Ever Thought About Airborne Gluten?

[irish daveyboy]

I started looking into the possibility of this for a friend who despite sticking rigidly to a GFD always seemed to have problems CFS and Brain Fog.

I first found this reference to the subject.

When I was speaking at the North Conway Celiac Disease Support Group this past June, a member of the group posed a question that stumped me:

Q: What is the risk of airborne gluten to people with celiac disease?

A: At first, my answer was "Hmm...I'm not sure.

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In the Article this phrase caught my attention.

This seems to be another aspect of celiac disease where little information is known, and we each need to make a personal decision - one that feels most comfortable for us.

It does appear that airborne gluten does pose some risk - whether it's the flour dust or volatile organics,

So on a quick search I found this.

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The most intriguing find was this blog post by Lorie M Abbott.

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It seems there's a lot still to be learned.

Best Regards,

David

[jststric]

I suspected. I was going to apply for a job at a new gourmet pretzel shop here in town a few months ago and it occurred to me that perhaps having the flours, nuts etc would be a problem.

[Skylark]

If the volatile organics are an issue, you would react to a LOT more than wheat. The compounds in that PDF you linked are in all sorts of plants. They are not going to be unique to wheat.

The story of the celiac who couldn't be in a pizza parlor kitchen is very interesting.

[irish daveyboy]

If the volatile organics are an issue, you would react to a LOT more than wheat. The compounds in that PDF you linked are in all sorts of plants. They are not going to be unique to wheat.

The story of the celiac who couldn't be in a pizza parlor kitchen is very interesting.

It probably was a bad example, and was only there to show that there was a possibility of a reaction to VOC's from grains.

Maybe take a look at this link and scroll down to Hidden Allergies and Environmental Sensitivities.

It does make you wonder.

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Best Regards,

David

[i-geek]

I wondered about this. I got glutened last weekend. I was at a different grocery store than usual. The employees were definitely baking there, and the bakery was right next to produce, where I did most of my shopping. I walked out with my clothes and hair smelling like a bakery. Went home, ate leftovers from the previous night's dinner (all prepped at home from fresh whole ingredients), slapped on some sunscreen, and went out to a park with my husband. About an hour later I started getting an awful headache, then brain fog/fatigue, stomach stuff, etc. Symptoms for several days. I thought maybe the sunscreen, but I looked online and the particular Coppertone product I used is safe. I've got no other possibilities besides the grocery store. Scary, scary stuff. I've never gotten sick at a grocery store, but then I've never been in my usual stores when they've been baking since going gluten-free.

[Skylark]

It probably was a bad example, and was only there to show that there was a possibility of a reaction to VOC's from grains.

Maybe take a look at this link and scroll down to Hidden Allergies and Environmental Sensitivities.

It does make you wonder.

Open Original Shared Link

Best Regards,

David

I hate to be such a relentless skeptic, but that one is just someone trying to sell something. Notice it's not referenced at all and the list of "type IV" symptoms is very generic. Got an "overall feeling of ill health"? Order our "Empowerment System" only $139.95/month.

May I suggest you steer clear of commercial sites for your information?

[rdunbar]

I was working as a caterer (for a big company) @ 7 months ago, and was unfortunatly ignorant of the risks of cross- contamination at the time, but thought I was fine as long as I could choose to only prepare item that didn't contain gluten, salads, meat ect... But several times I had the experience of inhaling glluten when someone was slicing bread for a big party, and it hit me like a train, no joke. In under a minute I would lose

my balance, get a screaming headache that felt like a vise tightening in my skull, in retrospect maybe a migraine? I've never had migraines my whole life, but it was like a normal headache times 10, also get diarrea , and super ugly moodswings, yelling at people and getting really angry.

I realized I was commiting suicide by continueing to expose myself, and quit,

so I feel very certain that inhaling gluten is dangerous for celiacs, and the reaction seems to happen faster and be more extreme than ingesting it in my experience

[Hyacinth]

I think that airborne gluten is a definite danger to some individuals. My dad for instance can and does get sick from being in the kitchen while my mom is kicking up a dust storm of baking flour. I (luckily) don't seem to have a reaction from that. In the same vein of discussion though, I cannot be in the house while peanut butter cookies are baking. My nose and throat will itch and swell up like crazy. I think that for those of us who are gluten intolerant it's probably good to just draw the skull and cross bones on all things glutenous and treat it with the same respect as we would that blue stuff under the sink. After all, better safe then sorry.

Hyacinth