We’ve all been in a situation like this: “I am very sensitive to gluten … one day I had only fruit and a 20 ounce coke … and got sick within fifteen minutes of drinking the coke”.

The Gluten Free Guy’s response: I wish there was some way to tell exactly what has caused an unpleasant reaction. Generally, we can’t even be certain that a specific problem was caused by gluten. We have to go with our instincts. Everyone has foods and combinations of foods that they choose to avoid.

The comment in the first paragraph was linked to an article titled “Is Coca Cola Gluten Free?” Coke contains caramel coloring, which certainly makes it ‘suspicious’. The Coca Cola company claims that it obtains its syrup from an gluten free source. Some people will accept that claim, some people will not.

One reader’s question:  Why does Canada not consider oats a problem? Is it because of different growing/storage practices?

Paul’s comment: Oats are definitely a problem, but the official Canadian definition of gluten free specifies that it is a problem with a solution. Most exports agree that the problem is not the gluten in oats but that the fact that they are usually grown, harvested, and processed in close proximity to wheat, barley, or rye. Oats are considered “certified” if they have been grown and processed in such a way that adding them product does not cause the product to have more than the prescribed number of parts-per-million of  gluten.

The United States does not, as yet, have an official definition of “gluten” but our Food and Drug Administration seems to be going in that direction.

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This is the first in a series of articles that I am calling “Questions and Comments”.  I am using the word ‘comment’ rather than ‘answer’ because these articles will bring up question where there is not total agreement as to a single correct answer. I welcome your comment on my comment or about the  place of oats in the gluten free diet. E-mail me at gfceliac.com@gmail.com. I will publish “Questions and Comments” every Friday.