Gluten Free Wheat Starch

[thefreespirit]

Hi all

Result! I have my diagnosis. My specialist has labelled me as Non-antigen Coeliac, which I have translated to *we have not proved your diagnosis scientifically, but you have responded so well to the treatment that we actually believe you. This journey has taken me twenty odd years, I might add, so its a real result for me! I'm sure some of you trod the same path. I now have access to prescription only foods, so I am trying some new stuff. Which leads to my question.

Have any of you had a reaction to Gluten Free Wheat Starch? I recieved a sample box from the supplier Juvela. Wonderful service BTW, their response was almost instantaneous! I tried a pizza base on the weekend, no full on reaction, but I did have bad indigestion afterwards. I put this down to the cheese and moved on. Monday night I had a very small portion of the pasta spirals, with my own topping. By Tuesday I was having a reaction. I had the old pain under my rib cage, which I haven't had for months. There was a small amount of bloating, nothing major but enough to make me notice. Also my C reaction was back! This was definitely not a full on reaction as of old, but it made me think. It wasn't until I was reading all the nutrition labels on the boxes that I realised the first ingredient was Gluten Free Wheat Starch, which I had not come across before in my non-prescription supermarket purchases.

I would be really interested to know if any of you recognise this symptom and whether some of you are intolerant to the wheat itself.

Thanks so much.

TheFreeSpirit xx

[BabsV]

I'm in Poland and there are many products that include this ingredient - I tried one by accident (I was new to the diet and trying different products from the big Polish gluten free company -- it turned out to be a good way to learn the lesson to read labels closely, EVERY TIME!) and had a full-on reaction.

If I remember properly, in the EU following the rules of the Codex Alimentarius, this starch can be labelled 'gluten free' if the food measures in at less than 20ppm gluten.

I read somewhere that it is used to improve the "quality and texture" of gluten free products.

I avoid any and all products that include it!

[navigator]

I tend to stick to the Glutafin products on my prescriptions (prescriptions in Scotland are limited to Juvela and Glutafin, I assume same for all UK). The Glutafin products came in both Gluten Free and Gluten Free/Wheat Free versions. The Gluten Free ones contain gluten free wheat starch. Given your reaction, I would stick to gluten and wheat free versions. Although I tested negative for wheat allergy, I decided to play safe and stick to gluen/wheat free versions.

[thefreespirit]

Thank you both for your responses. I am pretty certain now that it was the codex wheat starch. I have spoken to both Juvela and Glutafin who are both sending me Gluten free, Wheat free samples. Lesson learned.

I had a long talk with a friend, who was diagnosed with Coeliac 7 years ago. I hadn't spoken to her for a while (busy lives) but she popped around the day after I posted and had very kindly brought me some of her own allowance to try. We spoke of Codex Wheat starch, which she found that she was unable to use also, so the samples she brought are all wheat free also.

It may be of interest to others newly diagnosed to know that Gluten Free does not necessarily imply wheat free and some of us are super sensitive.

Blessings - FS xx

[pricklypear1971]

I'm in the states and we don't usually see wheat starch listed as gluten-free (I never have) - I think it's still "wheat", therefore listed as a big 8 allergen. However, there are a few body care lines that sell degerminated wheat oil products and call them gluten-free or "gluten sensitive safe".

To me, its the same animal, different stripes (wheat starch and degerminated wheat products). Both are risky and some people will react.

I didn't react to my degerminated wheat oil product til 2 months gluten-free. Then my eyes started swelling....

There's an Italian study out there about the safety of the degerminated wheat oil and basically says it doesn't cause a reaction in Celiacs because it didn't cause a reaction in a "significant" number of subjects. I wonder if the same rationale was used for the wheat starch.

[thefreespirit]

I understand that Codex Wheat Starch is not permitted in the USA or in Canada, but it is in the UK. I certainly will be on making sure I am using both Gluten and Wheat Free now that I know about this wheat starch.

FS xx