Chapter 4

Grasping the Ground Rules of the Gluten-Free Diet

In This Chapter

Understanding what gluten is

Knowing what you can and can’t eat

Getting a handle on food labels and ingredient panels

Identifying foods you can safely eat

Introducing new grains

Selecting gluten-free alcohol

Ensuring your medicines are gluten-free

Taking into account non-food products

W hether you’re brand new to the wonderful world of gluten-freedom or an old pro who’s been gluten-free for years, this chapter tells you things about the gluten-free diet that may surprise you.

At first glance the diet looks so easy and your doctor may tell you to stop eating gluten as though it’s as simple as cutting the crusts off your bread. Gluten is in wheat, rye, barley and oats — so just avoid those foods, right? If the diet were that simple, we’d be signing off with ‘The End’ or ‘So they lived happily ever … ’ right about now and the book would be finished. No, the diet’s not quite that straightforward, thanks to additives, flavourings, derivatives, fillers, binders and other fancy terms that are really just euphemisms for ‘stuff that may have gluten in it’.

The good news is that the list of things you can eat is a lot longer than the list of things you can’t. Sure, you may have to kiss your favourite pizza goodbye (along with the particular kinds of rolls, bread, biscuits, cakes and pies you’re used to eating and — yup — beer as well).

But you’ll discover a whole new world of gluten-free foods that can take the place of your old favourites — some of which you may never have heard of before, like quinoa (if you read the rest of this chapter, you may even know how to pronounce it). And if you think amaranth is a semi-precious stone and sorghum is what you get when you have your teeth cleaned, now’s the time to learn more about some of the interesting grains and starches available to you on a gluten-free diet.

Don’t be discouraged if you find the guidelines a little overwhelming at first. For some people, learning what’s allowed and what isn’t on a gluten-free diet is confusing and downright frightening. For others, it’s a less dramatic change. And for others still, it’s an exciting new challenge.

Whether you’re a one or a ten on the I’m-overwhelmed-by-this-diet scale, this chapter is crucial because it establishes basic gluten-free guidelines. We outline what is and isn’t gluten-free and why you sometimes have to question a product. We also talk about pharmaceuticals and non-food items that you may or may not need to be concerned about, such as dental products, alcoholic beverages, medications and external products like lotions and shampoos.

Defining Gluten So You Can Avoid It

You have to know what gluten is — and not just so you can be the life of the party, sparking conversations that begin with audacious lines like, ‘So, which do you find harder to avoid? Gliadin, hordein or secalin?’ (Yup, that’ll get the party started, Smooth Talker.) No, you need to know about gluten so you can avoid it (gluten, not the pick-up line).

Gluten is what scientists call a storage protein, what bakers call the dough-forming elastic ingredient in wheat and what some newbies to the gluten-free diet pine away for. Gluten is a group of proteins that technically comes from wheat and only wheat.

Strictly speaking gluten isn’t one thing. It’s a collective name for the proteins in wheat, rye, barley and oats that cause problems for coeliacs. Once the connection between gluten in wheat had been established, back in the 1950s, doctors realised that barley, oats and rye made people sick too, even though they didn’t contain the same proteins. To keep it simple, the term ‘gluten’ was used to loosely describe the various proteins that were causing damage in some people.

The official definition of gluten used by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) states: ‘Gluten means the main protein in wheat, rye, oats, barley, triticale and spelt relevant to the medical conditions of coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis’.

Prolamins are a class of proteins present in a variety of grains and they’re what cause problems for people who can’t eat ‘gluten’. Technically, gluten is made up of the proteins glutenin and gliadin, a specific type of prolamin in wheat. However, gluten has become a general term for any kind of potentially harmful prolamin. The prolamins that cause damage to people with coeliac disease include gliadin (in wheat), secalin (in rye) and hordein (in barley). Other grains have prolamins, too (the prolamin in corn is called zein and the prolamin in rice is orzenin), but their prolamins aren’t toxic to people with coeliac disease. Oats contain a protein called avenin and researchers have found that oats can cause gut damage in some coeliacs, so we say oats contain gluten as well.

