Wheat Starch?

[foodiegurl]

I was wondering what your thoughts were on wheat starch? I know I have read that in the US it is not as 'cleaned" and pure and not safe to consider gluten-free. But in Europe that have more "pure wheat starch, and I know of some Scandinavian companies that put it in the gluten-free breads, cakes, cookies. And apparently that is considered gluten-free there.

Would you eat a gluten-free product from a European country? Or is the word 'wheat' enough to turn you off? Just curious.

[mushroom]

I personally don't eat anything with wheat on the label unless it has "buck" in front of it Codex wheat starch is supposed to be safe for celiacs, but not for all celiacs. Our member Irish DaveyBoy cannot eat it. It depends on your level of sensitivity.

[YoloGx]

I agree. I doubt I could handle it given how sensitive I am; however there are others who aren't as sensitive. Here in the States for instance distilled whiskey is considered safe for many celiacs--but I reacted badly repeatedly just from kissing an ex boyfriend who drank it. I also ate some "Glutino" cookies from Canada that are supposed to be gluten-free--and I was down for a day with a migraine, as was my new celiac boyfriend.

Bea

[mamaw]

I think the company you are referring to is Toro. They used to be sold in the US but recently close shop in the US. The rule of thumb is under 20ppm's....with that said I did eat the Toro mixes because I was sent samples a few years back. They were good & I had no outward symptoms... optive word here is : outward.....

For me I wouldn't run out & buy these products when I can get great taste without any wheat starch....

Just my thoughts.blessings

mamaw

[Takala]

I wouldn't touch it.

There is no reason to put a product deliberately derived from wheat into any food or medication products I consume, no matter what assurances I was given that it was supposedly "safe."

I have read of way too many anecdotes of people getting sick from these products.

It's already a minefield just trying to deal with the cross contamination issues of other supposedly "gluten free" items and then afterwards you find out by research that surprise, the facility is not gluten free or the manufacturer doesn't "get" it- witness the big uproar over when a famous American pretzel manufacturer, which is going to introduce a line of "gluten free" pretzels soon, revealed himself in an interview to be a clueless idiot on why manufacturing the wheat pretzels in the same facility put people at risk of illness. (and who was really taken to task by other gluten free and celiac blogs.)

[foodiegurl]

I was actually not singling out Toro, but some other brands there that are currently just over there, but had a friend who wanted to send me some, but was worried about trying it. The last thing I want to do it make myself sick, yet these are companies who only make gluten-free food. So am I wondering..is the wheat starch safe in them, if all celiacs in Sweden, Norway, etc..eats this stuff....or are we still damaging ourselves inside?

[ravenwoodglass]

So am I wondering..is the wheat starch safe in them, if all celiacs in Sweden, Norway, etc..eats this stuff....or are we still damaging ourselves inside?

Not all celiacs in those countries consume wheat starch. As you have seen many of us here wouldn't chance it. I wouldn't either.

You might want to ask in the International section, perhaps some folks there can give an opinion on whether they consume it or not.

[YoloGx]

Are Glutino cookies made by "Toro"?

I just looked it up and didn't see a reference to it--either as Toro or having wheat of any sort. What they do have however are "Natural Flavors" which can be, as you all know, created by using alcohol as an extraction method. It may be they used distilled grain alcohol, but that still gets me...

Nevertheless the Glutino cookie effect only lasted a day for me, ditto with my boyfriend--so the effect wasn't as severe as some things... However I still plan to stay away from their products.

[Lycopene]

The WORD wheat scares me. There's no way I'd ever eat anything like that no matter what assurances I had stating that it was safe. If it's made from wheat, I'm not eating it. No thank you. I hate feeling sick, and I get bloated and gassy for WEEKS if I get glutened. So annoying.

[Korwyn]

Foodiegirl, this is not directed at you or your post, but at an attitude I seem to keep encountering even in people who have been diagnosed and living with celiac disease for years longer than I have. So.....

I'm going to go onto a slight rant here. I don't understand what the obsession is with having to reintroduce or 'get to eat wheat again' for many companies, except that the agri/grain companies have such a vested interest in finding a way to 'make it safe.' As more and more research is being done (or being rediscovered) about the physiologic, endrocrine, and insulin impact of grains and refined carbs and their relationship to the diseases of western civilization, the agri companies are seeing a growing threat to their forced saturation of our diet with engineered, modified, and highly processed grains many of which are not even good for us even if we didn't have celiac disease! (Do some reading on the hormonal impact of soy on both men and women for example).

