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Wheat derivatives

RoseRed profile image
14 Replies

I am posting a link to a wheat industry site which was used to promote non labelling of wheat derivatives.

Useful to me, I hope as it confirms those products I suspected I was allergic to such as citric and acetic acids, but also names a few more which I shall be wary of.

starch.eu/wp-content/upload...

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RoseRed profile image
RoseRed
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14 Replies
ianwoowoo profile image
ianwoowoo

Very interesting read! Amazing where these derivatives crop up. Thanks for posting.

Venetia profile image
Venetia

Thanks for that, it explains why I was not feeling well last year,

Have gone back to basic non gluten containing foods and feel a different person, energy back and no nausea. potatoes do for carbs.

this is massive industry now and we can tell them we won't buy unless it is properly gluten free, when it affects profit things change

Hil101 profile image
Hil101

As someone who suffers with ill-effects from these allegedly 'safe' products, and who welcomes labelling of derivatives so that I know what to avoid, I am disgusted at how the whole thing is minimalised. It seems that the fact that most people are ok with something means that the rest of us should be left to suffer ill effects. If Coeliac UK didn't collude with this approach, we would at least have a voice supporting us. As it is, we remain ill. How many people diagnosed with 'refractory coeliac' and made to undergo invasive testing and take immuno-suppressant drugs might actually not be ill if they were given an honest account of all the sources of gluten? I have had a Royal Free Hospital dietician sneer at me for saying that glucose syrup and the like affect me, at a time when she was unable to explain my raised antibodies while eating a gluten free diet! It sometimes feels like nobody is on our side despite the advances of the last decade.

urbangirl profile image
urbangirl in reply to Hil101

Absolutely agree! I have had heated discussions with people in the health/diet industry about glucose syrup and dismissed as irrelevant because there is lack of research and baffled with scientific explanations, and my symptoms are possibly due to something else.

Last Friday I felt so down (like many others) I craved a sugar rush. I know this was an irresponsible thing to do knowing that they contain glucose syrup and I react big time to this, but I bought some fruit pastilles and really enjoyed the immediate effects! I unrealistically hoped I would be okay but I spent two days recovering - my own fault.

I've read that sometimes glucose syrup does not contain wheat but this is not identified on labelling and I don't know how this info could be conveyed.

Hil101 profile image
Hil101 in reply to urbangirl

I love the way they seem to assume that we are playing up the effects of food, as though we have something to gain by 'putting it on'! It's like the old hysterical woman thing. However, I imagine the food industry saves a fortune by using glucose syrup and has a lot vested in this not being challenged. I find Lindt white chocolate has no ill effects and deals nicely with a need for sugar. Also Twirl bars and old-fashioned coltsfoot rock if you can find it.

urbangirl profile image
urbangirl in reply to Hil101

Thanks for the tips. I very rarely eat chocolate or sweets as I try to control my sugar intake but I would love to occasionally eat coltsfoot rock. Wonder where I could get this? Many of these retro sweetshops tend to use glucose syrup don't they?

Hil101 profile image
Hil101 in reply to urbangirl

See online 'The Traditional Sweetshop' - ingredients 'sugar, liquorice extract, gelatine, flavouring: coltsfoot extract'. Hope you aren't a vegetarian. You're right, most sweets do use glucose syrup. It took me so long to work out why so-called 'gluten free' Haribos made me ill when they were listed as gf!

Kelly1064 profile image
Kelly1064 in reply to Hil101

Im hearing you.

Ive had the same experience.

RoseRed profile image
RoseRed

I absolutely agree, although I have a wheat allergy and not CD I have been made very ill by minuscule amounts of wheat. I also find the arrogant self interest of these food manufacturers appalling. I hope this list (which judging by the ...s at the end of each section, is not complete) is useful to others.

Rosered

Hodge profile image
Hodge

I am the wife of a sufferer of CD and still find this very confusing!! I thought food labels had now changed and had to list Wheat, Gluten etc. Is that not right? My husband pays for a book from Coeliacs uk with foods approved but over the past few years it's got smaller and smaller with shops like Asda etc that list their products. THIS IS SO CONFUSING. I didn't really understand the document. Maybe its just me. But maybe my husband will so thank you for making people aware.

Hil101 profile image
Hil101 in reply to Hodge

Many 'gluten free' products are derived from wheat but if it weighs in at less than 20ppm they don't need to declare it here (unlike some other countries). So you still need to read the label. Coeliac UK handbook contains foods with lots of ingredients that make me ill. Ones to watch for are glucose syrup (OK if it's made from maize but in Europe it's generally from wheat), caramel colouring E150 (mostly from from wheat here). It's contained in many balsamic vinegars, some 'gf' soy sauce - Tamari- and most dark coloured sauces. Also where you see hydrolized vegetable protein. Worth also considering eggs -it's impossible to buy eggs from checkens not fed on gluten grains. Many coeliacs are lucky and aren't affected by these traces of gluten but some are.

Hodge profile image
Hodge in reply to Hil101

Thank you so much for explaining that maybe that explains why my husband is sometimes slightly ill as this book is his Bible and annoys me as I check labels and he insists that the book wouldn't have anything bad in it that upsets him. He often won't eat things I've read labels on that say are safe! Makes shopping difficult as I'm a Diabetic so we're a right pair! The chicken thing is interesting too as he often eats egg whites to build up ( he like weight training the old way) and has remarked that something has made him a bit bad tummy wise toilet wise I mean yet I know he's eaten nothing, but thinking it could be eggs! Thank you for posting this back to me. Kind regards Tracy

Hil101 profile image
Hil101 in reply to Hodge

You're welcome, Tracy. I never bother with the directory these days but just read labels. I don't touch anything that says 'may contain traces of gluten' or dextrose, maltodextrin, malt vinegar or hydrolysed vegetable protein unless the source is stated. But some coeliacs can tolerate dextrose etc. You just have to experiment. My partner's a vegetarian so we're a right pair, too! Good luck. Hilary

RoseRed profile image
RoseRed

I think manufacturers of products such as liquid glucose and dextrose would say that their processes remove almost all traces of gluten. This is probably true, however many people with CD are sensitive to these trace amounts. I do not suffer from CD but have a severe wheat allergy and many of the products on the list make me ill. Not as ill as I would be after a miniscule amount of wheat in bread, but ill enough that I suffer from multiple symptoms for at least a fortnight.

Hope that helps, though I must say that many people on this forum have a much better understanding than me of how the body reacts in CD and with a wheat allergy.

Another irony is that not always do these products derive from wheat. Often corn or potato is the starch base, but if not labelled as such I dare not chance it.

Cheers

Rosered

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