My son’s ALCAT test results included this line: “You have no reaction to Gluten and mild reaction to Gliadin, limit these foods: Barley, Rye, Malt, Wheat, Oat.”
Gliadin is a close cousin of gluten, so searching for gluten-free foods made part of the job easier. Still, with buckwheat, millet, tapioca, potatoes, and corn as our starches, it was difficult.
As I was looking for recipes, I came across something that about oats. I already knew that oats do not on their own generally contain gluten, but are often cross-contaminated with other gluten-containing grains, so that many celiacs cannot tolerate them. The line that interested me was this: oats do not contain gliadin; oats contain avenin.
I ran this by a clerk at Whole Foods who had been a gluten-free diet counselor and she said I had understood this correctly. I began to see a glimmer of hope.
Yesterday morning, I e-mailed ALCAT to inquire about this. Did I understand it correctly? Was there a possibility that my son could have oats that are certified gluten-free?
A clinical nutritionist with the ALCAT company e-mailed back within 15 minutes. (I was impressed by that in itself.) But what she said was even better. Yes, certified gluten-free (read: really expensive) oats would be fine in our case.
Do you know how happy I was to hear this?
Just to be sure, I double-checked with our doctor, who gave the same reply. Oats, if gluten-free, would be fine for my son.
Both the nutritionist and the doctor recommended Bob’s Red Mill
This is a big deal. A bowl of oatmeal in the morning to fill up a growing boy’s tummy. Apple crisp, one of his favorite desserts. My monster cookie recipe, made with Sunbutter 
Oats. Such a tiny little word. Yet such a big deal for us today.
Oats!
Monster Cookies « Food Restrictions: Attempting a Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Rice-Free Diet said
[...] new diet posed a problem, but once we got the OK for gluten-free oats, they came back on my to-make list, and since they contain no flour, I didn’t have to modify [...]