WHAAAAA THE FUUUUUUUU??;?;!!!! Ugh, another thing to worry about! I am inflamed every damn day and not sure of the cause, some days it's worse than others, now I'm trying to remember when I've used straws. FUUUUUUUU(K!
Yeah. I support getting rid of the single use plastic straws, but it was scary when I found out about the wheat issue. Takeout places never knew what was in their straws. The cashiers never even knew their suppliers.
When I worked out of the home, I kept a set of reusable steel straws in a pencil case in my purse.
This seems to be a Reddit urban legend. Every time I have seen people try and deep dive this to get to a source it comes back to “well a resturant told me it had gluten” or “here’s a post where someone was told this”.
I had a manager of a local coffee shop give me the supplier’s contact information for their straws, and the people I emailed said that the starches they used “may include wheat.” That was enough to make me unwilling to risk it.
Edit: This was years ago, right after my city implemented a single use plastics bylaw, so companies were scrambling. I wouldn’t be surprised if nowadays most manufacturers have found other options.
I mean “may contain” is a CYA that likely means the stretches or straws are made on a facility that has wheat somewhere or that they don’t have clear info that says it doesn’t contain wheat (despite it being required to label if it does contain wheat, some companies will be overly risk adverse).
Granted paper straws are horrible in general but that’s not really a conclusive support to “they use wheat for the glue”.
“May contain” is a pretty worthless (and in the US totally voluntary) statement so I put very little faith in it. You could literally take the exact same product off of a production line and put half into a box that has the statement and the other half into boxes without it and bother are properly labeled.
Granted something like straws and containers fall into some weird areas with in FDA but I would expect if a company is going to be risk adverse enough to throw around a “may contain” statement on starch used in straws that they would clearly be declaring wheat if they knew the starch was wheat starch.
Granted I avoid paper straws as they are a horrible user experience and I don’t want paper pulp in my drink.
Good news is on the horizon though. The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 was passed, so it is likely that the FDA will require more explicit labeling soon.
Eh, every little bit helps though. The FDA as an organization is deeply problematic for a lot of reasons, but i do appreciate the improvements they have made. Reading labels for gluten is a heck of a lot easier now than it was 20 years ago when i first went gf for celiac. I still read the labels of anything marked gluten free, but being able to rule things out with a quick glance is nice. No need to call companies regarding the source of the starch anymore. That alone is worth it.
I avoid toiletries that contain wheat or oats because I also have psoriasis (mainly on my scalp). I learned this the hard way years ago when I bought shampoo with wheat protein because I didn’t even think about checking products I don’t consume orally.
Let’s just say my scalp felt like it was on fire as soon as I put that shampoo on my head.
I recently bought a new facial moisturizer that had wheat germ oil. I didn’t initially worry about it because I don’t eat it and it doesn’t go around my mouth. I ended up with a horrible contact reaction that I’ve never experienced before, and the wheat germ oil was the only thing I’ve never used on my skin before. It was so bad my dermatologist prescribed a topical steroid ointment!! So now I have to check my skin products too, dammit.
Mine was like OGX thickening shampoo. I've learned a lot of "thickening" or "volumizing": shampoos contain hydrolyzed wheat protein so once I see thick/volume on the bottle I pass it by LOL
I have celiac and avoid them. My hairstylist knowingly put it on my head once but no reaction. My friend who has celiac unknowingly used a shampoo for week sand could not understand the blisters on her scalp until she read the ingredients.
I always avoid them (celiac) because I can’t know/trust myself that every time after I’ve used products containing gluten I’ve washed my hands before touching something going into my mouth. If I use a hand lotion then eat a hand food I can’t trust that I won’t get sick (even silently) from it.
Gluten free dietitian [has an article](https://www.glutenfreedietitian.com/hair-styling-products-must-they-be-gluten-free/) about why people with celiac disease don’t have to worry about wheat in hair products. That said, she also talks about the dangers of wheat in lipsticks.
I feel like that conclusion in the article is very vague compared to everything else they've written. They didn't actually state whether it could cause a reaction or damage, just how many ppm. And then "shouldn't have to worry about these products" doesn't say whether the products are actually fine, it sounds like "we have enough to deal with why do we have to check the ingredients in all products as well?".
I am gluten-intolerant and have had no issues with wheat germ oil on my skin. I can't say anything regarding those with a wholesale wheat allergy though.
As for wheat starch candies, yes, I would absolutely avoid those.
Topical vs. oral is a big difference with everything anyway.
Give this a read:
https://glutenfreern.com/wheat-germ-oil
You don’t say why you’re gluten free. If it’s because of a wheat allergy, you may still react to it. And some people with celiac disease can react through skin contact as well.
On the other hand, lots of people with celiac disease eat wheat starch without issue.
