|
Ceoliacs and Oats
A Personal Testimony
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 cured of coeliac disease and I am in remission from loss of the myelin sheath of my nerves. I can now eat wheat without symptoms. 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: Some official bodies that regulate advice to coeliacs tell coeliacs to avoid oats. Some of these sites have recently added pure oats to their safe list (i.e. celiac.com) Significant research indicates that coeliacs can indeed eat oats which provides a very important source of grain nutrients missing in the coeliacs diet. Thus much controversy exists about coeliacs and oats.
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 during the processing of grains. The advising bodies admit the controversy, but they have to play it safe and protect themselves against litigation. The safest route is avoiding oats.
An even closer look: Oat contamination with wheat is a major part of the problem with oats for the coeliac. USA research and EU research seems to differ on research findings. The largest supplier of raw oat groats (those we sell at grains2mill.co.uk) in the EU is Morning Foods. Morning Foods has very sophisticated cleaning of their oats to remove cross-contamination, but cannot guarantee 100% purity since farmers by law are allowed 2% cross contamination with other farm grains when new crops are grown in previously used fields (called ‘grow through’). EU research does, however, suggest oats are generally OK for the coeliac. Look especially at the research in the links below that are from within the EU.
Look at the following links:
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.
The following link from research in Sweden indicates that most newly diagnosed children may eat oats with no complications.
Try this link on oats, health benefits and coeliacs!
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, the nutritional value 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 raw and prepare them in your own kitchen. You can see the difference between raw oat groats and raw wheat grain. If you purchase a flaker, we can send some samples of wheat grain if you request it. We flake oats almost daily 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.
4. Every coeliac and their families are ultimately responsible for determining whether or not to include oats in their diets. If they decide to try oats, we would recommend introduction of small amounts of freshly flaked oats cooked in a porridge with nothing added except water. We would also recommend that initial introduction be on alternate days. If any adverse reactions occur, then we would recommend avoidance of oats for that individual unless there were other obvious factors that may have caused the reactions.
|
