For those that suffer from celiac disease avoiding gluten is a lifelong treatment. In celiac disease the consumption of gluten results in an autoimmune response that can destroy the villi in the intestine and make it difficult for the absorption of important nutrients. Since many gluten free foods can contain small amounts of gluten it is important to understand how much gluten a celiac patient can tolerate without doing damage to their intestines or experiencing symptoms.

One of the biggest challenges facing someone with celiac disease that many common foods that you might think were gluten free are not, such as dried fruit, lunch meat, yogurt, prepared soups and many condiments, sauces and dressings. This means that a person with celiac must have a good idea of what is acceptable and what is not, and even when they do follow a strict diet there is no guarantee that you are still not getting gluten that is causing damage to your intestines.

Most people rely on gluten free foods such as those sold in health food stores which are for the most part much better than what you would get buying foods from the grocery store, but still there is no guarantee that you might not be getting too much gluten. Here is why, current labeling standards allow for 200 parts per million of gluten, by this standard that means any serving that you may eat may contain up to that amount of gluten. Depending on the amount of gluten free products you eat in a day, your consumption of gluten may be higher than you think. Since current research shows that a current standard of 200 parts per million is too much for the average celiac patient.

There is new standards being set by many different food watchdog agencies worldwide, and it seems likely that the FDA will soon follow in their footsteps ,with rulings that will lower the labeling standard to below 20 parts per million. At this much lower limit, most celiac patients do not show signs of gluten damage and symptoms. In the mean time if you have celiac disease you may wish to consider easing up on the gluten free products and incorporating more whole foods in your diet that are naturally gluten free since most foods classified as naturally gluten free contain less than 20 parts per million.