Questions About Corn Syrup And Cassava

[dws]

I have been experimenting with eating cassava aka tapioca,yucca,etc. as a source of carbs since I have been avoiding grains. Unfortunately, I seem to experience a painful gut when I eat it. I read on some web site that tapioca might be hard for celiacs to deal with. I am non-celiac gluten intolerant. Anybody else have trouble with cassava or know if and why a gluten sensitive person should avoid it? I was also wondering if a person who is avoiding corn can use products such as sodas with corn syrup in it. Sounds like a stupid question, but I was checking on gluten free root beers and someone commenting on the topic said that the gluten containing proteins in corn were eliminated in the process of manufacturing corn syrup. It sure would make things easier if I did not have to avoid corn syrup.

[srall]

I found especially at the beginning of going gluten free that the other starches and flours bothered me. As for the corn syrup, that is highly concentrated and if you are having problems with corn, corn syrup is going to be a big problem for you. Plus corn syrup is evil even if you don't have problems with it. I haven't heard that corn syrup didn't contain the gluten proteins. My daughter and I must have an allergy to it as well, because when we have corn syrup we get really bad hives, but also we still get the stomach pains. It does stink to have to give so much up. I haven't had a soda in well over a year.

[lynnelise]

Try Jones soda. It's made with sugar instead of corn syrup and tastes much better!

[T.H.]

re: cassava - celiac or non-celiac, it's not a good idea to use this as a main source of carbs (vs. just for the starch or periodically). It contains a substance that is toxic to people that has to be leached out before it is edible. However, even with lots and lots of processing, a little of this substance remains. Not enough to usually be an issue for people, but enough that if you eat a lot of it, this can cause trouble. People in areas where this is the mainstay of the diet typically have lots and lots of goiter/thyroid issues because of this substance...which I would name except I can't recall what it is, LOL. It wouldn't surprise me if some people are more sensitive to it, though, if they have a more sensitive gut, you know?

Re: corn syrup - Are you corn intolerant and just trying to avoid major corn sources or are you trying to avoid ALL corn? Corn syrup is not good if you are avoiding corn completely. The processing does eliminate some of the corn protein, and perhaps even enough that many tests for corn won't detect that level (I haven't checked the data on what level), but no corn allergic folks that I know of can eat corn syrup because they react, so there is definitely some corn protein left in corn syrup, even if it's small. And some may be from contamination in the factory, as well. Hard to tell on that one. :-)

shauna