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 Celiac.com!
    eNewsletter
    Donate

gluten-free Cheerio - eat or avoid?

Hollye

Recommended Posts

Hollye Rookie
Hollye
Posted

Hi All,

My my family and I just moved to Switzerland from Australia. As an American expat I was very pleased to find out that I could easily order gluten-free Cheerios for my 3 and 5 year old girls for the first time!

Well...for the past two weeks my girls have been displaying signs of being glutened. They are now having terrible  direahea for the past 2 weeks since I've been feeding them this cereal every other day or so. I've desperately been trying to rule out what is causing this but we are a gluten-free household...Now, I'm just waiting for the poo samples to come back because none of thier kindergarten and play group friends are sick but these test won't reveal gluten poisoning...sadly, I've just stopped the cereal for brekkie.

I am am wondering if anyone here has had any problems with the gluten-free Cheerios as of late?

Thank you!

 
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Ennis-TX Grand Master
Ennis-TX
Posted

Many celiacs are still getting sick from gluten-free cheerios, while the debate is out they are all testing below 20ppm (they are testing positive but at levels like 5-15ppm average) SO they claim they are still gluten free. Other opinions and for some celiacs (10%) they respond to oats period in a similar fashion to gluten, so oats have to be removed from the diet completely.
Honestly you just opened a can of worms, the paid people an advocates are going to come in here defending the cereal, the people who have gotten sick are going to bash this thread. and your going to get mixed reviews.
Just recall if it makes your girls sick then remove it from the house, they are either super sensitive to traces of gluten, or react to oats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

I am not sure if you are talking about the same Cheerios.  I know there are other brands that make Cheerios in Europe, so maybe in Australia, too?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cara in Boston Enthusiast
Cara in Boston
Posted

We've tried them several times and each time, we get sick.  It's a shame because we really liked having this easy option.   Didn't Canada just rule that Cheerios CAN NO LONGER be labeled gluten-free there?

We also stay away from other products that rely on some "system" to remove gluten (like some gluten-free beers).  Just stick with things that have naturally gluten-free ingredients.

I was recently in the hospital for several days and was surprised to see Cheerios on the gluten-free menu. 

Good luck to you and your family-

 

cara

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cyclinglady Grand Master
cyclinglady
Posted
51 minutes ago, Cara in Boston said:

We've tried them several times and each time, we get sick.  It's a shame because we really liked having this easy option.   Didn't Canada just rule that Cheerios CAN NO LONGER be labeled gluten-free there?

We also stay away from other products that rely on some "system" to remove gluten (like some gluten-free beers).  Just stick with things that have naturally gluten-free ingredients.

I was recently in the hospital for several days and was surprised to see Cheerios on the gluten-free menu. 

Good luck to you and your family-

 

cara

 

 

General Mills VOLUNTARILY decided to remove the gluten free label on their boxes of Cherrios in Canada.  The dispute seems to be about the testing methods for oats.  General Mills was on a team of researchers, manufacturers, etc.  to help determine safe and valid testing just for oats.  It appears GM gave up.  

Open Original Shared Link

Something happened, but the public does not really know exactly what happened.  It is all behind closed doors (or beyond my sleuthing abilities).  GM did make a public statement about this topic. (Yeah, the kind their Public Relations Department and their building of attorneys created and reviewed).  

Some celiacs do react to oats no matter how they are processed (pure or mechanically sorted).  Best for this Mom to avoid ALL oats for now (even other processed foods containing gluten-free oats).  Test again later with pure gluten-free oats and not sorted.  

Until this is all “sorted” out, I would be leery of many processed foods (e.g. cereal bars) beyond just General Mill’s products.    General Mills made a substantial investment in their mechanically sorted oat equipment and they did not do this for just one of their product lines.  

