Math Help Needed to Work out Gluten C... - Gluten Free Guerr...

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Math Help Needed to Work out Gluten Content of a Product!

18 Replies

Got a major math problem.

A crisp product has 10ppm gluten per 45gm bag.

Really struggling to figure out how many milligrams of gluten I have eaten as a result of this.

Can any maths savvy folk on here help me do the maths on this one?

Thank you in advance.

18 Replies
philaustin profile image
philaustin

assuming its 10 parts per million by weight I think the answer is 10/1000000 x 45 gm = 0.00045 gm, or 0.45 mg.

philaustin profile image
philaustin in reply to philaustin

If you drank a pint if gluten free cider with those crisps and the cider weighed 440 gm, the total mass would be 495 gm. You would still only have consumed 0.45mg of gluten, so the ratio by weight of the mixed up cider and crisps in your gut would only be 0.00045/495 = 0.909 parts per million. Might need to check my maths but the question is, does the parts per million required to gluten you apply to the mixture in your gut or just the crisps? I never understood this.

in reply to philaustin

It's the ppm per the actual food product. So, the legal allowance is 20mg of gluten for 1kg of food weight. In the case of the crisps, trying to work out the actual mgs of gluten per bag, if that makes sense.

in reply to philaustin

Excellent, thank you for that. Have no idea why the maths on this one has stumped me so much! Thank you for that calculation.

nellie237 profile image
nellie237

I hope that it doesn't affect you too much. Which brand were they ?

in reply to nellie237

I actually feel ok, and don't think it actually had any effect, but it's more just curiosity as to how much gluten I consumed, and trying to work out the reality of how much the gluten content of the ppms impacts in a cumulative sense. I'm seeing things online that state we can eat up to 50mg gluten per day with no effect, and other sites stating any more than 0.04 or thereabouts is enough to cause damage. I figured trying to work out how many mgs in this bag of crisps would be a good reference point, but my maths are terrible!!

nellie237 profile image
nellie237 in reply to

Glad you feel OK. That makes sense. I'm curious too.😊

CATRYNA49 profile image
CATRYNA49

For all intents and purposes any processed and or boxed product is a big NO for me. Not just because it may have gluten, but because it's junk food and for those of us with compromised guts, junk food has no place in our diet.

in reply to CATRYNA49

Very wise words. I'm a martyr to junk food at times, but appreciate I sail close to the wind in chancing it.

MTCee profile image
MTCee

I wish you well but if it were me, I’d avoid all crisps. I had a packet of seabrooks gluten free crisps as a treat a week ago and spent the following week in great pain as a result. I’m guessing that the gluten content of your crisps will be a guesstimate at best, so even if you manage to work out the gluten content it’s likely not going to be accurate. I’m personally so fed up of trying food that’s been labelled as gluten free and ending up sick afterwards. It makes me avoid all processed foods now.

in reply to MTCee

Sorry to hear that didn't work out well. Seabrooks are great at promoting their gluten free status, but too many dodgey ingredients for my liking. They seem big on the yeast extract which I'm pretty sure is byproduct of beer brewing. I struggle to get my head around the fact that pretty much very few people with coeliac seem to be able to tolerate 'gluten free' food. It's utterly bonkers. I think if the law changes regarding the 20ppm and it gets reduced to no measurable gluten there would be very few, if any, products left in the 'free from' sections.

MTCee profile image
MTCee in reply to

I think you’re right about it being the yeast extract. That would make sense. I’m still getting pains after two weeks now, so I suppose it’s a lesson learnt.

in reply to MTCee

Shouldn't have to be a lesson learnt though. We're treated as experimental guinea pigs and kept ill by food producers chasing to turn a profit out of coeliac with complete disregard to the health damage they are impacting on with crap products that work for no one but them and the idiot coeliac charity that pretends to advocate for coeliacs. I geniunely feel so angry at times about what we are expected to put up and shut up with. I've seen calls for CUK to be shut down, and I have certainly championed that assertion. Get rid of that money grubbing cult that is a liability for everyone with coeliac.

MTCee profile image
MTCee in reply to

I suppose as long as the law says it’s ok to have 20ppm of gluten in gluten free products, manufacturers won’t bother to change. All we can do is avoid them and not trust anything processed, no matter what the claims. My stomach and intestines would add a lot more swear words if they could though.....

in reply to MTCee

I hear you!

in reply to MTCee

I can't eat Seabrooks either, or any brand of crisps. I had email exchange with Seabrooks and ended up copying Coeliac UK in as Seabrooks have the cross grain symbol. They suggested I stick to the salt-only ones, but even they cause me issue. I'm not sure if they make something else in their factory, other than their own crisps, but unclear, if only crisps, where the gluten in getting in as all/most of their products are gluten free. It's like they take perfectly gluten free ingredients and add in some gluten during production. How you can 'f' up a potato, some sunflower oil and a bit of salt to produce something that makes coeliacs ill is beyond me. They were very nice in responding to me, but it seems they have been brainwashed into the CUK cult of repeating the 20ppm mantra, and then accusing anyone who has issue with it as being in some sort of super-sensitive minority. Such a shame as it's a good Northern brand - if they listened to their customers, not CUK, they would have a healthier product and happier customers.

MTCee profile image
MTCee in reply to

Glad to know it’s not just me but sorry that you have the same problem. As you say, turning something naturally gluten free into something coeliacs can’t eat is quite mad.

in reply to MTCee

I would actually like to write to someone like Seabrooks and say can I come visit your factory to see how you are managing to 'f' up so badly on your crisps.

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