to appeal to

immigrants who grew up with it and draw nostalgia from the packaging

they remember. Online you'll find Mexican Coke cultists offering tips

about tracking down grocers who serve a primarily Latino clientele.

Surely this is part of the fun - nobody wants to be a snob on behalf

of a product that's easy to obtain. But Coke is in the business of

supply and demand and has seen to it that Mexican Coke has found its

way into places like Kroger, Costco and a certain sandwich shop in my

not-very-Hispanic neighborhood in Georgia. I have lunch there every

week or two, and while it would be cheaper to have a can of American

Coke, I always pay extra for the 12-ounce bottle that says it's

"Hecho en Mexico." I do this because I believe it tastes better, and

I really don't care why. Spend a few years writing a column about

consumer culture, and what you learn is that we all think everyone

else's shopping quirks are weird and irrational - but that our own

make perfect sense.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Another on the change of ingredients:

Open Original Shared Link

Here is link with the ingredients for Mexican Coke and malt could hide in the Natural Flavor, but I have not found any reference to malt.

Open Original Shared Link

[lovegrov]

Just another example.

Worcestershire sauce made in Canada by Lea and Perrin's is malt based and is not gluten-free, but L&P made in the US is made without malt, and is gluten-free.

And malt is petty much always clearly listed, even though not required in he U.S.

richard

[positivenrgfairy]

I would assume that the Coca Cola formula is consistent world wide. Would you please show your source for this.

Maybe you are referring to something other than the trademark Coca Cola.

I live in Texas and Mexican coke is everywhere. I don't drink sodas, but my friends say the mexican cokes taste way better so there is something different about the formula for sure.

[psawyer]

I live in Texas and Mexican coke is everywhere. I don't drink sodas, but my friends say the mexican cokes taste way better so there is something different about the formula for sure.

It is the sweetener that is different.

[sunnybabi1986]

I got sick to my stomach the other day...after drinking Gatorade!! The only thing I can figure that made me sick is the high fructose corn syrup. I stay as far away from it as possible usually, but I was trying to keep myself hydrated (I've had a sinus infection all week). I have definitely noticed that when I drink things with high fructose corn syrup, I get a stomach ache and don't feel well for several hours. Maybe that could be what set you off?

[Eric-C]

Well after posting my L&P comparison I have my doubts about the US product being gluten free.

We ate at home all week and night before last my wife made a new chilli recipe. Same tomatoe sauce we've used for years in our spaghetti sauce, same chilli powder we use in our spaghetti sauce(Penzi's, all gluten-free), Beef Stock clearly labled as gluten-free.

Basically it was all gluten-free stuff we've used for a long time. The only new item, L&P's Worcestershire Sauce.

Something was not gluten-free...and it had to be the sauce. I've stayed far away from gluten so my reactions these days are more in line with how they were years ago. There was not a lot of gluten in it, but for sure something was not gluten-free. I'm wondering since we're so close to the Canadian border if it doesn't get shipped over here, have to call them today.

[psawyer]

The Lea & Perrins labels are quite different in the two countries.

In the US, the label has brown letters on a tan background, and it specifically says gluten-free right on the label. The Canadian version has an orange label with black letters, and lists malt vinegar as the first ingredient.