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Coeliacs and Oats
A Personal Testimony
(This was written before we discovered the new EU regulations (JANUARY 2009) on labeling. The EU food and label regulators have concluded by law that oats do not contain gluten and are safe for coeliacs if they do not have wheat contamination. All of our products listed under the section For Coeliacs have been tested and certified gluten free.)
In 1984, I was diagnosed with sprue. In 1986, I was clinically diagnosed with coeliac disease through biopsy and symptomatic allergic reactions at the University of Washington School of Medicine. At that time I was an invalid with massive allergies (food and environmental), severe weakness, and major autonomic dysfunction. At first it was thought that I had MS, since the myelin sheath of my nerves was breaking down.
My interest in coeliacs and oats is based upon personal experience. I know what it is like to have a severely limited diet. I was intolerant of most foods of any kind. The only grain I could eat was oats. Today I am basically free from any symptons of coeliac disease and I am in remission from loss of the myelin sheath of my nerves. I can now eat wheat without symptoms, especially fresh milled whole grain wheat. We offer several gluten free products and corn (naturally gluten free) for those who need to eliminate gluten from their diets. But we also would like to present the evidence that coeliacs can also eat oats.
Disclaimer: The information on this web site should not replace the advice of your local physician and health care professionals. Each individual coeliac and their families should evaluate known research and come to their own conclusions. Each individual coeliac has unique reactions and responses that must be taken into consideration. If you react to pure oats, then you should avoid them.
Here’s the situation: Until recently, official bodies that regulate advice to coeliacs have told coeliacs to avoid oats. Several of these sites have recently added pure oats to their safe list (i.e. celiac.com and coeliac.org.uk), but many people, doctors and a few nutritionists and dieticians are not aware of the more recent research and advice from official bodies. Significant research indicates that coeliacs can indeed eat oats which provides a very important source of grain nutrients missing in the coeliac's diet.
A closer look: A closer look at the research suggests that one of the main reasons that coeliacs have trouble with oats is because of cross contamination of wheat into oats from the farm, harvesting, storage or during the processing of grains.
Look at the following links:
Now coeliac.org.uk endorses uncontaminated oats for the coeliac diet.
The following article in the British Medical Journal concludes that it is not only OK for adult coeliacs to eat oats, but that it provides an important nutritional addition to gluten free diets.
British Medical Journal Article
The following link from research in Sweden indicates that most newly diagnosed children may eat oats with no complications.
Randomised double blind study on children with coeliac disease
Try this link on oats, health benefits and coeliacs!
The World’s Healthiest Foods
Our conclusions:
1. Freshly milled oats contain natural oils and the external bran is still oily and soft. Although we have not found any clinical research concerning freshly milled oats versus processed porridge oats, one important role of grain bran is to cleanse the digestive system and sensitive celia of the small intestine.
2. Recent research in Britain and the EU indicates that pure oats are not only tolerated by coeliacs, but are an important part of the nutrition and health of the coeliac.
3. The only way to ensure there is no cross contamination in your oats is to buy your oat groats unflaked and prepare them in your own kitchen. You can see the difference between unflaked oat groats and wheat grain. If you purchase a flaker, we can send some samples of wheat grain if you request it. We flake oats weekly and have never found wheat in our oat groats. But you should examine the oat groats you flake for any cross contamination before serving to a coeliac. The porridge oats at your superstore have cross contamination with wheat unless they are labled gluten free.
4. Testing for wheat contamination in products containing flaked oats does not ensure there is no wheat in the product. Flaked oats are not distributed through a batch of food like powdered ingredients. You would have to test every item produced which is impossible.
5. Every coeliac and their families are ultimately responsible for determining whether or not to include oats in their diets. A very small percentage of coeliacs and the general public are allergic to oats, which is a different issue than gluten intolerance.