Are Oats Safe For People with Celiac?
One of the most common questions in the celiac community: are oats gluten-free? The short answer is pure, uncontaminated oats are gluten free. However, regular commercial oats are not gluten-free. Oats are very often grown alongside wheat, rye and barley resulting in cross-contact. Also, the equipment used for planting, harvesting, transportation, milling and storage are often used for gluten-containing crops like wheat, rye and barley resulting in cross-contact.
Oats should be discussed with your doctor and dietitian before adding them into your diet after your celiac diagnosis and recommendations are individualized based on one’s symptoms, celiac antibodies, pre-existing health conditions and current diet. In general, it’s best practice to wait until all celiac symptoms have resolved and labs (celiac antibodies) have returned to normal levels, which can take anywhere from 6-18 months. Please talk with your doctor and celiac dietitian before adding oats into your diet.
What criteria do oats need to meet in order for them to be celiac safe?
The criteria I feel most comfortable recommending to my clients is —
Oats must meet one of the following criteria:
They are certified gluten-free
“Gluten-free oats” are listed in the ingredient list
Labeled GF and there is a purity protocol statement
The Celiac Disease Foundation writes “Regardless of how the oats are produced, all gluten-free oat products must adhere to the FDA Gluten-Free Food Labeling rule and contain less than 20ppm gluten. A “certification” label is not required, as all products with a “gluten-free” label must adhere to the FDA rule.”
There are two ways manufacturers product gluten-free oats which are:
1. Mechanically Sorted
Oats are sorted by a combination of machines and humans to remove errant gluten-containing grains. This process can separate grains according to their size, shape, density and color. Many milling companies now use these technologies to process regular oats for the GF market.
Complete elimination of all of the whole and broken kernels of wheat, rye and barley from oats is impossible even with technological advances. Also, the type and quality of the sorting equipment can affect how much of the wheat, rye and barley is removed.
2. Purity Protocol
Oats that are manufactured following a set of standards to prevent the oats from coming into contact with gluten at all stages of the manufacturing process. These standards are designed by the company.
Purity protocol oat production is a process that involves a number of steps to prevent cross-contact with gluten-containing grains. Currently there is no industry-wide standard established. However, most producers have similar protocols that look like the following:
Use pure oat seed for planting
No wheat, rye or barley grown on the land in the previous 2-4 years
Field inspections
Use of dedicated or thoroughly cleaned equipment for planting, harvesting, storing, transportation, milling and processing
Analysis by the grower for gluten in the oat seed from the harvested crop before & after cleaning
Frequent testing of oats before, during and after processing at the mill
These are a few oat brands that I like:
Other Things to Know
Testing of gluten-free oats
Scientifically validated gluten-testing methods must be used in addition to an adequate number of test samples. It’s important to note that gluten-contamination is not evenly distributed throughout a container and there can be “hot spots” within the container and therefore testing should be done at different locations in the container.
What is avenin?
Avenin is a protein found in oatmeal. Some research shows that those with celiac also react to avenin.
FDA and Canada Labeling
The United States FDA allows the use of regular commercial oats or gluten-free oats provided that the finished product is less than 20ppm gluten. This is for both multi-ingredient oat products and single-ingredient oat products.
Canada will allow only specially produced or processed oats that do not contain more than 20 ppm gluten in products with a gluten-free claim.
More Information on Oats
