Can this particular wheatflour be tolerated by coeliacs & NCGI sufferers?

[Glutenhead]

Hi all,

I'm new here and am wondering if anyone can throw some light on the following conundrum.

I suffer from severe NCGI - with all the usual digestive problems and fatigue occuring when I am "glutened" - and have been following a gluten free diet for about a year now.

However, although I cannot eat the usual gluten containing foods such as bread, pies, cakes, breakfast cereals, etc - strangely I CAN eat large servings of ready-made supermarket trifle (which contains a sponge made from wheat flour) without any adverse effects whatsoever.

I'm very happy about this as I love trifle, but I'm curious as to why trifle should be the exception to the rule.

According to the ingredients list, the wheat flour used in the trifle is enriched with Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin & Thiamin.

So, I'm wondering if the enrichment process in some way nullifies the gluten in the flour, or if there is some other explanation for my ability to tolerate the gluten.

Does anyone else who is coeliac or NCGI have a similar happy experience with trifle or indeed any other gluten containing food? I'd love to know.

[Ruthi]

I think you are just staying below your gluten threshhold, and if you overdid the trifle you would suffer! That being said I can manage the odd croissant when in France (where my daughter lives) without paying for it. They use different wheat, and more critically, have far fewer junky additives.

Have you come across DPPIV? That helps when you are cheating. In fact helps me because almost all GF flours give me heartburn but much less with that.

[Penel]

Hi Glutenhead

The additives in the flour will not nullify the gluten but as Ruthi has said, perhaps the level of gluten is low. You may not feel any effects but the gluten can still be causing damage. It's not a good idea to "cheat" if you should be eating gluten free.

[poing]

If you can tolerate large helpings of trifle then maybe gluten isn't your main problem after all. Have you considered FODMAPs? It's an acronym for all kinds of fermentable carbohydrates - and wheat is very high in a type of FODMAP called fructans.

One way to check this out would be to try Fria bread - it's made from wheat starch with the gluten washed out. It's classified as safe for coeliacs. If you react to Fria bread, then that would tell you that it's the starch component that's the problem rather than the gluten.

My other slightly off-the-wall theory is that trifle is made from gelatin, which is supposed to be very good for the gut. Gelatin is high in the proteins used to build skin and membranes in the body. Maybe the gelatin is helping your gut be less reactive to wheat/gluten? What happens if you include more gelatin in your diet?

[Jacks]

How does your medic react when you say you can only eat trifle?