Does Quantity Matter?

[Tanner's Mom]

Hello. I'm a mom of a child with newly diagnosed Celiac. The one question I can't seem to find an answer to is this: does the quantity of gluten my child is exposed to change the severity of the reaction? There is so much discussion about even a spec of gluten due to CC and people who report becoming very sick from this miniscule amount of gluten. If they're sick for two days from a spec of cross contamination then would it be exponentially worse if they ate an entire piece of wheat bread? I guess I don't really understand the way the body is reacting to the gluten if such a miniscule amount can cause such a profound reaction. Thank you for your input!

[psawyer]

Yes, and no.

We each have a threshold where the amount of gluten is such that it overtakes the body's ability to heal.

Small amounts of contact may or may not affect you. Do what you can to avoid them, but be practical.

If you have an accident, do not assume that more will not do more damage. Do not eat a slice of pizza because you discovered an uneaten crouton in your salad.

[beebs]

It does for me, if I have small amounts I can still feel it, and get symptoms. But if I have large amounts I get severely ill and last time ended up in emergency.

[Takala]

The longer one is off of gluten, if one is celiac or gluten intolerant, the more likely one is more sensitive to it. People who start out not reacting to "casual" levels of cross contamination, may be in for a big surprise a few years down the line of a gluten free diet.

On "tiny" amounts:

You can't even see viruses that cause the common cold or flu - but that does not mean that they are not capable of causing a physical reaction in your body. Once exposed, if it's the same line of germs, it is not going to cause a cold over and over again, unless it is a different strain that mutated. So you then get over it, after the body mounts a defense to try to get it out of you by running a temperature and making snot, and you're "immune" to that strain. You never get "immune" to a celiac or gluten intolerance reaction, once you're over one of them. The gluten doesn't change or adapt on its own, because it is a plant protein, and your body's reaction to it doesn't change. It doesn't say, well, we sure killed off that gluten before, so now we don't have to worry about it anymore. It is instead your immune system is going awry, lurking, and poised to go after your own tissues if it is accidentally turned "on" by the presence of the gluten invader, again.

[Tanner's Mom]

Thank you for your input, I appreciate the responses!