How can gluten be avoided?
Careful and constant reading of ingredients is necessary to purchase truly gluten free foods. If flour (which means “wheat flour” unless otherwise specified), starch (including “modified food starch”, “food starch”), malt, or any grain containing gluten is present, do not purchase the food. Unfortunately for the Celiac it may be necessary to also investigate every step of the handling of the products, due to widespread wheat contamination of certain foods by way of shared equipment, containers, and processing rooms. Finally the utensils, equipment, and surfaces for cooking and eating must be free of accumulations containing gluten, especially ones which have been hardened on by heat, especially in toasters and bakeware. A gluten-free diet can only be achieved by complete removal of all gluten from your foods, medicines, and any cosmetic products which will accidentally enter the GI tract (in practice, probably all of them); reducing the amount will not be a sufficient treatment.
