'Surprise' gluten?

[FlouncyMcFlouncer]

Hi, I suspect I may have a gluten intolerance. I'm planning to get tested asap, but in the meantime am trying to research a bit. Can anyone tell me of any foods which contain 'unexpected gluten', i.e foods that you would be surprised to find it in? Thanks.

Grated cheese from eating establishments. It often contains flour to stop the cheese from sticking.

Sorry meant to say they put flour in the bag to stop the cheese from sticking to each other.

Gravy as well, my MIL can only have Bisto best

chip shop chips

sometimes the bastards they fry the fish in the same grease

...also anything with barley in it

I call it the Sneaky Grain

Malt vinegar
Soy sauce

I wouldn't have suspected any of those!

I have a couple of friends who are coeliac. Malt vinegar is made from malt (which contains gluten), so you would have to watch out for beer as well. Soy sauce has fermented wheat in it, but you can buy gluten free soy sauce as well. I think Tamari is gf.

You would have to carefully read the labels of all mayonnaises and salad dressings as well in case they are made with malt vinegar.

Malt vinegar is in fact fine for coeliacs because of the fermentation process (see Coeliac UK's website for more info). Soy sauce is definitely NOT ok though which means that a lot of Chinese food is out. Lots of flavoured crisps contain gluten as do certain sweets such as strawberry laces of all things! Just wanted to say that you do need to keep eating gluten regularly until you have the tests done.

Most soups (tomato tends to be fine), crisps/tortilla chips, sausages/meatballs/burgers... i'll think of some more soon!

Vimto :( and other squash-with-barley, instant hot chocolate/malted drinks/horlicks, cream cheese, frozen chips/parsnips...
Some of the above will be fine, others will have gluten in, you have to read the ingredients of everything.

a lot of ketchups/salad cream/brown sauces

BUT if you are going to be tested do NOT go GF in the meantime!!!

Thanks all - I'm off on holiday tomorrow so certainly intend to carry on as normal until I get back at least. Then I thought I'd go to the docs.

You can buy an over the counter blood test kit from Boots to check for coeliacs disease. They are pretty accurate these days.

Are a 'gluten intolerance' and coeliacs disease exactly the same thing? I had it in mind that one was more 'fullblown' than the other?

Coeliac disease is an auto immune disease and can only be treated by avoiding gluten for the rest of your life.

I'm not sure about gluten intolerance though.

check all M&S food- they even have warnings on their crisps these days. And all their innocuous looking rice salads are laced with the stuff the fucking complete and utter bastards

I think gluten intolerance is what the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow have

as for blood tests- they're not madly conclusive, ime. To get a proper result, you need to have a procedure

...would describe it but I have successfully erased it from my mind. Me and dp refer to it as The Event

Cornflakes and rice crispies..!
Stock cubes
Cloudy fruit juices (ffs!)
Lots of chocolate/snack products that have no business having gluten in them!

The list is extensive

I have gluten intolerance; can't eat anything with gluten in or I suffer for 7-14 days with dodgy guts
I had the 'procedure' and I was diagnosed not Coeliac, just intolerant :( Though apparently I have all the right symptoms and even then consultant was surprised the test was negative.

Glucose-fructose syrup can be made with wheat and therefore contain gluten.

It's in lots of foods & drinks.

Cheap Cheese spread, supermarket coke

Some coeliacs are super sensitive (my DS is and cannot tolerate anything with maltodextrin/malt vinegar in) regardless of what coeliac UK say but this is something you will find out by trial and error.

Firstly, the best way to go is to cook everything from scratch. It's the only way to know exactly what you are eating.

Secondly, if you are planning on getting tested, you need to continue eating gluten until the test. If you go gluten free now, the damage will be undone, and a blood test or endoscopy won't find anything.

Oats.
I think anything else I know of has already been mentioned; Tamari is the soy sauce that is gluten free :)

You can get gluten free oats in the Free From aisle at big Sainsbury's. Not all soy contains wheat - it's mainly the soy sauce made over here. In China, it doesn't. How bizarre, is that?

Hmm oats is a difficult one. Our dietician told us to avoid all oats, even pure oats, as some research has shown that the protein in oats is so similar to gluten that it can cause similar damage to the gut but often without the usual symptoms so you don't realise that it's causing you problems. My DD is apparently a 'super sensitive' coeliac too so we definitely have to avoid them.

my dd1 is not coeliac, but is gluten intolerant (and not in a Gwynnie way )

she cannot have oats as the protein is so similar.

raisins were the surprise one for us (and annoying - staple food for little children...) - the glazing agent used to stop them sticking together can often contain wheat starch.

rice crispies another annoying one - something that should be ok, but then has added malt (or is it bran? haven't looke din a long time!). same for cornflakes - check the ingredients as well as the allergy box.