The botton line is no one really knows what is going on.  Hopefully, we will hear more as time goes on.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hollye Rookie
Hollye
  • Author
Posted

Hi Ennis,

Thanks for the heads up. Pretty sad that facts get blurred when there’s money to be made....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hollye Rookie
Hollye
  • Author
Posted
4 hours ago, kareng said:

I am not sure if you are talking about the same Cheerios.  I know there are other brands that make Cheerios in Europe, so maybe in Australia, too?

Hi Kereng,

There were no General Mills Cheerios in Australia and the cereal that I purchased was from an online American food site that is here in Switzerland. From what I can tell, it’s genuine American Cheerios distributed by GM Minneapolis...and it reads on the box that it is a proud sponsor of Celiac.org....?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Hollye Rookie
Hollye
  • Author
Posted
2 hours ago, cyclinglady said:

General Mills VOLUNTARILY decided to remove the gluten free label on their boxes of Cherrios in Canada.  The dispute seems to be about the testing methods for oats.  General Mills was on a team of researchers, manufacturers, etc.  to help determine safe and valid testing just for oats.  It appears GM gave up.  

Open Original Shared Link

Something happened, but the public does not really know exactly what happened.  It is all behind closed doors (or beyond my sleuthing abilities).  GM did make a public statement about this topic. (Yeah, the kind their Public Relations Department and their building of attorneys created and reviewed).  

Some celiacs do react to oats no matter how they are processed (pure or mechanically sorted).  Best for this Mom to avoid ALL oats for now (even other processed foods containing gluten-free oats).  Test again later with pure gluten-free oats and not sorted.  

Until this is all “sorted” out, I would be leery of many processed foods (e.g. cereal bars) beyond just General Mill’s products.    General Mills made a substantial investment in their mechanically sorted oat equipment and they did not do this for just one of their product lines.  

The botton line is no one really knows what is going on.  Hopefully, we will hear more as time goes on.  

Hi Cyclinglady, 

thanks for the information.  Really interesting.  My understanding here in Switzerland is that the standards are not as high as they are in Australia or the USA for gluten-free labeling...but again I believe this was from the USA. Honestly, I’m so exhausted with having to constantly double check and wonder about some of the little store shop luxuries ( not cooked from mom)  that I am feeding my children.  Here in Switzerland, there are very little options as compared to Australia and the USA and so believe it or not, the Cheerios are luxury! 

3 hours ago, Cara in Boston said:

We've tried them several times and each time, we get sick.  It's a shame because we really liked having this easy option.   Didn't Canada just rule that Cheerios CAN NO LONGER be labeled gluten-free there?

We also stay away from other products that rely on some "system" to remove gluten (like some gluten-free beers).  Just stick with things that have naturally gluten-free ingredients.

I was recently in the hospital for several days and was surprised to see Cheerios on the gluten-free menu. 

Good luck to you and your family-

 

cara

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hollye Rookie
Hollye
  • Author
Posted
4 hours ago, Cara in Boston said:

Hi Cara, 

It is a shame! As I wrote to cyclistlady, I’m tired of always having to be a bit skeptical about food labeling.  Well, my kids can eat oats so I know that’s not the issue.  

Halloween was an absolute nightmare for me as well. I purchased some gluten-free candy from the American website and I’m  also having to rule the candy out....as this is around the time my girls became sick. I purchased both the candy and the Cheerios and they’ve never eaten either before. Well.....actually I’ve  just remembered that my second daughter had normal Wheat Cheerios and blueberries at the same time when she was 8 months old in the USA and had full blown hives which brought her to the pediatrician straight away and then vomiting and diarrhea which prompted another trip. We thought it might have been some chemical on the blueberries.....? she was meant to only have gluten-free foods but my sister hadn’t realized when she visited. Who knows, maybe they are just sensitive to the Cheerios brand...

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hollye Rookie
Hollye
  • Author
Posted
On 9 November 2017 at 10:07 AM, Hollye said:

Hi All,

My my family and I just moved to Switzerland from Australia. As an American expat I was very pleased to find out that I could easily order gluten-free Cheerios for my 3 and 5 year old girls for the first time!