Determining Gluten-Free Standards

In Australia and New Zealand a food labelled gluten-free must contain ‘no detectable gluten’, using the most sensitive test method available. The current test used — the ELISA method — can achieve a detection level of 0.0003 per cent, or three parts per million.

Coeliac Australia and gastroenterologists agree that a gluten-free standard of less than 20 parts per million (0.002 per cent) is a safe threshold for people with coeliac disease and are lobbying to have the definition changed. This position is based on scientific evidence and advice from leading experts around the world.

Any food or product you pick up from the supermarket shelf must meet the Australian and New Zealand standard to be labelled gluten-free. We’re fortunate to have rigorous standards and labelling laws, because they take the guesswork — and worry — out of shopping.

Reading and Understanding Food Labels

If a product is labelled gluten-free, either it’s made up of ingredients that are naturally gluten-free or ingredients in which gluten can’t be detected. But gluten is tucked away in all sorts of unexpected places. Is polydextrose gluten-free? What about pilcorn? Triticale? Hominy grits? (Gluten or no gluten, anything called hominy grits doesn’t exactly get you salivating, does it? Well, maybe if you’re a ravenous chook.) And who would guess that buckwheat has no wheat, but licorice may?

Some manufacturers like to have their products endorsed by Coeliac Australia. It’s an added guarantee that the item is gluten-free. Look for the ‘crossed grain’ logo, shown in Figure 4-1, to recognise these products. However, some gluten-free products don’t carry the logo, because Australia’s labelling system is so clear, so don’t limit yourself unnecessarily. On imported products you may see the international ‘crossed grain’ logo.

When you’re first diagnosed, you have a lot to learn. You’ll make mistakes or avoid foods unnecessarily because you think they contain gluten. The safest way to get your facts right is to join Coeliac Australia in your state and get a copy of their Ingredient List. The list contains information on every conceivable ingredient as well as additives, and also has tips for reading labels. A dietitian can also steer you through your initial confusion and help you find alternatives to your favourite foods and products.

To begin with, understanding food labels is a challenge. But you can’t start to understand a label until you’ve tried to read it — and sometimes that’s a whole other challenge in itself. You pick up the packet/jar/carton or whatever and look at the front. No ingredients listed there. You try the back, and then the sides — no ingredients there either. Maybe the label is on the bottom? No luck. So you start all over again, searching more intently. The information has to be there — you know that — but where the dickens have they hidden it? Round and round you go until finally you locate a teeny-weeny section of writing, font size 2, often in the palest of print on a dark background. Aha! You have it! Alas, unless the supermarket is well lit and you have 20/20 vision, you likely won’t be able to read it. And that’s where you’ll learn to develop the ‘coeliac squint’, a highly attractive visual sport. Assistance from specs, magnifying glasses, partners, children and passing shoppers all permitted.

A different challenge awaits the gluten-free shopper when buying health food bars, snack bars or packets of biscuits in stiff wrappers. For some obtuse reason, the ingredient list is usually placed under the fold of the wrapper and invariably in the palest of colours. The art here is to pull the folded section of the wrapper back far enough to read the list, without actually opening the product. No wonder we can’t resist a little hip-hop between the shelves when we find a product with a big, clear ‘GLUTEN-FREE’ on the front.

You need to check labels often. Ingredients change and a product that may have been gluten-free at one time may not necessarily still be gluten-free.

No means no and gluten-free means gluten-free

The first thing to remember is that if a product says on the packaging label GLUTEN-FREE, it contains no detectable gluten. Sometimes you’ll find something in the ingredient list or panel (for example, maltodextrin from wheat) that seems to contradict this GLUTEN-FREE statement. That seems weird, for sure. But the gluten-free label overrides the ingredient listing. It can occur when an ingredient is derived from a gluten-containing source but has been so highly processed that, when tested, gluten simply can’t be detected.

If the words GLUTEN-FREE are NOT present, this doesn’t apply and you need to look right through the ingredients to check.

All ingredients from wheat, rye, barley and oats are shown on the label

All grains that contain gluten and any ingredients that come from these grains MUST be listed in the nutrition panel. The grain itself must be listed (such as wheat, barley and rye). You might read any of these terms:

• Starch from wheat
• Wheat starch
• Contains gluten
• Contains ingredients from wheat
• Modified starch (wheat)

Occasionally the source isn’t listed beside the ingredient, but at the end of the list; for example, Contains ingredients from wheat. So it’s important to read right through the ingredients panel or list.

All sources of gluten must be listed

Don’t get confused or worried when you see ingredients that you think could contain gluten but don’t tell you the source. People who’ve been on the diet for ages get confused here, because in the past a term like ‘starch’ often did indicate gluten. If the source of the grain in ingredients like starch, thickeners, maltodextrin, yeast extract, hydrolised or textured vegetable protein isn’t listed, that means they don’t come from a gluten-containing grain (remember, all gluten must be listed). So, for example, yeast extract, on its own, will be gluten-free, but yeast extract (barley) contains gluten from barley.

What about glucose syrup?

Some ingredients derived from gluten-containing grains are so highly processed that the gluten can’t be detected (the most sensitive test used at present tests to five parts per million of gluten). These ingredients include glucose syrup, dextrose and caramel colour. They’re an exception to the rule. Sometimes you’ll read ‘glucose syrup (from wheat)’, but the glucose syrup has been so highly processed it contains no detectable gluten. So glucose syrup, even with wheat listed in brackets after it, is in the clear at last, along with caramel colour and dextrose. No scientific evidence suggests these ingredients can cause damage in coeliacs. In many cases, manufacturers help you out with this exception by putting a gluten-free label on the product, which overrides the ingredient listing anyway.

Low gluten

The term ‘low gluten’ is permitted under Australia’s food standards code and applies to food with gluten levels up to 200 parts per million. This level is way too high for people diagnosed with coeliac disease and all products labelled ‘low gluten’ should be avoided. Some people with non-coeliac gluten intolerance are able to tolerate small amounts of gluten and low-gluten products may be appropriate for them, depending on their level of sensitivity.

‘May contain traces of gluten’

Sometimes you come across a confusing statement like this on a product. Or you’ll read ‘May Contain Gluten’, ‘Made on the same line as gluten’ or similar. These statements occur where processing aids have been used that may contain gluten, or where a remote possibility exists of contamination. The Australian Food and Grocery Council is currently working to remove this area of confusion. This is a grey area and you need to make your own choice on this one.

Products that have an ‘either/or’ statement — for example, starch (wheat or maize) — are just plain annoying. Manufacturers are encouraged to avoid using this statement and luckily you don’t see it very often. If you see an ‘either/or’ when one of the alternatives contains gluten, don’t buy it. Look for a different brand.

When in doubt, leave it out

If you’re in a situation where you can’t find out whether a product or food contains gluten (your hostess has thrown away the packet of rice crackers, or the chef is no longer on the premises at the restaurant where you’re dining), don’t give in to the thought that it’s probably okay. It may not be okay. For a reminder of what you’re doing to your body when you eat gluten, take a look at Chapter 2, where we talk about associated conditions and serious complications that can develop if you have coeliac disease and eat gluten, even from time to time.

Even if your symptoms are mild or absent, gluten causes serious damage. You’re a lot better off being safe instead of sorry, so follow the Coeliac Golden Rule: When in doubt, leave it out.

Recognising Gluten-Free Foods at a Glance

Keep in mind that you have to become familiar with a lot of ingredients when you’re mastering the intricacies of the gluten-free diet. But also remember that the foods in the lists in this section vary and that they’re only to get you started.

Forbidden grains

We’re not starting with the forbidden grains to be negative — we’re starting with them because the list is a lot shorter than the list of grains you can eat. Here are the grains you need to avoid on a gluten-free diet:

• Barley
• Oats (pilcorn)
• Triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye)
• Rye (pumpernickel)
• Wheat (atta, burghul, dinkel, durum, farina, graham flour, semolina, spelt)

You need to look carefully at anything with the word ‘wheat’ in it. This includes hydrolysed wheat protein, wheat starch and wheatgerm. Wheat grass, like all grasses, is gluten-free, but still not recommended. (Refer to the sidebar ‘Wheat grass and wheat fibres’.)

