Special Diets

To avoid gluten, ask about ingredients at restaurants and others’ homes, and read food labels. Avoid questionable products until the manufacturer guarantees they are gluten-free. Recheck products regularly as ingredients may change.

Beginning in 2006, food labels in the US must accurately declare in a special “allergy statement” if wheat protein, even in small amounts, is present in an ingredient used in that food. However, this regulation does not pertain to other gluten-containing grains, so labels must still be checked carefully for those sources.

At home, care should be taken to keep gluten-containing foods used by other members of the household from contaminating cooking appliances, food-preparation surfaces, utensils, shared condiment jars, and so forth.

The following list is not complete. Consult with a healthcare professional before making any significant changes to your diet. Grains and grain products to avoid (check ingredients of breads, breading, cereals, coating mixes, crackers, croutons, fried snacks, muffins, pasta, pastries, stuffing, and so on):

• Barley
• Bulgar
• Couscous
• Dinkle
• Einkorn
• Emmer
• Farina
• Faro
• Flour: any made from grains on this list; bread, brown, durum, granary, strong, and whole-meal flour usually indicate flours containing gluten
• KAMUT wheat
• Malt
• Matzo
• Oats and oat bran*
• Orzo
• Panko
• Rye
• Seitan
• Semolina
• Spelt
• Triticale
• Udon
• Wheat
• Wheat bran
• Wheat germ

*While oats contain a substance similar to gluten, modern research has found that eating moderate amounts of oats does not appear to cause problems for people with celiac disease or dermatitis herpetiformis. However, oats may be contaminated with gluten from other grains during processing; therefore using only oat products that have been tested and guaranteed to be free of gluten is recommended.

Other food products and ingredients that may contain gluten (check labels or manufacturer for ingredients from the list above):

• Ale, beer, stout, lager
• Broth
• Brown rice syrup
• Candy
• Cloudy lemonade
• Curry mixes
• Dried meals
• Egg substitutes
• Flavored instant coffee
• Ginger beer
• Grain spirits
• Gravy cubes and mixes
• Hot chocolate mixes
• Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (also called hydrolyzed plant protein or protein hydrolysate) if made from wheat
• Ice cream
• Imitation bacon and seafood
• Licorice
• Malt vinegar (distilled vinegars are gluten-free)
• Marinades
• Mustard powder
• Nondairy cream substitutes
• Nuts, dry roasted
• Prepared meats (bologna, lunch ham, and so on)
• Rice paper
• Root beer
• Roux
• Sauces and sauce mixes
• Self-basting poultry
• Soup and soup mixes
• Soy sauce and shoyu tamari
• Starch, when labeled as wheat starch, modified food starch, or vegetable starch
• Stock cubes
• Suet in packets
• Thickeners

Be careful of the following personal and over-the-counter items, which may contain small amounts of gluten:

• Communion wafers
• Glue (US-made envelope glue is reportedly gluten-free)
• Lipstick, gloss, and balms
• Prescription and over-the-counter medications listing gluten, starch, flour, or dusting powder as excipients
• Supplements listing gluten, starch, flour, or dusting powder as excipients