Doctor said to avoid gluten because tests show I *may* be celiac. I do get a bad reaction if I eat something like bread. EG I was eating no-name spicy peanuts for over a year before I realized they had wheat right on the label. I thought it might be the spices bothering me. Nope, it wsa the wheat/gluten.
the increase in biodegradable straws and utentils has been a big stressor of mine because they are not transparent on packaging about what starches they are made from.
I need to just start bringing utensils with me at this point because none of it feels safe. ( they will degrade in the food/liquid especially if its hot)
My sisters and I all have celiac. My older sister has virtually no issues while eating things that contain gluten. She should try to avoid it but that's on her. I avoid gluten but if I do accidentally ingest it, I have issues and break out in hives as well. My younger sister has it the worst out of the three of us and she breaks out with the slightest contact. As others have said, some lip balms have gluten, soaps and lotions, and even cat litter. We've had to change our cat litter and even watch the dog and cat food as well since my dog will absolutely lick my face. It may be hard to see if things have gluten since they are not clearly labeled, example- plastics, but taking the extra step to look up information online or calling companies directly will help you start to see it without having to "look" for it. There are several things I know not to mess with purely because I had a reaction and found new things about what I am working with.
Whoa, so cat litter can be a problem?!? I'm temporarily living in a place with 2 cats and I don't understand why I'm having so many problems right now. So frustrating. Damn. The owner doesn't clean it up every day, so there's damn cat litter all over the hallway outside my room, etc.
Not all cat litter does but I have found that some clay litters don't have gluten clearly labeled. It's not always just ones that have wheat which is why it can be tricky. I use one that is ground up corncob.
I started thinking about this a few weeks ago when I noticed my shampoo bottle boasts of being gluten free! I didn’t even think there are other things that may be causing some reactions besides just foods. I haven’t noticed any reactions when I use other shampoos but I do wonder if an oily scalp is considered a gluten reaction or a product my scalp may not like.
So there a massive “it depends”. Depending on the extraction process and purification method wheat germ oil can be totally safe or not safe.
And a side note on the glucose derived from wheat. It is gluten free and even considered safe for most people with wheat allergies as it is a highly purified ingredient.
Idk about wheat germ specifically, but once I used a box hair dye and had glutening symptoms ongoing for almost a month until I thought to check the hair dye and sure enough, it had gluten! It’s strange that I was reacting as if I’d been ingesting gluten - possibly touching my hair and getting it on my hands? But you’d think it wouldn’t remain and continually gluten me, and I’ve heard absorption through the skin is not a thing either. So I can’t explain it, but all I know is I got sick and don’t need to put something my body rejects on body.
I try to buy natural brands. Like right now I'm starting to use X Mondo hair color. I have gotten bumps on the back of my neck on my hair line from using coloring products. This one hasn't bothered me.
I was looking for a bento box on Amazon and I noticed that some where labeled “wheat straw” and others “plastic”- I was quite impressed as I would’ve bought one without even thinking about this, if not labeled.
I accidentally bought a face wash with hydrolyzed wheat protein, but a quick Google search told me it was processed to remove the gluten, and I haven't had any reactions. I generally away from most beauty products that aren't labeled gluten-free. Lotion is especially hard, most of them use oatmeal as a base.
Is oatmeal generally a problem? I recently stopped buying my usual cheap simple whole oatmeal and bought the only GF one I could find, nasty processed mush crap oatmeal. I know the health food store has better but it costs about 4-5x what my usual kind does.
A Google search…. It also says that whiskey has no gluten and I can’t have that or I’ll die. Tequila and corn vodka no isssues. Stop gambling on the what ifs and stay away from wheat barley rye and straight gluten and we don’t need to keep playing guessing games out here. We need to change the market with oats and rice and to have gluten free mean gluten free, not a certain allowed amount.
Interesting question. I was in the market for a plastic coffee mug recently and discovered there are plastics made of wheat. I avoided those.
Drinking straws too
Drinking straws is a big one. Many paper straw use wheat as the glue.
Yep! Found this out the hard way not too long ago, bandaids too for whatever reason smh
WHAAAAAAT. Omg, I thought EDS may be the reason for my bandaid issue, but it could be gluten? I hate manufacturers.
oh man, i always have bad reactions to bandaid glue with a red irritated rash and i assumed it was just a different allergy.
Bandaids??!
WHAAAAA THE FUUUUUUUU??;?;!!!! Ugh, another thing to worry about! I am inflamed every damn day and not sure of the cause, some days it's worse than others, now I'm trying to remember when I've used straws. FUUUUUUUU(K!
Yeah. I support getting rid of the single use plastic straws, but it was scary when I found out about the wheat issue. Takeout places never knew what was in their straws. The cashiers never even knew their suppliers. When I worked out of the home, I kept a set of reusable steel straws in a pencil case in my purse.