Here are a few additional details to keep in mind:

• Wheat starch is wheat that’s had most of the gluten, but not all, washed out. In some countries, wheat starch is still permitted on a gluten-free diet. (See Chapter 16 for information about overseas labelling standards.)
• Triticale is a made-up grain — a hybrid of wheat and rye. Inventors developed it to combine the productivity of wheat with the ruggedness of rye, not just to add another grain to your list of forbidden foods.
• Wheat has several names and varieties. Beware of aliases like flour, burghul, semolina, spelt, durum (also spelled duram), graham, farina and couscous. Sometimes marketed as a ‘wheat alternative’, spelt isn’t even remotely gluten-free. Eaten way back in the Bronze Age and later mentioned in the Bible, maybe. But gluten-free? No.
• Wheat just isn’t what it used to be. In fact, in an effort to bring down the cost of commercial baked goods and make wheat slightly more nutritious, some farmers are finding ways to hybridise wheat so it contains more gluten than ever before.
• Derivatives of gluten-containing grains aren’t allowed on the gluten-free diet, either. The most common derivative that you have to avoid is malt, which usually comes from barley. Look carefully when you see malt, malt extract, malt flavouring and malt vinegar. The source of malt must be included in the ingredient list on a product if it comes from a gluten-containing grain. Malt from corn is fine.

Grains and starches you can safely eat

You have lots of choices for gluten-free grains and starches. Even if you’re an old pro who’s been gluten-free for years, some of these may be new to you:

Glutinous rice doesn’t contain gluten! Manufacturers make glutinous rice, or sweet rice or mochi, by grinding high-starch, short-grain rice. Glutinous rice thickens sauces and desserts in Asian cooking and is often the rice used in sushi.

You may run across different names or forms of corn that are gluten-free in addition to plain ol’ corn. They include grits, hominy, masa, masa harina, harinilla (blue corn), atole, maize, polenta and, of course, cornstarch, corn flour, corn bran and cornmeal.

Beware when purchasing cornflour! Some products labelled ‘cornflour’ aren’t made of corn, but wheat starch, which contains gluten. You need to find cornflour that’s labelled gluten-free. Cornflour should come from maize flour, not wheat (cornflour from wheat is often referred to as ‘wheaten cornflour’). To avoid making a mistake when you’re shopping in a hurry, locate a brand of cornflour in your supermarket that comes from maize (sometimes called maize cornflour or maize flour), familiarise yourself with the packet and always stick to that. Very often manufacturers put a GLUTEN-FREE sign on the packet or call it gluten-free cornflour.

Gums, such as xanthan and guar gum, contain no gluten. People use them frequently in gluten-free baked goods because gums help give the spongy, elastic texture that gluten-containing flours usually provide. Guar gum may have a laxative effect in some people.

Other foods that are gluten-free

These foods are gluten-free in their original form. If they’re further processed or contain additives they may not be gluten-free. For example, nuts are gluten-free but are sometimes rolled in spices, which may contain gluten. The gluten will always be listed, however, so it’s just a matter of learning how to identify gluten and getting into the habit of checking labels.

Gluten-free options include the following:

Gluten-free food falls into two categories: Food that’s naturally gluten-free and food that’s specifically prepared for those on a gluten-free diet. You can buy manufactured products such as biscuits, cakes, brownies, breads, crackers, crisps and other treats that have been made with gluten-free ingredients. We talk more about those products and where to buy them in Chapter 8, which covers shopping.

Wheat-free doesn’t mean gluten-free. Something can be wheat-free and still contain, for instance, malt (derived from barley), meaning it’s not gluten-free.

Foods that usually contain gluten

Unless you’re buying special gluten-free products, you can assume the following foods contain gluten:

Organic foods aren’t necessarily gluten-free. Sometimes shop assistants with little or no understanding of gluten will tell you a product is organic as though that’s the end of the matter. But you still need to check for gluten.

In some places, low-gluten communion wafers are available. Although low-gluten products are usually not allowed, a combination of factors means that these wafers are safe — they contain only a tiny amount of gluten, each wafer only weighs ⅕ gram and you aren’t eating them every day. So the total amount of gluten is minuscule. Regular communion wafers aren’t safe.

Exploring Alternative Grains and Superfoods

When it comes to grains beyond corn, wheat and rice, most people don’t know barley from burghul. Actually, a great big world of grains to be explored exists out there, many of which are gluten-free, delicious and loaded with nutritional value.

