Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Alpro Desserts/ Vanillin

jaywalker

Recommended Posts

jaywalker Rookie
jaywalker
Posted

I just got glutened by Alpro Chocolate Flavour Soya Dessert. I should have known better. It happenened to several times over a year or two back , and i wrote to Alpro asking if a batch might have got contaminated? They wrote back denying that was possible and pointing out that their products met the current standards of less than blah-blah parts per wotsit. and it wasn't their fault if i was sensitive to even lower concentrations than that.

I really didn't like their tone. Nor that they didn't even try answer my question as to what might be the reason why i reacted to the chocoate dessert but not vanilla, It was totally about denying responsibilty, no useful info at all.

Anyway, that was a long time ago, and now I've a problem with vegetable oil, and had to cut even more things out of my diet, and I'm scratching around for things i can eat, i started wondering if i might have made some kind of mistake, way back then, peered at the gluten free label, and decided to give it another chance. first boc, fine,. 2nd box, glutenened again. and like an idiot I've now consumed the who;le box over the space of 5 hours (5-6 hours is how it takes before i get a reaction, every time)so i'm gonna get more reactions now :(

Anyway, i just looked at the ingredients, and , aside from cocoa, these are the only things that are in the choocolate flavour and not vanilla flavour are: natural flavour, vanillin.

I see there's been some debate on this forum as to whether vanillin is safe or not, and conflicting reports elsewhere on the web. Does any body know where to find a really authoritative statement about it?

Does anybody else have this problem?

And apart from never eating the damned stuff again, what can I/should i do?

Try to get some more with the same batch number and send it away to get it analysed? (where? and how much would it cost? and did i mention i'm on the breadline and living hand to mouth? so it better not cost too much. and I'm in the UK, btw)

I'm really pissed off with Alpro, by now. If i can get them in trouble, i bloody well will :angry:

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


txplowgirl Enthusiast
txplowgirl
Posted

I've never seen that but I'm here in the US, it might be here but i've never seen it. I was wondering. Does it have soy in it? I'm assuming that's the Soya in the label. Soy can make you feel like you've been glutened. Just saying. I hope you get to feeling better.

jaywalker Rookie
jaywalker
Posted
  • Author

I've never seen that but I'm here in the US, it might be here but i've never seen it. I was wondering. Does it have soy in it? I'm assuming that's the Soya in the label. Soy can make you feel like you've been glutened. Just saying. I hope you get to feeling better.

Thanks. Yes, it does, and I know, but i consume other soy products every day, without ill effect...includung their Vanuilla desser

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

I am not familiar with the product but I would wonder about the natural flavors. With chocolate there may be malt in the flavoring and that would not need to be declared and may be in a small enough amount to still test below the allowed ppm level. Unfortunately that allowed level may still be too much gluten for some of us. At least you know not to ever touch the stuff again as for whatever reason your body doesn't like it.

ecf Rookie
ecf
Posted

Jaywalker, sorry to hear you've had trouble with the chocolate dessert. I have not had any of Alpro's soya desserts (do not tolerate tapioca well) but do eat their soya yogurt. Haven't had a problem with it, and am curious to know if you do alright with it as well.

And an aside for the others: as far as I know Alpro is only in Europe.

  • 1 year later...
jimjoot Newbie
jimjoot
Posted

Hey Jaywalker, I'm really sorry to hear about your glutening- I sympathise, having done basically the same thing with Alpro Soya today.

I also know what a pain it can be to have to cook/eat on a shoe string, I hope things have picked up since 2011. I don't know if this is any good to you but, if vegetable oil is playing your stomach up, have you tried either:

1) Pure Sunflower spread? (Melt it like butter onto frying pan/whatever instead of oil), or

2) Alfa One Rice Bran Oil?

They're both quite tasty- in fact, a non-coeliac friend told me that he recently started using the Rice Bran Oil instead of Olive Oil.

Hope your situation picks up soon mate.

  • 9 months later...
jaywalker Rookie
jaywalker
Posted
  • Author

hi, i  feel kinda bad for not getting back to you guys

 

since posting the above , i've developed so many food intolerences, i can't be absolutely sure that gluten was responsible. but then, on the other hand gluten always gives me a pain in my lower back, whereas other food always  give me me a pain at the front (don't ask me why that difference !  no idea) and it looks like i'd developed enough intolerences to have spotted the difference by then

 

but i really am a hopeless case! can barely eat anything bar fruit and leafy/root vegetsables now

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      128,636
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    RiveraReed
    Newest Member
    RiveraReed
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.1k
    • Total Posts
      71.1k
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • cococo
      11 yo waiting for diagnosis

      By cococo · Posted

      Thanks @trents I'll keep that in mind.
    • trents
      11 yo waiting for diagnosis

      By trents · Posted

      One thing to be aware of is that reactions to gluten can sometimes be more severe after having been gluten free for a significant period of time. Something to think about in connection with a gluten challenge.
    • cococo
      11 yo waiting for diagnosis

