Are you confused about oats? If so, you’re not alone in your confusion. Rumors abound about oats. Food rumors? Not exactly high drama, but important if you have celiac disease.
Avenin is the prolamine (protein) in oats that may be suspect for people with celiac disease. Gliadin is the toxic storage protein found in wheat, secalin in rye, and hordein in barley (again, for people with celiac). Together, we called these proteins gluten. I’ll do a post on the history of wheat soon. Very interesting how the plant and the gliadin content has dramatically changed over time.
Research is mixed about the safety of oats as part of a gluten-free diet. You should check with your health care provider before adding oats to your diet, but some studies have shown oats to be non-toxic to celiac patients. When I was at the International Celiac Symposium last November, I heard two different speakers address the issue of oats. Both stated that they felt pure, uncontaminated oats were okay, although some patients react even to the purest oats. The main problem seems to be that oats are often grown near wheat and processed in the same plant, so gluten is present both in the field and in the processing of the final product.
Bob’s Red Milloffers a new gluten free, ELISA tested, rolled oats product. ELISA stands for Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assays, which are designed for detecting and quantitating substances like proteins and antibodies. Bob’s Red Mill guarantees their product to be gluten-free, processed in a gluten-free facility, and is tested at several different points along the pathway to market.
I’m going to try a small amount of cooked oats a couple times this week and see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.
This bowl of oatmeal was made from the recipe on the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Oats package (I ordered it online). I used a little more water than the recipe called for and added diced apples, almonds, pumpkin seeds, some baked and diced sweet potato, flax seeds, a couple of chopped dates, agave honey, some fresh pineapple chunks, cinnamon, and topped it with coconut milk. I added all the extras about half-way through the 18 or 20 minutes I cooked the oatmeal. I like things a touch crunchy, so I didn’t want to cook the fruit and nuts the whole time. It was a nice treat and it was cold here this morning, in the low 40s. It felt like fall and eating steamy hot oatmeal was yummy!
In good health,
Melissa