These grains are called ‘alternative grains’, yet many aren’t grains at all. Instead, they’re grasses, seeds or flowers. Some people also call them superfoods because they’re foods that are super-nutritious. Beware, however, of the hype surrounding some of these new grains. While they’re certainly highly nutritious, they don’t possess the amazing capacities heralded by some advertisers and marketing managers.

Amaranth

Loaded with fibre, iron, calcium and other vitamins and minerals, amaranth is also high in the amino acids lysine, methionine and cysteine, and is a source of protein. A small beadlike grain, amaranth isn’t only nutritious but also delicious, with a pleasant peppery and hearty nutty flavour.

Amaranth isn’t a true cereal grain at all, but a relative of the pigweeds and ornamental flowers called cockscomb. People grow it not only for its seed but also for its leaves, which you can cook and eat as greens. Amaranth can also be toasted for extra flavour. You can even pop some varieties like popcorn, boil and eat them like cereal, or use them in soups or as a side dish. You should always cook amaranth before eating it, because like some other edible seeds, raw amaranth contains compounds that can inhibit the proper absorption of certain nutrients.

Mixing amaranth into your home-baked bread gives it a lovely light texture and a very palatable flavour. You may not be able to use it as successfully in baked desserts, because it can still be rather gritty even after cooking. Soaking the amaranth grains in hot water and draining well before cooking helps overcome this.

For centuries, the Aztec culture depended on amaranth and believed it had mystical powers that could bring strength and power even to the weakest of people. The name means ‘not withering’ or, more literally, ‘immortal’. Although amaranth may not make you immortal, it’s extremely nutritious — and gluten-free.

Arrowroot

Arrowroot was once revered by the ancient Mayans and other inhabitants of Central America as an antidote to poison arrows. People use it in cooking as a thickener for soups, sauces and confections.

An easily digested and nutritious starch, arrowroot is a fine, white powder with a look and texture similar to that of cornstarch. The translucent paste has no flavour and sets to an almost clear gel. You can use arrowroot in gluten-free cooking or as a thickening agent to replace maize cornflour, although it thickens at a lower temperature and its consistency doesn’t hold as long after cooking. The superfine grains are easy to digest, making arrowroot a perfect ‘invalid’ food. In fact, arrowroot biscuits are one of the first solid foods often given to babies (but beware — manufacturers usually add wheat flour to arrowroot biscuits, so they’re not gluten-free).

Buckwheat (soba)

The fact that buckwheat is gluten-free often confuses people — after all, buckwheat has the word ‘wheat’ in the name. But buckwheat isn’t even related to wheat; in fact, it’s not even a true cereal grain. It’s a fruit, a distant cousin of garden-variety rhubarb. The buckwheat seed has a three-cornered shell that contains a pale kernel known as a groat. In one form or another, groats have been around since the 10th century BC.

High in lysine, which is an amino acid lacking in many traditional grains, buckwheat contains several other amino acids — in fact, this grain has a high proportion of all eight essential amino acids, which the body doesn’t make but still needs to keep functioning. In that way, buckwheat is closer to being a complete protein than many other plant sources. It’s also high in many of the B vitamins, as well as the minerals phosphorus, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese and zinc. And buckwheat’s a good source of linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid.

Whole white buckwheat is naturally dried and has a delicate flavour that makes it a good stand-in for rice or pasta. Cooks often use buckwheat in pancakes, biscuits and muffins — but be aware that manufacturers often combine buckwheat with wheat in those products, so you have to read the labels carefully before buying buckwheat products. In Japan, people often make buckwheat into soba, or noodles, which sometimes — but not always — have wheat flour as well.

Millet

Not a grain at all, millet is actually a grass with small, round, ivory and yellow kernels that swell when you cook them. Millet supplies more servings per kilogram than any other grain.

Millet is packed with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. High in iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium, it’s also loaded with fibre and protein as well as the B-complex vitamins, including niacin, thiamine and riboflavin. Millet is more alkaline (it has a higher pH — we talk more about acidic and alkaline foods in Chapter 6) than many traditional grains and digesting it is very easy.

Millet has been a staple food in Africa and India for thousands of years, and people grew it as early as 2700 BC in China, where it was the prevalent grain before rice became the dominant staple. Today, millet is still a significant part of the diet in northern China, Japan, Manchuria and various areas of the former Soviet Union, Africa, India and Egypt. Grown today in Western countries mostly for cattle and bird feed, millet is gaining popularity as a nutritious, delicious part of the human diet as well.

Quinoa

Quinoa (pronounced keen wah) — and also called hie (pronounced he-uh) — is yet another of the grains that isn’t really a grain; it’s actually a fruit and a relative of the common weed lambsquarter. The US National Academy of Science describes quinoa as ‘the most nearly perfect source of protein from the vegetable kingdom’.

Like other superfoods and alternative grains, quinoa is packed with lysine and other amino acids that make it a complete protein. It’s also high in phosphorus, calcium, iron, vitamin E and assorted B vitamins, as well as fibre. Quinoa is usually pale yellow in colour, but it also comes in pink, orange, red, purple and black.

Because the uncooked grains are coated with saponins that act as a natural repellent for insects and pests, most suppliers suggest you wash the quinoa thoroughly before use. Saponins are harmless for humans unless consumed in very large doses. However, they may create a rather bitter aftertaste. Recent research suggests that saponins may have a number of health benefits and quinoa should only be lightly rinsed to remove any extraneous matter. But it’s too early to be sure of the many health benefits claimed. Some brands of quinoa have already been rinsed, which will be stated on the label.

Although new to Australians, people in the South American Andes have cultivated quinoa since at least 3000 BC. Ancient Incas called this annual plant ‘the mother grain’ because it was self-perpetuating and ever-bearing.

They honoured it as a sacred food product, because a steady diet appeared to ensure a full, long life; the Inca ruler himself planted the first row of quinoa each season with a golden spade.

Sorghum

Sorghum is another of the oldest known grains (that isn’t a true cereal grain) and it’s been a major source of nutrition in Africa and India for centuries. Sorghum is generating excitement as a gluten-free insoluble fibre and is probably best known for the syrup that comes from one of its varieties. It’s also known as milo, jowar, jowari or cholam.

Because the proteins and starches in sorghum are more slowly digested than those of other cereals, it may be beneficial to diabetics (and healthy for anyone). It’s high in iron, calcium and potassium, and doctors actually used to prescribe it as a supplement for people low in these nutrients.

Some cooks suggest combining sorghum with soy flour. Sorghum is also fermented and used in alcoholic beverages.

Sorghum and millet are both rich in a group of compounds called nitrilosides. Some people notice a correlation between high nitriloside intake and low cancer rates, leading some to speculate that nitrilosides may actually help fight or prevent cancer. For instance, in Africa, where as much as 80 per cent of the diet consists of high-nitriloside-yielding foods, the cancer incidence is very low.

Teff

Don’t be put off by the dark colour of this highly nutritious grain. Teff, the tiniest of all grains and loaded with calcium, iron and protein, packs a nutritional punch well above its weight. It has been a staple of Ethiopian cooking for centuries and tastes good as a porridge, can be used in biscuits, bread and in vegie burgers or used as a replacement for polenta. You can buy it as flour, or a wholegrain.

Happy Hour — Choosing Your Alcoholic Beverages

Happy hour isn’t quite so happy for some people on a gluten-free diet. Although alcoholic drinks are usually gluten-free, most beers aren’t. But things are looking up and gluten-free beers are increasingly available in pubs and liquor shops. And you can even make your own gluten-free home brew. Some brew-it-yourself kits and recipes are available on the internet too. A quick search should turn up several options.

Drinks in general have an ingredient statement, but alcoholic beverages aren’t required to include ingredient information.

Cheers to these

The list of gluten-free alcoholic beverages is way longer than the list of bevies that are off-limits. Other forms of alcoholic beverages may be gluten-free in addition to these, but this list covers the basics of the booze you can use:

• Bourbon
• Brandy
• Cider (very occasionally contains malt from barley, so be careful)

• Cognac
• Gin
• Rum
• Schnapps
• Tequila
• Vodka
• Whisky (and malt whisky)
• Wine (and sparkling wine or champagne)

Distilled spirits are safe on a gluten-free diet, even malt whisky. Even though some spirits are produced from wheat, rye or barley, they undergo a distillation process that ensures protein (gluten) isn’t carried over into the final product.

