Gluten is a protein in grains, including wheat, rye and barley. If you have celiac disease, eating foods containing gluten causes your immune system to attack and damage your digestive tract, leading to malabsorption. A gluten intolerance can lead to a range of symptoms. Avoiding gluten is the only way to stay healthy. With wheat and wheat-based products being a staple food, eliminating gluten can be difficult. Knowing what foods to avoid can help you make the right food choices for good health.
Wheat-Based Products
Wheat-based products are an obvious source of gluten. Examples include most breads, rolls, biscuits, crackers, pasta, most ready-to-eat cereals, wheat germ, bulgur wheat, pancakes, waffles, muffins, pizza crust, couscous, cookies, cakes and pie crust. Spelt, einkorn, emmer and kamut are also types of wheat that contain gluten. Other wheat flours with gluten include durum flour, farina, graham flour, white flour, self-rising flour and semolina flour.
Rye and Barley
Rye bread and barley grains, such as pearled barley, are also obvious sources of gluten. Triticale, a type of grain, is a cross between rye and wheat, and also contains gluten. Foods made with barley malt, malted milk, barley malt extract, malt flavoring and malt extract are made from barley and also sources of gluten.
Processed Foods
Many processed foods contain some form of wheat, rye or barley, and therefore contain gluten. These foods include bouillon, broth, soup, brown rice syrup, candy, potato chips, cold cuts, sausage, hot dogs, salami, gravy, french fries, imitation fish, rice mixes, ready-made sauces, soy sauce and self-basting turkeys.
Additional Foods
Some foods that contain gluten may not seem so obvious if you don't give it much thought. Beer, for example, may not come to mind as a source of gluten, but it is made with either barley or wheat, and therefore contains gluten. Seitan, which is a vegetarian meat substitute, is also an obvious source of gluten once you read the package label. Udon is an Asian-style wheat noodle that also contains gluten.
Food Label Ingredients
When trying to avoid gluten, diligently read food labels and avoid food products that contain ingredients made from wheat, barley or rye. Food label ingredients that contain gluten include hydrolyzed wheat starch, hydrolyzed wheat gluten, hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydroxypropyltrimonium hydrolyzed wheat protein, disodium wheatgermamido, filler, and stearyldimoniumhydroxypropyl -- a hydrolyzed wheat protein.
