By Jane Anderson – Examined by a board-certified physician.
Can You Eat Oatmeal on a Gluten Free Diet? There are two possible problems with oats. The first is that oats are often cross-contaminated with the gluten grains wheat, barley, and rye considering that they’re all grown in the same fields and collected, kept and processed with the same equipment. That makes it difficult to inform if you’re responding to the oats themselves or to the gluten cross-contamination in the oats.
Gluten Free Diet
You can resolve that problem by purchasing just pure oats grown to be free of that cross-contamination (my article Is Instant Oatmeal Gluten Free? includes some recommendations for safe oat and oatmeal sources).
That brings us to the second possible issue: some people react to oats– even pure, gluten-free oats– the same way they do to gluten grains.
Pure oats don’t consist of the gluten protein that’s responsible for responses in individuals with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. However oats are a close relative of wheat, barley, and rye, and they include a rather similar protein called avenin.
Many people with celiac disease can eat oats with no problem, though a small-but-not-insignificant portion– possibly in the range of 10 to 15 percent– likewise respond to avenin.
So don’t hurry out and start gorging on oatmeal cookies just yet: specialists prompt you to check with your doctor before presenting oats (your doctor most likely will not desire you to try oats unless you’re doing well on the gluten-free diet already), and to begin very slowly.
I’ve seen suggestions for trying a tablespoon or more of pure gluten-free oatmeal initially, simply to see how you do prior to you include more.
If you appear to endure the oats well, you can increase the quantity. The Celiac Sprue Association recommends limiting your oat usage to about 1/2 cup dry oats per day, while the Canadian Celiac Association recommends a somewhat bigger maximum amount– up to 3/4 cups.
( Note that 3/4 cups of dry oats will make a great deal of oatmeal!).
I have non-celiac gluten level of sensitivity; can I eat oats safely?
Unfortunately, that’s not as clear. There just hasn’t been any medical research yet on whether individuals with non-celiac gluten sensitivity respond to oats or not.
Anecdotally, it’s a mixed bag: some individuals with gluten level of sensitivity say they can eat oats just fine, while others say oats make them simply as sick as gluten does. So if you have gluten sensitivity, the only way to understand if you respond to oats or not is to attempt them and see if you get ill.
Just as with individuals who have celiac disease, you should begin with extremely small amounts of pure gluten-free oats and build up slowly, seeing all the time for your normal glutening symptoms.
I’ve heard some varieties of oats are less toxic than others. Is that true?
There’s some brand-new research that hints at this.
A 2011 Spanish research study looked at how parts of the body immune system, called monoclonal antibodies, reacted to the various oat ranges.
The study found that different oat ranges fall into 3 groups: substantial reactivity with monoclonal antibodies (possibly suggesting a body immune system response similar to a gluten response), minor reactivity (potentially suggesting a weaker but still visible immune system response), and no detectable reactivity.
” These differences might describe the various scientific actions [to oats] observed in patients struggling with celiac disease and open a way to determine immunologically safe oat cultivars, which could be used to enhance a gluten-free diet,” the authors concluded.
And an Italian research study used cell samples from individuals with celiac to see how those cells reacted to different oat ranges in test tubes. The study concluded that two oat ranges– Avena genziana and Avena potenza– didn’t provoke significant celiac-specific immune system reactions, a minimum of in the test tube. However the scientists cautioned that both oat ranges did seem to cause some low-level immune system changes in the cell samples.
Research on all this is continuous, but it’s too early to single out specific oat varieties as safer or less safe for us to eat.
Health Tips — Should I Eat Oats or Not?
That’s a question just you can answer (in combination with your doctor). A lot of professionals concur that contaminant-free oats and oatmeal are well-tolerated and safe for the majority of individuals with gluten level of sensitivity. Hardly ever, nevertheless, oat proteins also might affect some individuals, and some ranges of oats might cause more intestinal tract inflammation than others.
If you struggle with gluten-sensitive enteropathy and wish to take in oats, think about following the Canadian Celiac Association’s recommendations, limiting everyday consumption to 70 grams. In addition, some authorities advise regular medical checkups, including small bowel biopsy.
If you do decide to present oats, ensure to purchase just pure gluten-free oats, and don’t overdo it while you’re still identifying how your body reacts.
