Oats Are Gluten Free....

[Jnkmnky]

Does anyone here eat oats? If so, what brand. I know oats are gluten free *I read it somewhere*,but that the cross contaminiation issue prevents Celiacs from using them in their diet. If oats are gluten free, it's a huge disservice to people with celiac disease to keep them from the gluten-free diet. Oats would be a GREAT addition to a gluten-free diet. Just a bowl of warm oatmeal alone makes oats worth the effort to keep them from cross contamination. I've seen those "Irish Oats" in the regular grocery store and I've really wanted to buy them for my son, but of course I don't. Is there a safe brand of oats out there that someone is using and swears by??? I'd pay a lot for some -clean- oats.

[KaitiUSA]

I personally stay away from oats. The ones in the U.S are contaminated with wheat. Also, some celiacs do react to the protein in oats called avenin. I agree it would be a great addition but I do feel it is too risky at least at this point. I think if you found oats that were grown, and manufactured in an oats only environment then that would be the only way it would be at least halfway safe.

[tarnalberry]

Yep, given that a small percentage (possibly less than 10%, if I recall correctly) of celiacs DO appear to get damage from avenin (as determined by biopsy), I'm not willing to risk it even with uncontaminated oats. If I were more reactive, I might test once to find out *my* answer, but yeah... no uncontaminated oats. ;-)

[celiac3270]

It's a personal decision--I've chosen to avoid altogether, but make sure, if you do eat them, to avoid Quaker and go with Country Choice or McCanns...

[scaredparent]

My son eats McCanns Irish Oatmeal and does fine.

[Jnkmnky]

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Well, I'm interested in trying them. I'll let you know if I do and if my son has a reaction. I want to see if anyone here or elsewhere says they've tried them and whether or not they had a reaction.

[lgranott]

Jnkmnky--

I eat them (mccanns) as do 2 of my friends daughters, both celiac disease, and none of us react...

That being said, if you do react to avenin, it doesn't matter that we apparently do not:(

I didn't know about avenin when I first found out that mccanns is gluten-free, so I just ate it w/o worrying. Luckily I was fine. Don't know if I would have tried it or avoided it had I known.

Good luck! And hope you don't react if you chose to try:)

Liatt

[Jnkmnky]

Here's the decision. I'm going to give them a try. My son has celiac disease, but it was caught at age 3. He's seven now. He's not had any of the multiple allergies some with celiac say they have. He eats eggs, nuts, tomatoes, rice, everything...we just eliminated dairy because I decided it was not a necessary food in our lives, but no one in the family is allergic. I think the avenin will not be a problem. My two non-celiac kids eat quaker oats with no problems. The only problem I would see is a gluten reaction with the McCanns. I wouldn't feed him the Quaker, of course. I'm scared to try the McCanns!!!!! But I think it's a worthwhile addition to a diet that faces enough restrictions *I'm justifying here* The only thing I'm worried about is that he won't have a noticible reaction, but will suffer villi damage.....That's a concern, you know? Incase he's become one of those Celiacs who don't show symptoms. He was near death when he was dx, so I can't imagine he's evolved into a Celiac who doesn't show symptoms. I'm rambling because I'm worried. Anyone else with celiac disease using McCanns oats out there???? Anyone have a reaction to them and want to warn against them????

[lgranott]

I know I'm not "anyone else" but as far as I understand (by everything I am told and everything that I have read) their oats are processed in a plant w/o wheat, so there is no gluten in mccanns.

[KaitiUSA]

I know I'm not "anyone else" but as far as I understand (by everything I am told and everything that I have read) their oats are processed in a plant w/o wheat, so there is no gluten in mccanns.

If they were grown in the same place as wheat that can pose a contamination threat.

[mommida]

It would have been nice to ask Lisa, the professor with testing equipment, to test the questionable oat products.

Laura

[KaitiUSA]

Please be respectful. I don't think there was a need for that comment...that was taken care of.

[VydorScope]

OKay I have to ask.... why bother? You already know that some Celiacs are bothered by "pure" oats, you know that most oats are conitmated wtih gluten, and even the above compnay will not calim thier oats are not contiminated... soooo whats so great about oats to make them worth it? Personaly I just tell eveyone that might feed my child that oats are bad and treat them as such in my house.

[Jnkmnky]

Well, it seems that oats provide an additional grain to the limited diet a Celiac lives on. The problem with oats for some people would be the avenin only, if cross contamination weren't an issue. Why should celiacs have a grain eliminated from their diet just because of cross contamination? That's a huge injustice. And to accept that as the reason seems more like rolling over. If the oat industry thought for a moment about how many people are NOT eating their product out of fear of cross contamination, they might see the financial upside to assuring a clean product. I think gluten-free baked goods would have a better consistency if oats were added. Think of all the muffin and cookie recipes that would be improved with oats added. I don't really see how a person could NOT see the benifit to adding oats to a gluten free diet. The protien is NOT gluten. Some people would have a problem with the avenin, but that's not an issue with gluten. Shutting out a food because of cc is severe. I understand the threat of CC is real, that's why I wouldn't go for the cheapo brands of oats that are clearly careless. But if there is an oat out there that recognizes the market Celiacs offer, and try to provide the gluten free oat, then I'm interested. There are also many products out there that are "wheat free" but I pass by because they have oats.

I would not test for gluten in a Danimal every couple of weeks. Oats obviously provide a whole world of options not limited to a shot sized container of watered down yogurt. Be that as it may, I wouldn't waste money personally testing the product for traces of gluten. I'm soliciting free advice, opinions, experiences. If you're still ticked off at me over my posting to lisa, then ignore me and don't help when I ask a question. It's all good.

[tarnalberry]

It's only been *very* recently that it's been better understood what the problem with oats is. (I mean, in the past year or two.) So not only does it take time for this to affect large industries, but from a business-case perspective, many companies may decide that it's NOT in there best interest to make sure to avoid contamination. The cost of eliminating contamination may well be high enough that it's not worth the additional 1% of sales (and that would be only if all celiacs were diagnosed and stopped eating oats to begin with). As much as we like to say that celiac is more common than we think, even at a rate of 1 in 133, there are a lot of business cases that would mean it's to a companies best interest NOT to design their goods for us. Unfortunately.

You're absolutely right, however, on the baking front. The similarity of the oat protein to the wheat protein means that it provides some of the missing qualities from removing wheat in the bread making process. I used to make most of my baked stuff with just oat flour because I preferred the taste and the improved nutrition. For those who could have it, it's a great addition to the flours we have available for baking! (And oat bran makes a FABULOUS hot cereal.)

[skbird]

Oat flour has been my main baking flour the last few years, until I quit gluten. I really loved it in the foods I was making. I am not willing to try it again at this point, however, because of the studies about people reacting to avenin. I don't know if I would but don't really want to go there. I also don't really need to have any more excuses to eat any more grains - they just aren't my best source of nutrition.

I remember someone posting a while back (Kaiti?) that even McCanns had been shown to in independant testing, have some level of gluten in it. I think there were three tests, the first two had less than the 200 ppm allowed by Codex, and the third was in the 400-range. I could be wrong but that study was enough to make me not even entertain the concept of eating McCanns.

Just be ready to watch for reactions. It would be great it oat producers took this into consideration, so maybe a letter writing campaign is in order.

Stephanie

[celiac3270]

Does the reaction to avenin refer to actual intestinal damage or just feeling sick? I thought I had read it was the former, but want to make sure.

[KaitiUSA]

I think intestinal damage in reaction to avenin for some people.