Gluten Free Tips

Checking Food Labels for Gluten
When you first received diagnosis of Coeliac Condition for yourself or your child, you may quickly grasp the fact that wheat, oats, barley and rye products are to be avoided in order to comply with a gluten-free diet. However, there are a number of obscure ingredients around which are more difficult to spot when reading food labels and trawling through recipe books.

The following ingredients are made from grains, so I would recommend you avoid them if you want to be gluten free. They are: vegetable gum, flour, cereal, malt or malt flavoring, vegetable protein, soysauce, malt extract and modified starch. Unless, of course it is labeled clearly (i.e. modified cornstarch, or tamari soysauce – these are gluten-free).

One cereal where opinion is divided is on oats. It is recommended that if you are newly diagnosed that you do avoid oats during the first 6 months of starting the gluten-free diet. After then, if you desire, you can slowly introduce the oats and see if you can tolerate them. Oats are in theory gluten-free. However, oats are often grown on fields which have wheat grown on them in previous years – which leads to cross-contamination in some cases. Also, if you are very sensitive to gluten – i.e. you vomit within hours of ingesting gluten, then it is also recommended that you avoid oats.

Another ingredient to look out for in checking Food Labels for gluten is malt extract – an ingredient in many breakfast cereals. Whilst the gluten levels in malt extract are microscopic, and tolerated by most coeliac patients, it is wise to avoid it if you are very sensitive to gluten.

Soy Sauce is another difficult one to get one’s head around on a food label. How can something black and liquid contain wheat (i.e. gluten)! Also, one assumes that Japanese, Chinese and Thai cooking would be suitable for coeliacs as no flour is used in these cuisines, meats and vegetables are stir-fried and there is an absence of thick sauces and gravies. Most thickening is done by coconut milk and coconut cream. Rice (a gluten-free cereal) is the staple for these countries. However, soy sauce is used abundantly to season and flavor the dishes. Tamari Soy Sauce is gluten free, so it is worth investing in a bottle so that you can still cook your favorite Asian dishes! When eating out, just ask for the dishes to be made without the soysauce?. Indian food is also quite suitable for coeliacs; as long as you steer away from the chapattis and Nan-bread?. Indian cuisine uses chickpea flour to bind (i.e. Onion Bhajjis) ingredients and sauces are again thickened with coconut cream/milk.

With knowledge Food Labels will become less of a challenge and you can ensure that your food is gluten free.