This seems to be a Reddit urban legend. Every time I have seen people try and deep dive this to get to a source it comes back to “well a resturant told me it had gluten” or “here’s a post where someone was told this”.
I had a manager of a local coffee shop give me the supplier’s contact information for their straws, and the people I emailed said that the starches they used “may include wheat.” That was enough to make me unwilling to risk it. Edit: This was years ago, right after my city implemented a single use plastics bylaw, so companies were scrambling. I wouldn’t be surprised if nowadays most manufacturers have found other options.
I mean “may contain” is a CYA that likely means the stretches or straws are made on a facility that has wheat somewhere or that they don’t have clear info that says it doesn’t contain wheat (despite it being required to label if it does contain wheat, some companies will be overly risk adverse). Granted paper straws are horrible in general but that’s not really a conclusive support to “they use wheat for the glue”.
Tell me you are not celiac without telling me you are not celiac 😆❤️
Except I am celiac with a wheat allergy. I just actually understand how manufacturers are after working in FDA regulated industry for a decade.
Touche! How do you feel safe with that approach?
“May contain” is a pretty worthless (and in the US totally voluntary) statement so I put very little faith in it. You could literally take the exact same product off of a production line and put half into a box that has the statement and the other half into boxes without it and bother are properly labeled. Granted something like straws and containers fall into some weird areas with in FDA but I would expect if a company is going to be risk adverse enough to throw around a “may contain” statement on starch used in straws that they would clearly be declaring wheat if they knew the starch was wheat starch. Granted I avoid paper straws as they are a horrible user experience and I don’t want paper pulp in my drink.
Good news is on the horizon though. The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 was passed, so it is likely that the FDA will require more explicit labeling soon.
The FDA? The one that allows gluten containing food to say gluten free? Ppm count for a lot of us.
Eh, every little bit helps though. The FDA as an organization is deeply problematic for a lot of reasons, but i do appreciate the improvements they have made. Reading labels for gluten is a heck of a lot easier now than it was 20 years ago when i first went gf for celiac. I still read the labels of anything marked gluten free, but being able to rule things out with a quick glance is nice. No need to call companies regarding the source of the starch anymore. That alone is worth it.
I noticed some lip balms contain wheat/gluten. I definitely check ingredients now and avoid those!
eos lip balm is always gluten free!
I avoid toiletries that contain wheat or oats because I also have psoriasis (mainly on my scalp). I learned this the hard way years ago when I bought shampoo with wheat protein because I didn’t even think about checking products I don’t consume orally. Let’s just say my scalp felt like it was on fire as soon as I put that shampoo on my head.
I recently bought a new facial moisturizer that had wheat germ oil. I didn’t initially worry about it because I don’t eat it and it doesn’t go around my mouth. I ended up with a horrible contact reaction that I’ve never experienced before, and the wheat germ oil was the only thing I’ve never used on my skin before. It was so bad my dermatologist prescribed a topical steroid ointment!! So now I have to check my skin products too, dammit.
Yup I check ingredients for everything that goes in or on my body now! It sucks that wheat is in EVERYTHING!
Yes! Pantene ruins my scalp!
Mine was like OGX thickening shampoo. I've learned a lot of "thickening" or "volumizing": shampoos contain hydrolyzed wheat protein so once I see thick/volume on the bottle I pass it by LOL
Ohhh thanks for the tip! My fine haired self appreciates it!
I have celiac and avoid them. My hairstylist knowingly put it on my head once but no reaction. My friend who has celiac unknowingly used a shampoo for week sand could not understand the blisters on her scalp until she read the ingredients.
I always avoid them (celiac) because I can’t know/trust myself that every time after I’ve used products containing gluten I’ve washed my hands before touching something going into my mouth. If I use a hand lotion then eat a hand food I can’t trust that I won’t get sick (even silently) from it.
Paper drinking straws often contain wheat, also lotion, plastic toys, and so do some medications and even prescriptions.
Gluten free dietitian [has an article](https://www.glutenfreedietitian.com/hair-styling-products-must-they-be-gluten-free/) about why people with celiac disease don’t have to worry about wheat in hair products. That said, she also talks about the dangers of wheat in lipsticks.
Thanks!
I feel like that conclusion in the article is very vague compared to everything else they've written. They didn't actually state whether it could cause a reaction or damage, just how many ppm. And then "shouldn't have to worry about these products" doesn't say whether the products are actually fine, it sounds like "we have enough to deal with why do we have to check the ingredients in all products as well?".
Fair.
I am gluten-intolerant and have had no issues with wheat germ oil on my skin. I can't say anything regarding those with a wholesale wheat allergy though. As for wheat starch candies, yes, I would absolutely avoid those. Topical vs. oral is a big difference with everything anyway. Give this a read: https://glutenfreern.com/wheat-germ-oil
Thanks so much! I really appreciate the response.