Whisky, rum, brandy, port, sherry and some liqueurs can include caramel colour from glucose syrup, but this contains no detectable gluten (even if it comes from wheat — refer to ‘What about glucose syrup?’, earlier in this chapter).

People still worry that whisky can contain gluten. If you love your malt whisky and you’re worried about reports that it can contain gluten, because gluten can be added after the distillation process, worry no more. By definition, malt whisky must not have anything added after distillation.

Step away from the bottle

Very few alcoholic beverages contain gluten. They include (but may not be limited to)

• Alcoholic cider (in very rare cases) — if concerned, you may need to ring the manufacturer to find out, because alcoholic beverages don’t usually have ingredient information
• Beer (except gluten-free beers)

The distillation process completely eliminates any traces of gluten, which is why you can safely enjoy alcoholic beverages made from distilled alcohol, even if they come from a gluten-containing source like wheat.

Making Sure Your Medications and Supplements Are Safe

Remember, anything that you swallow can cause problems if it’s not gluten-free — even a tiny little pill, because you may be taking one or more every day for a lengthy period of time. Very few medications contain gluten, and it’s now a simple matter to find out if yours are gluten-free.

Sometimes pharmaceuticals do contain gluten, usually in the form of wheat starch. In Australia and New Zealand all therapeutic goods, whether prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, herbal or homeopathic remedies, must provide allergenic listings either on the product itself or in a package insert.

Some types of malaria tablets contain gluten — don’t get so carried away with the packing frenzy for your overseas trip that you forget to ask your doctor when he or she is prescribing.

Get into the habit of asking your GP to check for gluten whenever a medication is prescribed for you. Many doctors may remember to do this automatically if you’re a regular patient. If you forget until you’re at the pharmacy, your pharmacist may be happy to check for you, or simply search online using the name of the medication and find a copy of the product insert.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Make a list of the over-the-counter products you commonly use that are gluten-free and keep the list in your medicine cabinet or cupboard. Painkillers, fever-reducers, cold medications and anti-inflammatories, for instance, are usually gluten-free — but you don’t want to be wondering about it at 1.00 am when your child’s earache is keeping him — and you — up.
• Write ‘GF’ in permanent marker on the medication container to remind you later that it is gluten-free.

Using Non-Food Products: What You Need to Know

You may get a lot of conflicting information about non-food products and whether you need to be concerned. You may hear that you need to beware of plastic storage containers, lipsticks, lotions, shampoos, toothpaste, envelopes, stamps, glues … what’s a gluten-freebie supposed to do?!

You certainly don’t have to worry about plastic storage containers, pots and pans, envelopes or stamps. The following sections let you know where you could have a concern.

Play-Doh has gluten in it. We know you’re not supposed to eat it, but show us a preschooler who hasn’t had a nibble or ten. Let your child’s teacher or carer know that Play-Doh is a risk and ask them to be extra vigilant when your child is at the craft table if this product is being used. Many recipes for gluten-free playdoughs are available and adding a hefty amount of salt to a homemade mix will also deter compulsive nibblers.

Make-up matters

A few long-lasting lipsticks have wheat in them, but you can ask to see the ingredient details. These will be available at the point of sale so you can choose a product that’s safe. You don’t need to worry about regular lipsticks, lip balms, lip gloss or other make-up.

Lotions and potions

Coeliacs have a problem with gluten in the small bowel, and products used on the skin — such as lotions, creams or conditioners — don’t move through to the bowel. Lotions and potions can affect people with allergies or intolerances, however.

Coming unstuck on glues

Some of the older glues still on the market contain wheat — the claggy sort often called ‘paste’ used for children’s craft activities. Very few of these are still available and you can avoid the problem by using a glue-stick instead — and cut down on the mess at the same time.

Getting the drill on dental products

The drill on dental products? Well, you have no pain here. Products used by your dentist, like polish, fluoride or other dental agents don’t contain gluten. No-one has ever found dental products, such as toothpaste and mouthwashes to contain gluten either.