Oat Beta Glucan

[coriforia]

I can't seem to get a definitive answer if oat beta glucan is safe or not. I have a supplement shake that says gluten free but has this in it, but just the name sounds gluten-y haha

[Juliebove]

I can't seem to get a definitive answer if oat beta glucan is safe or not. I have a supplement shake that says gluten free but has this in it, but just the name sounds gluten-y haha

If it's made of oats then chances are it's not gluten-free.

[preferredshares]

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2009 at 12:47 PM, coriforia said:

I can't seem to get a definitive answer if oat beta glucan is safe or not. I have a supplement shake that says gluten free but has this in it, but just the name sounds gluten-y haha

 

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2009 at 12:47 PM, coriforia said:

I can't seem to get a definitive answer if oat beta glucan is safe or not. I have a supplement shake that says gluten free but has this in it, but just the name sounds gluten-y haha

Oats do not intrinsically contain gluten, but some oat is grown on fields with the practice of crop rotation with other gluten containing grains such as barley grown in some years and oats in other years.  In such cases it is possible to have the field residue from last year's harvest of barley picked up in this year's harvest of oats.  Beta glucan made from these oats may contain gluten.  There are some growers of oats that are attentive to this issue and some beta glucan suppliers that source their oats from such farms.  I believe one can already find gluten free oats (as oat meal) and those growers would not practice crop rotation with other gluten containing grains. I believe the market for gluten free products will increase the demand for such gluten free beta glucan from oats so be on the look out for more.  Oat beta glucan is good and may be better than yeast or fungus derived beta glucan in some regards.  I believe in the cases of the brands of beta glucan from oats that are not gluten free that the quantity is in the hundreds of PPM and should not be a problem for only mildly gluten sensitive people--however, very low 10s of PPM of gluten is recommended as the limit for truly gluten intolerant people, in which case finding/waiting for the above mentioned pure oat field (no crop rotation) derived beta glucan is the best choice.  There may already be some on the market.  Beta Glucan is a good supplement to look into further.

[apprehensiveengineer]

1 hour ago, preferredshares said:

 

Oats do not intrinsically contain gluten,

Technically, only wheat contains gluten - and only when water is added to it (smaller proteins called gliadin and glutenin bind to form gluten in presence of water).

Persons with celiac disease react to prolamins in some grains such as gliadin, hordein (barley), secalin (rye), and possibly avenin (oats). The term "gluten-free" is a bit of a misnomer, but it is much simpler than naming all the individual proteins. Oats are gluten-free because regulatory agencies have decided to define them as such.

It is currently a bit unclear as to whether all celiacs react to avenin, and whether or not the extent to which they react to them is a significant concern. Immune cells harvested from celiac patients have been shown to react with avenin, but it is a bit less clear from feeding studies as to whether this poses a danger "in real life." Major studies are either small in sample size or have large "unexplained" drop-out rates, and the resolution of current diagnostic methods may not be sufficient to capture low grade damage that might occur from eating small amounts of oats.