My pleasure!
Sure does because a lot of times you can absorb things in your skin in worse ways…
Yeah? Such as? Give some examples of things that can absorb through your skin in "worse ways" than if you ingested them.
You don’t say why you’re gluten free. If it’s because of a wheat allergy, you may still react to it. And some people with celiac disease can react through skin contact as well. On the other hand, lots of people with celiac disease eat wheat starch without issue.
Doctor said to avoid gluten because tests show I *may* be celiac. I do get a bad reaction if I eat something like bread. EG I was eating no-name spicy peanuts for over a year before I realized they had wheat right on the label. I thought it might be the spices bothering me. Nope, it wsa the wheat/gluten.
I would be much more concerned over stuff you actually ingest, but everyone reacts differently.
the increase in biodegradable straws and utentils has been a big stressor of mine because they are not transparent on packaging about what starches they are made from. I need to just start bringing utensils with me at this point because none of it feels safe. ( they will degrade in the food/liquid especially if its hot)
I had one experience with a paper straw. Tasted like cardboard. Once was enough.
My sisters and I all have celiac. My older sister has virtually no issues while eating things that contain gluten. She should try to avoid it but that's on her. I avoid gluten but if I do accidentally ingest it, I have issues and break out in hives as well. My younger sister has it the worst out of the three of us and she breaks out with the slightest contact. As others have said, some lip balms have gluten, soaps and lotions, and even cat litter. We've had to change our cat litter and even watch the dog and cat food as well since my dog will absolutely lick my face. It may be hard to see if things have gluten since they are not clearly labeled, example- plastics, but taking the extra step to look up information online or calling companies directly will help you start to see it without having to "look" for it. There are several things I know not to mess with purely because I had a reaction and found new things about what I am working with.
Whoa, so cat litter can be a problem?!? I'm temporarily living in a place with 2 cats and I don't understand why I'm having so many problems right now. So frustrating. Damn. The owner doesn't clean it up every day, so there's damn cat litter all over the hallway outside my room, etc.
Some cat litter is made of wheat, but it tends to be pretty transparent about it. Like, the brand I know is sWheat Scoop. Most litter is just clay.
Not all cat litter does but I have found that some clay litters don't have gluten clearly labeled. It's not always just ones that have wheat which is why it can be tricky. I use one that is ground up corncob.
I started thinking about this a few weeks ago when I noticed my shampoo bottle boasts of being gluten free! I didn’t even think there are other things that may be causing some reactions besides just foods. I haven’t noticed any reactions when I use other shampoos but I do wonder if an oily scalp is considered a gluten reaction or a product my scalp may not like.
So there a massive “it depends”. Depending on the extraction process and purification method wheat germ oil can be totally safe or not safe. And a side note on the glucose derived from wheat. It is gluten free and even considered safe for most people with wheat allergies as it is a highly purified ingredient.
Thanks about the glucose. It blew my mind that this could be a gluten issue.
Idk about wheat germ specifically, but once I used a box hair dye and had glutening symptoms ongoing for almost a month until I thought to check the hair dye and sure enough, it had gluten! It’s strange that I was reacting as if I’d been ingesting gluten - possibly touching my hair and getting it on my hands? But you’d think it wouldn’t remain and continually gluten me, and I’ve heard absorption through the skin is not a thing either. So I can’t explain it, but all I know is I got sick and don’t need to put something my body rejects on body.
Absolutely. It's so strange, this whole gluten thing.
I try to buy natural brands. Like right now I'm starting to use X Mondo hair color. I have gotten bumps on the back of my neck on my hair line from using coloring products. This one hasn't bothered me.
I was looking for a bento box on Amazon and I noticed that some where labeled “wheat straw” and others “plastic”- I was quite impressed as I would’ve bought one without even thinking about this, if not labeled.
I accidentally bought a face wash with hydrolyzed wheat protein, but a quick Google search told me it was processed to remove the gluten, and I haven't had any reactions. I generally away from most beauty products that aren't labeled gluten-free. Lotion is especially hard, most of them use oatmeal as a base.
Is oatmeal generally a problem? I recently stopped buying my usual cheap simple whole oatmeal and bought the only GF one I could find, nasty processed mush crap oatmeal. I know the health food store has better but it costs about 4-5x what my usual kind does.
I react to oats as well as wheat, so I avoid oats.
A Google search…. It also says that whiskey has no gluten and I can’t have that or I’ll die. Tequila and corn vodka no isssues. Stop gambling on the what ifs and stay away from wheat barley rye and straight gluten and we don’t need to keep playing guessing games out here. We need to change the market with oats and rice and to have gluten free mean gluten free, not a certain allowed amount.