Come, tell me I'm an idiot.

[originalmavis]

I have decided to try to cut down gluten in an elimination experiment at home.

I was doing my shopping and saw some fancy packed porridge oats in the gluten free section, and since we like porridge, bought a box. It cost over £3 for 325g.

On the bus I read the small print on ybe back 'naturally, oats for not contain gluten...'

Those sneaky marketing bastards have struck again. Or are these mgic oats?

Serves me right for not doing my homework I suppose.

From coelic.org

non-contaminated, pure oats are gluten-free. They are safe for most people with gluten-intolerance. The main problem with oats in gluten-free eating is contamination

I suspected it was like when someone has an intollerance to something versus full blown 'it-will-kill-me-if-i-look-at-it' allergy! £3.69 for a tiny amount! The stores own brand stuff is £1.09 per kilo!

Gluten free oats means they haven't be grown alongside oats or processed in a mill that also processes wheat/barley. Cross contamination is big issue with oats because of growing/processing conditions. So it's legit as long as the gluten free oats were grown/processed properly. The extra cost is due to them havign to go to a special factory etc

Owwwwww. They had better taste good!

If you're doing an elimination experiment, it could be helpful with doing that, as you really will be eliminating gluten.

But be aware that even non-contaminated oats cause problems for a small number of coeliacs. The protein in oats, avein, is fairly structurally similar to gluten, the protein in wheat. Some people also react to the protien in corn/maize, called zein, fro similar reasons. Or casein in milk, which is another common-cross reaction for coeliacs. Coffee is another one to be aware of.

When we did a similar experiment, we cut out all grains for a while, then gradually re-introduced all gluten free grains one by one, just to be sure.

I've just made a gluten free loaf from a pack (add water etc ) and its cooling. Is it supposed to so pale, soft and sweet smelling? It's like a cake!