      By cococo · Posted

      Hi @trents Thanks for your reply and the clarification on terminology—most appreciated. My GP has referred us to a Paediatric Gastroenterologist, and we're waiting for an appointment. She mentioned they might want to do an endoscopy or run further testing. But that often with children they try to avoid scoping them.  She also said it could take months to get an appointment, which is why she recommended starting a gluten-free diet immediately to see if there's any improvement in his symptoms, growth, and blood tests. I have an appointment in 5 weeks with the Paediatrician (who ordered all the tests)—not the Gastroenterologist. I expect the Paediatrician will also recommend a Gastroenterologist referral for further testing and diagnosis. I understand the reasons for confirming with biopsies. I'm just eager to help him feel better and I don't want to keep him eating gluten for months while waiting for a specialist when it's clearly affecting him. I really appreciate your input on this, especially your thoughts about this pointing to celiac rather than NCGS. Intuitively, it feels that way—he's always been incredibly healthy and strong, but he's suddenly wasting away. We're in Australia, so I'm not sure about benefits, etc. and needing a formal diagnosis. I’ll have to investigate.  If necessary to do a gluten challenge down the track for confirmation I'm happy to cross that bridge when I come to it. Thanks so much for your advice!
    • trents
      11 yo waiting for diagnosis

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome to the forum, @cococo!  So. let me first clarify some terminology. Gluten intolerance is a general term that can refer either to celiac disease or NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity or "gluten sensitivity" for short). Having said that, in common, informal usage there is still a lot of mix up in the use of the terms "gluten sensitivity" and "gluten intolerance".  Elevated DGP-IGG can certainly indicate celiac disease but the IGG tests are considered not quite as specific for celiac disease as are the IGA tests, especially the TTG-IGA. If it were the TTG-IGA that gave a 250 score it would have been grounds for declaring an official diagnosis of celiac disease without further testing in the UK and many European countries. With children, however, because their immune systems are immature, we often see their celiac disease show up in the IGG tests rather than the IGA tests. Has their been any talk about an endoscopy with biopsy of the small bowel lining to confirm or disprove a diagnosis of celiac disease? The endoscopy/biopsy is considered the gold standard of celiac disease diagnosis. Physicians are not eager to do scoping on pediatric patients, however, and try to avoid that unless there is a very good reason for it.  I think to proceed with a gluten free diet experiment at this time is a reasonable approach. If there is improvement in labs, symptoms and growth then it is reasonable to assume that there is celiac disease to blame or at least NCGS. At the end of the day, both conditions require a gluten free diet anyway. But I would also have to say that when looking at the total body of evidence you present, it looks much more like celiac disease than NCGS.  One caution, however, and that is if you are in the UK there are certain government provided benefits that incur from a formal diagnosis of celiac disease. I mention that because some of your spelling suggests that to me.
    • cococo
      11 yo waiting for diagnosis

      By cococo · Posted

      Hi all, I'd love some feedback on my 11 year old son who is waiting for a diagnosis. He has been unwell for about 6 months. His symptoms include: early morning (4/5am) nausea and vomiting, loose bowels, fatigue, headaches, aching legs, persistent dermatitis on cheeks. Recently, I noticed he wasn't growing as expected. After measuring him, we found his height had dropped from above 50th percentile to 25th, and weight from 50th percentile to 5th. I took him to our GP who confirmed he only grew 2cm in the past year and lost weight, and subsequently referred us to a paediatrician. We saw the paediatrician who ordered extremely comprehensive tests (including urine and poo testing, x-ray on wrist, hormones, thyroid, liver, kidney, diabetes checks, etc). While waiting for all results, our GP received some preliminary findings indicating coeliac disease. The GP recommended starting a gluten-free diet and referred us to a paediatric gastroenterologist. Most test results are normal except: Iron levels:  18 (normal range 20-200) Anisocytosis and Microcytosis (abnormal sized red blood cells indicating iron deficiency anaemia) Coeliac-related results: DGP IgG:     >250 (normal <15) DGP IgA:      8 (normal <15) Tissue IgA:   1 (normal <15) Tissue IgG:   1 (normal <15) Genetic markers are present for coeliac A comment was made on the blood tests that total serum IgA would be tested and commented on if below 0.07. There was no comment so I assume it wasn’t that low. While I understand it could be coeliac disease, gluten intolerance, or wheat allergy, his significant growth issues suggest coeliac. The paediatrician won't see me for 5 more weeks (because he's waiting for one more test he did on his chromosomes), but I'm concerned about waiting that long given his symptoms. Clearly he shouldn't be eating gluten regardless of the diagnosis, and I'm keen to help him feel better and start growing again, especially with puberty approaching. The blood tests were extremely comprehensive and ruled out everything except coeliac disease or a strong gluten intolerance. My GP is adamant it must be coeliac because of his symptoms. My GP said, "Don't worry about the chromosome test—that's just precautionary. His blood tests, weight loss, lack of growth, iron deficiency, fatigue, dermatitis, and other symptoms all point to coeliac." Would starting a gluten-free diet now and doing a gluten challenge later be unreasonable? (I do understand the reason to wait for a clear diagnosis, I just want him to feel better. Also, he is homeschooled so I can very much be in control of his food to ensure no cross contamination, etc) Also, does anyone have experience with highly elevated DGP IgG (but normal other results) and testing positive for coeliac? For what its worth, I personally have had many checks for Coeliac over the years and the results are always "unclear". Apparently I'm a complicated case, so I just eat gluten-free. Thanks!
×
×
  • Create New...