Well...for the past two weeks my girls have been displaying signs of being glutened. They are now having terrible  direahea for the past 2 weeks since I've been feeding them this cereal every other day or so. I've desperately been trying to rule out what is causing this but we are a gluten-free household...Now, I'm just waiting for the poo samples to come back because none of thier kindergarten and play group friends are sick but these test won't reveal gluten poisoning...sadly, I've just stopped the cereal for brekkie.

I am am wondering if anyone here has had any problems with the gluten-free Cheerios as of late?

Thank you!

 

Hi All,

so I have an update - my girls had sammonella poisoning! 

I'm fairly confident now that they were not glutened but I will wait for a while to reintroduce the Cheerios now that I know it's a moot point.

thanks all

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cyclinglady Grand Master
cyclinglady
Posted

Thanks for letting us know.    Sometimes, we just assume that gluten is to blame, and often it is not.  I am so guilty of that.  I kept thinking that  I was getting glutened.  Turns out I can not tolerate Xanthan Gum....still to this day.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hollye Rookie
Hollye
  • Author
Posted
16 hours ago, cyclinglady said:

Thanks for letting us know.    Sometimes, we just assume that gluten is to blame, and often it is not.  I am so guilty of that.  I kept thinking that  I was getting glutened.  Turns out I can not tolerate Xanthan Gum....still to this day.  

 

I know...I find myself always on a gluten witch hunt because I'm so stressed but diligent about my children's health! And yet, they managed to catch salmonella!?! So, Xanathan gum makes you feel glutened? That is very interesting. Sorry to hear this too because it is in nearly everything unfortunately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted
On 11/12/2017 at 2:33 PM, Hollye said:

Hi All,

so I have an update - my girls had sammonella poisoning! 

I'm fairly confident now that they were not glutened but I will wait for a while to reintroduce the Cheerios now that I know it's a moot point.

thanks all

 

I hope your girls are recovering well. Just a quick note that not all celiacs tolerate oats, even gluten free oats. I am one of them. Do wait until they are well healed from the poisoning before trying the cereal again. If possible have them eat it every day for a week without any other new foods. Celiac reactions can be delayed which can make it confusing when we are trying to figure out what got us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

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


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      121,088
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    Aventine
    Newest Member
    Aventine
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      120.3k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • trents
      Recently Diagnosed Celiac- Need advice

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome to the community forum, @Anmol! There are a number of blood antibody tests that can be administered when diagnosing celiac disease and it is normal that not all of them will be positive. Three out of four that were run for you were positive. It looks pretty conclusive that you have celiac disease. Many physicians will only run the tTG-IGA test so I applaud your doctor for being so thorough. Note, the Immunoglobulin A is not a test for celiac disease per se but a measure of total IGA antibody levels in your blood. If this number is low it can cause false negatives in the individual IGA-based celiac antibody tests. There are many celiacs who are asymptomatic when consuming gluten, at least until damage to the villous lining of the small bowel progresses to a certain critical point. I was one of them. We call them "silent" celiacs".  Unfortunately, being asymptomatic does not equate to no damage being done to the villous lining of the small bowel. No, the fact that your wife is asymptomatic should not be viewed as a license to not practice strict gluten free eating. She is damaging her health by doing so and the continuing high antibody test scores are proof of that. The antibodies are produced by inflammation in the small bowel lining and over time this inflammation destroys the villous lining. Continuing to disregard this will catch up to her. While it may be true that a little gluten does less harm to the villous lining than a lot, why would you even want to tolerate any harm at all to it? Being a "silent" celiac is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing in the sense of being able to endure some cross contamination in social settings without embarrassing repercussions. It's a curse in that it slows down the learning curve of avoiding foods where gluten is not an obvious ingredient, yet still may be doing damage to the villous lining of the small bowel. GliadinX is helpful to many celiacs in avoiding illness from cross contamination when eating out but it is not effective when consuming larger amounts of gluten. It was never intended for that purpose. Eating out is the number one sabotager of gluten free eating. You have no control of how food is prepared and handled in restaurant kitchens.  
    • knitty kitty
      14 year old with Celiac & EOE still suffering...

