Gluten free can you eat oatmeal

However, some people may experience reactions to oat protein. Oats are a whole food that can provide fiber and other nutrients for people with celiac disease , as they need to avoid gluten. It can also be a good choice for people without celiac disease who choose not to eat gluten. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the body reacts in a harmful way to gluten. If a person with this disease consumes gluten, this can cause damage to the small intestine, reducing its ability to absorb nutrients.

Celiac disease demands a gluten-free diet. Gluten is a protein that is present in wheat, rye, barley, and triticale. Oats do not belong to any of these groups, so they are usually safe for people with celiac disease to eat. However, people with gluten sensitivity, particularly those with celiac disease, may still need to be careful about eating oats. One reason is that contamination can occur because, in many cases, farmers grown oats in fields close to wheat and other gluten-containing crops.

Additionally, many oat-processing plants also process foods that contain gluten. People with a gluten intolerance should always check food labels and look for oats that are entirely free of gluten.

What is celiac disease? Find out here. Contamination is not the only problem, however. Some people with celiac disease will experience inflammation after eating oats, even if they follow a gluten-free diet.

This is because oats contain avenin, a protein that plays a role similar to gluten in wheat. In some people with celiac disease, avenin activates the same immune cells that react to gluten. They may not notice a reaction at once, but in the long-term, damage can occur. In , a study showed that eating grams g of oats a day for 3 days activated immune cells that targeted avenin.

The authors concluded that for most people with celiac disease, consuming g of oats per day is unlikely to have long-term unwanted effects. In , the North American Society for the Study of Celiac Disease recommended monitoring anti-tTG anti-tissue transglutaminaste antibody levels before and after adding oats to the diet. But if you have celiac disease , that one little gluten-containing seed matters a lot.

That means for every million oat granules, you have to have less than 20 gluten-containing grains. One study found contamination in 71 percent of their samples. Another looking specifically at Canadian oats many of which make their way to the US , found gluten in 88 percent of the samples tested.

To eliminate those gluten-containing seeds, you either have to sort them out or grow the oats in their own separate field, and in both cases you have to do the rest of the oat processing on dedicated machines in buildings that never see any glutinous grains. This inflammation and subsequent damage of the small intestine is responsible for the symptoms above.

Avoiding all forms of gluten is absolutely necessary for people with Coeliac disease — understandably. For information of diagnosis, visit Coeliac New Zealand. Coeliac disease is an immune-mediated condition in which the body responds abnormally to dietary gluten, resulting in inflammation and damage to the small bowel mucosa. While the avenin protein is tolerable by the majority people with Coeliac disease, research has shown that approximately one in five people with coeliac disease react to uncontaminated oats.

Non-coeliac gluten sensitivity however is a different situation. It describes people who report gastrointestinal symptoms that improve by excluding gluten from the diet but who have no demonstrable small bowel mucosal damage when exposed to gluten. In addition, you should know that some people with celiac or gluten sensitivity find they react to oats as well.

Therefore, you should be careful not to overdo that oatmeal until you know exactly how you'll react, and if you have questions about your reactions, discuss them with your doctor. Since pure oats and pure oatmeal are gluten-free, you're probably wondering how gluten can get in. The problem is gluten cross-contamination that starts in farmers' fields and carries on through processing.

Most farmers and food processors who grow and handle oats also grow and handle the gluten grains wheat, barley, and rye. Using the same equipment for both oats and gluten grains means that a tiny amount of gluten winds up in your oatmeal. Here's the statement from Quaker Oats regarding this problem: "Yes, oats are naturally gluten-free. However, during farming, transportation, and storage, gluten-containing grains like wheat, rye , barley, and spelt may be unintentionally introduced.

It's possible to grow pure oats that are safe on the gluten-free diet , and companies selling certified gluten-free oatmeal are using oats that do not have any gluten cross-contamination. Those should be safe for the majority of people with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

However, some people will have reactions even with pure oats. Fortunately for those who can tolerate oats, there are a variety of different gluten-free-certified oatmeals on the market. Bob's Red Mill produces a large variety of gluten-free oatmeal, including easy-to-prepare oatmeal cups in four flavors, quick-cooking oats, rolled oats, and steel-cut oats.

Bob's tests for gluten down to 20 parts per million. Make sure you purchase only gluten-free labeled oatmeal—Bob's also has oat products that are not gluten-free. GF Harvest is a celiac family-owned business in Wyoming. The company grows its own oats and performs extensive testing to make certain its fields remain uncontaminated, including testing the seeds it uses down to 10 parts per million.

GF Harvest holds gluten-free certification along with organic and Kosher certifications. Products include organic gluten-free rolled oats and regular gluten-free rolled oats, which you can use to make gluten-free oatmeal. The company also offers easy-to-prepare oatmeal cups. Glutenfreeda Foods and Lilly B's have joined together to offer four different types of gluten-free instant oatmeal.

The first three flavors also contain flax meal in addition to gluten-free oatmeal. You can find Lilly B's oatmeal in many different supermarkets, including specialty stores like Sprouts and Wegmans. Montana Gluten Free works directly with farmers to make certain the oats it sells are not cross-contaminated with gluten and certifies that its oats test to below 3 parts per million of gluten. The company offers cream of oats, "naked" oats, raw oatmeal, toasted oat flour, and oat-based baking supplies at the Montana Gluten Free website.

Quaker sells gluten-free oatmeal in four varieties: old-fashioned oats, quick one-minute oats, instant plain oatmeal, and instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal.