What is the difference between wheat free and gluten free ?

[pattricia 574]

I would like to cut out wheat from my diet as I always feel bloated, but what is the difference between wheat free and gluten free ? Has anyone had any good results from cutting out either ?

[Lockjaw 11]

Simply put, gluten is found in wheat and other grains such as barley and rye and so on.

[Zenshu 10]

Wheat and gluten are two different things. Some people are intolerant to gluten, some are intolerant to wheat but there is no direct relation between the two besides that both can be found in cereal.

If you are fairly intolerant to one of them, you will surely have great benefit from stop eating it. The challenge is to avoid even small quantities as it won't make any differences otherwise.

 

A good experience would be to cut out gluten, for instance, for two weeks and see how it goes, do the same with wheat then with both. And see how your body reacts as testing for food tolerance are usually not accurate.

[pattricia 574]

Wheat and gluten are two different things. Some people are intolerant to gluten, some are intolerant to wheat but there is no direct relation between the two besides that both can be found in cereal.

If you are fairly intolerant to one of them, you will surely have great benefit from stop eating it. The challenge is to avoid even small quantities as it won't make any differences otherwise.

 

A good experience would be to cut out gluten, for instance, for two weeks and see how it goes, do the same with wheat then with both. And see how your body reacts as testing for food tolerance are usually not accurate.

 

Thank you for your helpful advice.

[Cyclone 10]

Wheat and gluten are two different things. Some people are intolerant to gluten, some are intolerant to wheat but there is no direct relation between the two besides that both can be found in cereal.

There is very much a direct link between them. Wheat contains gluten, as do some other grains as mentioned.

If you are fairly intolerant to one of them, you will surely have great benefit from stop eating it. The challenge is to avoid even small quantities as it won't make any differences otherwise.

 

A good experience would be to cut out gluten, for instance, for two weeks and see how it goes, do the same with wheat then with both. And see how your body reacts as testing for food tolerance are usually not accurate.

 

Cutting out gluten is far harder than wheat, it's contained in all sorts of things (malt vinegar for example).

 

Personally I'd not recommend cutting out anything as an experiment. My OH decided to go grain free and did it for several months.

She's now gluten intolerant. Properly diagnosed by the Drs and everything. Before this she could happily eat cake and bread and not worry about whether something would make her ill.

[Zenshu 10]

There is very much a direct link between them. Wheat contains gluten, as do some other grains as mentioned.

 

You are right but a product can be wheat free and having gluten or gluten free and having wheat so despite their links, they are different things.

 

Personally I'd not recommend cutting out anything as an experiment. My OH decided to go grain free and did it for several months.

She's now gluten intolerant. Properly diagnosed by the Drs and everything. Before this she could happily eat cake and bread and not worry about whether something would make her ill.

 

I am curious, what would you recommend in that case? Keep eating stuff you are intolerant to and constantly not feeling right or stop eating the food you are intolerant to and getting bad for couple of days when you do the mistake to eat some... It's an interesting dilemma.

[*Peaches* 10]

I got diagnosed as Coeliac a few years back, so I can't eat Gluten. I can tolerate very small amounts but much more than that and I'm quite ill afterwards

[Godzilla 10]

I have largely cut out wheat from my diet and found that my arthritis has improved. Pain and stiffness much reduced.

[Cyclone 10]

You are right but a product can be wheat free and having gluten or gluten free and having wheat so despite their links, they are different things.

 

 

 

I am curious, what would you recommend in that case? Keep eating stuff you are intolerant to and constantly not feeling right or stop eating the food you are intolerant to and getting bad for couple of days when you do the mistake to eat some... It's an interesting dilemma.

 

My point was that she was not intolerant to it before, so unless you have a reason to try cutting something out, don't do it. For example, don't cut out grains as part of some silly fad diet.

 

Edit - a product cannot be gluten free and contain wheat. Wheat contains gluten. (The opposite is possible though, it can be wheat free and still contain gluten from other sources).

[gemjoys 10]

I'm a Coeliac too and if anyone wants to cut out gluten from their diet I'd recommend you look at the Coeliac UK website.

 

They have some good advice on what has gluten in it and what doesn't

[Zenshu 10]

My point was that she was not intolerant to it before, so unless you have a reason to try cutting something out, don't do it. For example, don't cut out grains as part of some silly fad diet.

 

Well, we don't know if she is not intolerant to it. They are different level of intolerance and unless it is severe, there are not that many tests you can do to assess it with confidence. So in that case you can cut out gluten/wheat from your diet for couple of weeks and see if you feel better. And if you don't see any changes, you can get back on eating gluten/wheat, it's not two weeks of privation that will make you intolerant to something....

 

Edit - a product cannot be gluten free and contain wheat. Wheat contains gluten. (The opposite is possible though, it can be wheat free and still contain gluten from other sources).

 

True, I was just reading an article saying that they managed to remove the allergens from wheat by genetics modifications but it's not yet in our supermarket.

[Cyclone 10]

I suppose trying it for 2 weeks is unlikely to hurt...