What few grains we do eat in our house now are almost always whole milled grains (millet, buckwheat, sorghum, brown rice, etc) and it has taken some time but we have managed to find recipes and techniques which have replaced almost everything we 'used to love to eat'. We don't take store prepared lunches to work anymore we usually spend a Saturday a month cooking and baking and then freeze what we will need. Why do we feel this need to try and reacquaint ourselves with a substance that is a toxin for us, and will ultimately result in the shortening of our lifespan? It's like trying to figure out how much dioxin or DDT would be safe to ingest before we start to feel sick. Because almost every one of use bases our 'glutened' status on how we feel, not what our lab work shows.

* Edited for typo correction.

[YoloGx]

Foodiegirl, this is not directed at you or your post, but at an attitude I seem to keep encountering even in people who have been diagnosed and living with celiac disease for years longer than I have. So.....

I'm going to go onto a slight rant here. I don't understand what the obsession is with having to reintroduce or 'get to eat wheat again' for many companies, except that the agri/grain companies have such a vested interest in finding a way to 'make it safe.' As more and more research is being done (or being rediscovered) about the physiologic, endrocrine, and insulin impact of grains and refined carbs and their relationship to the diseases of western civilization, the agri companies are seeing a growing threat to their forced saturation of our diet with engineered, modified, and highly processed grains many of which are not even good for us even if we didn't have celiac disease! (Do some reading on the hormonal impact of soy on both men and women for example).

What few grains we do eat in our house now are almost always whole milled grains (millet, buckwheat, sorghum, brown rice, etc) and it has taken some time but we have managed to find recipes and techniques which have replaced almost everything we 'used to love to eat'. We don't take store prepared lunches to work anymore we usually spend a Saturday a month cooking and baking and then freeze what we will need. Why do we feel this need to try and reacquaint ourselves with a substance that is a toxin for us, and will ultimately result in the shortening of our lifespan? It's like trying to figure out how much dioxin or DDT would be safe to ingest before we start to feel sick. Because almost every one of use bases our 'glutened' status on how we feel, not what our lab work shows.

* Edited for typo correction.

Go girl!

Bea

[Skylark]

Go girl!

Bea

That's a "he".

This article scared me half to death about European "gluten-free" baked goods. Open Original Shared Link As far as I can tell, the wheat starch baked goods are only currently required to be below 200 ppm gluten to be labeled "gluten-free". Starting January 1 2012, there is a 20 ppm requirement for labeling food "gluten-free", and baked goods can label "very low gluten" if they are below 100 ppm. I'll be surprised if any of the Codex Alimentarius wheat starch foods manage the 20 ppm gluten limit to be labeled "gluten-free".

[Gemini]

That's a "he".

This article scared me half to death about European "gluten-free" baked goods. Open Original Shared Link As far as I can tell, the wheat starch baked goods are only currently required to be below 200 ppm gluten to be labeled "gluten-free". Starting January 1 2012, there is a 20 ppm requirement for labeling food "gluten-free", and baked goods can label "very low gluten" if they are below 100 ppm. I'll be surprised if any of the Codex Alimentarius wheat starch foods manage the 20 ppm gluten limit to be labeled "gluten-free".

Wheat starch is supposedly so highly processed, that the gluten molecule is removed....much like distillation. I am not personally buying into that myself.

Having been to Europe many times and planning on going again this Fall, I do not ever eat anything which contains Codex wheat starch. Usually, I eat Atkins when on vacation and get my starches through baked potatoes and rice. I am pleased to see there is a Whole Foods market now (a big one) in London so will see how many truly gluten-free products they carry. If there is gluten-free bread, I always check the ingredients listing and if there is wheat starch, I do not buy it. I do not drink hard liquor/grain alcohol so have no idea if I would react to them. A previous poster had a good question....if European Celiacs are eating foods with up to 200ppm, are they causing damage? Testing in the US has shown that ingestion of gluten over 20 ppm causes villous atrophy so why would Europeans allow up to 200ppm? Maybe one of our European posters can answer that. I am very careful when eating in Europe and have been 100% successful so far but I generally eat almost zero carbs when on vacation as that's the only way I know to be completely safe.

[Skylark]

Testing in the US has shown that ingestion of gluten over 20 ppm causes villous atrophy so why would Europeans allow up to 200ppm? Maybe one of our European posters can answer that. I am very careful when eating in Europe and have been 100% successful so far but I generally eat almost zero carbs when on vacation as that's the only way I know to be completely safe.

That's simple. The regulations and research are driven by our ability to accurately and reproducibly measure the gluten content of foods. The 200 ppm recommendations and laws were adopted in the early 80s when gluten was not easy to measure at 20 ppm. Modern sandwich ELISA assays can measure down to 3 ppm gliadin (6 ppm gluten), so research on gluten tolerance is more accurate and regulations at 20 ppm are reasonable to enforce.