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Forgot one... https://www.hormonesmatter.com/eosinophilic-esophagitis-sugar-thiamine-sensitive/
    • trents
      50 YO Male Recently Diagnosed with Celiac Disease

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome to the forum community, @ekelsay! Yes, your tTG-IGA score is strongly positive for celiac disease. There are other antibody tests that can be run when diagnosing celiac disease but the tTG-IGA is the most popular with physicians because it combines good sensitivity with good specificity, and it is a relatively inexpensive test to perform. The onset of celiac disease can happen at any stage of life and the size of the score is not necessarily an indicator of the progress of the disease. It is likely that you you experienced onset well before you became aware of symptoms. It often takes 10 years or more to get a diagnosis of celiac disease after the first appearance of symptoms. In my case, the first indicator was mildly elevated liver enzymes that resulted in a rejection of my blood donation by the Red Cross at age 37. There was no GI discomfort at that point, at least none that I noticed. Over time, other lab values began to get out of norm, including decreased iron levels. My PCP was at a complete loss to explain any of this. I finally scheduled an appointment with a GI doc because the liver enzymes concerned me and he tested me right away for celiac disease. I was positive and within three months of gluten free eating my liver enzymes were back to normal. That took 13 years since the rejection of my blood donation by the Red Cross. And my story is typical. Toward the end of that period I had developed some occasional diarrhea and oily stool but no major GI distress. Many celiacs do not have classic GI symptoms and are "silent" celiacs. There are around 200 symptoms that have been associated with celiac disease and many or most of them do not involve conscious GI distress. Via an autoimmune process, gluten ingestion triggers inflammation in the villous lining of the small bowel which damages it over time and inhibits the ability of this organ to absorb the vitamins and minerals in the food we ingest. So, that explains why those with celiac disease often suffer iron deficiency anemia, osteoporosis and a host of other vitamin and mineral deficiency related medical issues. The villous lining of the small bowel is where essentially all of our nutrition is absorbed. So, yes, anemia is one of the classic symptoms of celiac disease. One very important thing you need to be aware of is that your PCP may refer you to a GI doc for an endoscopy/biopsy of the small bowel lining to confirm the results of the blood antibody testing. So, you must not begin gluten free eating until that is done or at least you know they are going to diagnose you with celiac disease without it. If you start gluten free eating now there will be healing in the villous lining that will begin to take place which may compromise the results of the biopsy.
    • Anmol
      Recently Diagnosed Celiac- Need advice

      By Anmol · Posted

      Hello all- my wife was recently diagnosed with Celiac below are her blood results. We are still absorbing this.  I wanted to seek clarity on few things:  1. Her symptoms aren't extreme. She was asked to go on gluten free diet a couple years ago but she did not completely cut off gluten. Partly because she wasn't seeing extreme symptoms. Only bloating and mild diarrhea after a meal full of gluten.  Does this mean that she is asymptomatic but enormous harm is done with every gram of gluten.? in other words is amount gluten directly correlated with harm on the intestines? or few mg of gluten can be really harmful to the villi  2. Why is she asymptomatic?  3. Is Gliadin X safe to take and effective for Cross -contamination or while going out to eat?  4. Since she is asymptomatic, can we sometimes indulge in a gluten diet? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deamidated Gliadin, IgG - 64 (0-19) units tTG IgA -  >100 (0-3) U/ml tTG IgG - 4   (0-5) Why is this in normal range? Endomysial Antibody - Positive  Immunoglobulin A - 352 (87-352) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for help in advance, really appreciate! 
    • Tanner L
      Bad Reaction To Regular Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream

      By Tanner L · Posted

      Constantly! I don't want everything to cost as much as a KIND bar, as great as they are.  Happy most of the info is available to us to make smart decisions for our health, just need to do a little more research. 
×
×
  • Create New...