(NaturalHealth365)  Globally, about 660 million people follow a gluten-free diet.  While a small percentage have Celiac disease, which can be quite serious, most are dealing with gluten intolerance or sensitivity.  In the US, around 20 million people avoid gluten.

But for many, gluten isn’t the only issue.  They often react to other foods and substances, making it even more important to find gluten-free options that don’t include those irritants.  But did you know that many products labeled gluten-free still contain hidden toxins and chemicals?  Despite the label, these products may not be as safe as they seem, raising concerns for those with sensitivities.

Moms Across America, a national coalition that advocates for healthier families and communities, tested 46 samples of foods that are marketed as gluten-free.  The results were disturbing.

“Clean” isn’t really clean after all (not even organic)

Of the 46 gluten-free food samples that were tested, 44 were positive for glyphosate, the most prevalent of the 237 tested pesticides.  This included the organic samples.  In fact, several of the nonorganic samples were found to have the lowest levels of glyphosate.

The levels of glyphosate in more than 20% of the samples exceeded the EU default threshold for acceptable pesticide residues, which is 10 ppb.  Experts say that just .1 ppb of glyphosate should be avoided because it harms humans.  Of the samples tested, more than 95% had levels that exceeded .1 ppb of glyphosate.

All of the samples contained pesticides.  While seven of them contained trace levels, the rest were higher.  And remember, this includes organic products.

But even trace levels of pesticides are too much, especially considering many people buy organic because they are trying to avoid pesticides.

What are the foods, and how did they rank?

The results were broken down into several categories.

Lowest glyphosate levels of gluten-free food samples, ranking from highest contamination to lowest contamination:

• Shar Artisan Baker white bread
• Whole Foods brand 365 sandwich bread
• Shar’s plain NY-style bagels
• Barilla penne pasta
• Udi’s soft white sandwich bread
• Tinkyada brown rice pasta
• MadeGood strawberry crispy squares
• LiveGFree cornbread mix (Trace)
• Lesser Evil Popcorn (ND)
• Edward & Sons rice crackers (Not Detectable ND)

The lowest pesticide levels of gluten-free food samples:

• Schar Artisan White bread
• Pacha Organic Buckwheat bread
• Simple Kneads Quinoa bread
• 365 Whole Foods Market sandwich bread
• Mountain High Organic Macaroni
• Banza Cavatappi pasta (note: had the highest level of glyphosate)
• Simple Mills almond crackers
• Katz fudge brownie muffin snacks
• Siete cassava flour tortillas
• LiveGFree cornbread mix

Gluten-free foods with the highest glyphosate contamination, from lowest to highest:

• Kind Kids Chewy Chocolate Chip bars
• Pamela’s Figgies and Jammies mission fig cookies
• Flax4Life chocolate brownies
• Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose flour
• Banza Cavatappi pasta

Gluten-free foods with the highest pesticide contamination, from lowest to highest:

• Go Macro berry granola bar
• Pamela’s gluten-free flour mix
• Simple Mills Brownie mix
• Milton’s sea salt crackers
• King Arthur Measure for Measure, Certified Gluten-Free Flour

Even “gluten-free” may not be entirely gluten-free

Based on reports that around 50% of people on a gluten-free diet, whether they have Celiac disease or gluten intolerance, still have symptoms, the study was extended to include examining products marketed as gluten-free to see if they contained gluten.

According to the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO), any food labeled as gluten-free cannot contain more than 10 ppm of gluten, while the FDA allows 20 ppm.  However, four of the samples tested exceeded those levels spectacularly:

• 31.7 ppm – Simple Mills Brownie Mix
• 56.1 ppm – Made Good Soft Baked Double Chocolate Cookies
• 59.4 ppm – Simple Mills Almond Flour Crackers
• 269.8 ppm – Trader Joe’s Almost Everything Bagels

It appears that gluten-free isn’t necessarily always gluten-free.  These products blatantly violate the FDA allowable levels.  This provides solid legal grounds for the FDA to require the companies to recall those products.

As of yet, this has not happened.

There were three products that exceeded the GFCO standards:

• 10.6 ppm – Jovial Spaghetti
• 14.3 ppm – Shar pretzels
• 15.9 ppm – Go Macro Berry Granola Bar

The gluten levels in some of these products may not seem like all that much, but when you consider what foods may be consumed throughout the day, those numbers can add up quickly.

If this makes you angry, it should.  The FDA uses our tax dollars – for what?  They are supposed to be creating and enforcing policies and regulations to make our foods safer and labels more transparent and accurate.  That doesn’t seem to be happening.

What it does do is keep people going to the doctor to address issues that would likely be virtually nonexistent if food brands were required to comply with the regulations in place.

It causes people to use medications for issues that could be effectively managed with food that was not contaminated with pesticides and gluten-free foods that were actually gluten-free.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the only way to be absolutely certain that the food you eat is truly organic is to grow it yourself.  If you want truly gluten-free foods, avoid anything processed.  No doubt, buying food that isn’t contaminated is getting more and more difficult.

It’s time for things to change.  And, that change can only happen when people become more aware of the problem.  This is why we (at NaturalHealth365) promise to always do our best to raise public awareness about health issues that concern all of us.

Sources for this article include:

MomsAcrossAmerica.com
ANH-USA.org
GFCO.org