Gluten-Free Foods | Celiac Disease Foundation (2024)

FAQs

What disease is triggered by gluten? ›

Gluten exposure in people with celiac disease damages the villi, making it hard for the body to absorb nutrients necessary for health and growth. Celiac disease is an illness caused by an immune reaction to eating gluten. Gluten is a protein found in foods containing wheat, barley or rye.

Results. Keeping a strict gluten-free diet is a lifelong necessity for people with celiac disease. Following the diet and avoiding cross-contamination results in fewer symptoms and complications of the disease. For some people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, the condition may not be lifelong.

The bottom line

Foods with gluten include many grains and most breads, pastas, and baked goods. Many condiments and processed foods contain gluten as well. It's best to focus on the many delicious, nutritious foods that you can eat, including veggies, fruits, eggs, fish, dairy, nuts, seeds, and gluten-free grains.

The immune system may see the undigested gluten particles are a microbial invader and attack them. Our environment has become much cleaner over the past 50 years. This means, to some scientists, that our clean and sterile environment has made our antibodies not able to fend off so many bugs and infections.

Coeliac disease is a gluten-dependent disorder, triggered by ingestion of gluten and causing small-bowel mucosal inflammation, villous atrophy and crypt hyperplasia in genetically predisposed individuals.

Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat (wheatberries, durum, emmer, semolina, spelt, farina, farro, graham, KAMUT® khorasan wheat and einkorn), rye, barley and triticale – a cross between wheat and rye. Gluten helps foods maintain their shape, acting as a glue that holds food together.

Grains and ingredients that should be avoided include wheat, rye, barley, brewer's yeast, malt, triticale (a combo of rye and wheat), and oats not labeled "gluten-free." Foods made from wheat have high amounts of gluten. There are different kinds of wheat: Durum.

In general, avoid the following foods if you have celiac disease: Cereals, breads, or other grain products that include wheat, rye, barley, or oats. This includes white or whole-wheat flour (including cookies, crackers, cakes, and most other baked goods), semolina, couscous, bread crumbs, most pastas, and malt.

Eliminating gluten may not only strip your diet of valuable nutrients, but also hinder the accuracy of tests for celiac disease, a serious autoimmune condition in which gluten signals the body to attack the lining of the small intestine. Celiac disease affects about 1 in 141 people in the US.

What are the first signs of being gluten intolerant? ›

Yes, pure, uncontaminated oats are gluten-free. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration considers oats a gluten-free grain under its gluten-free labeling regulations and only requires that packaged products with oats as an ingredient contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten overall.

It's important to know that peanuts, peanut butter, peanut flour and peanut oil are considered naturally gluten-free foods. Gluten is a form of protein found in wheat, barley and rye (2).

The simple answer is yes — potatoes are gluten-free. Gluten is a type of protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and other grains. Potatoes aren't grains, they're a type of starchy vegetable. That's good news for people who can't tolerate gluten because they have celiac disease or gluten intolerance.

Celiac disease is the most severe gluten-related disorder. It's an autoimmune disease that affects about 1% of the population and may damage the digestive system ( 2 ). Celiac disease can cause many symptoms, including skin problems, digestive issues, and mood changes.

Coeliac disease is a condition where your immune system attacks your own tissues when you eat gluten. This damages your gut (small intestine) so your body cannot properly take in nutrients. Coeliac disease can cause a range of symptoms, including diarrhoea, abdominal pain and bloating.

Celiac disease is clinically defined as classic, non-classic, subclinical, potential, and refractory.