Gluten in Oats

I LOVE oats.  There is just something so nurturing about them.  They're like a big, long, warm hug.

I'm just going to quickly bash out what I've learnt about gluten and oats because although the Australian Food Standards body doesn't recognise oats as being 'gluten free', their European and US counterparts do.  I eat oats for this reason (and of course because I LOVE them and am obsessed with them).

Oats do contain gluten, and the Medical Advisory Committee for Coeliac Australia recommend that people with coeliac disease don't eat oats.  Research seems inconclusive.  Anecdotally, some Ceoliac sufferers claim no problems while others the exact opposite.

The type of gluten in oats is different to the gluten in wheat and the gluten in rye and the gluten in barley.  Each grain has its own form of gluten. Much of the difficulty comes not from the oats themselves, but from the mass production of grains, which results in contamination.  'Gluten free oats' sold in Europe and the US are grown on single crop farms and processed in single grain facilities.  They are not contaminated with glutens from wheat, barley or rye.  These 'gluten free' and 'wheat free' oats are starting to be imported to Australia.

Luckily for us there is a WA grower (Kojonup) whose crop is on a single grain farm - Masons country fresh rolled oats.  The Mason's oats are certified biodynamic and are processed in a single grain facility.  For this reason there are quite a lot of natural health practitioners recommending them for people avoiding gluten.  If you have Coeliac Disease of course discuss with your doctor before you try 'gluten free' oats.

If interested, here are some links to research papers on oats and oat gluten (called Avenin)
Paper suggesting oats don't trigger immune response in coeliac tissue culture
-sorry, off to bed - will post more as I find them :)