I got a powerful gluten reaction this morning. The only thing I had different yesterday (and again this morning! ) was a pot of curry which I made myself. It contained carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, and a cut-up beef steak which I dipped in buckwheat flour seasoned with curry powder, onion salt, paprika and regular salt and pepper, fried in olive oil, then added to the rest with water and simmered for about an hour. Boy, it's making me hungry again just typing this!
I no longer have the list of ingredients for the curry powder, it was a bulk package I had bought from the San Francisco Herb Company. But I got online just now and checked the ingredients on what they currently offer, and it seems innocuous. INGREDIENTS: Turmeric, fenugreek, coriander, cumin, fennel, onion, black pepper, cloves, garllic, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, lemon grass, cardomon & mace.
Were my symptoms more likely to have come from the buckwheat flour? I also researched it, and it seems like it sometimes does give problems. Any opinions? I hope I don't have to give up my curry. I don't eat it often, but I do like it occasionally.
Hugs,

Hi Lois,

What brand was the buckwheat? Has it been processed in a dedicated facility or a place that also processes wheat? Maybe it's been cc'd?

Or maybe the curry has been cc'd? The San Francisco Herb Company also uses wheat germ in some of their products.

myst

Curry powder typically has gluten in it. It keeps it flowing.

Herbs and spices need to be check individually.

Generally speaking, mixes are assumed to have gluten - curry is a mix. (The black pepper they used for it could have been cut with wheat. Pepper often is.)

Hope you feel better soon.

Hi Lois,

I don't know anything about curry powder, but Kim usually has a lot of information that is accurate.

I, on the other hand, react to meat that was grain fed. So before you chuck the curry powder, you might want to consider that the meat itself might have been the problem. Now I eat grass fed livestock with absolutely no problem.

I am a member of an organic farmers group and they were the ones who suggested that the gluten was passing through the meat. Livestock is fed a grain diet consisting of wheat and soy for the most part beginning 2-5 months before slaughter. As grain definitely affects the arachodonic acid in livestock which is passed on to humans through the meat, it is not a stretch that gluten in feed is passed along as well.

Leslie

Thanks for all of your replies. This staying GF is NOT easy! All of you seem to think the curry powder is the more likely culprit, except for Myst. I don't know what the buckwheat brand was, unfortunately, I tossed the bag after I stored it in one of my containers. I suppose cross-contamination could be a definite problem with either of them, the flour or the spice mix.
Have any of you had problems with buckwheat? The info I found had it on the safe list, but with a caveat, that it might sometimes cause problems for some people. I may give myself a week or so to recover, and then do a test, trying each individualy, and see if I react .
Hugs,

Could it be that you are sensitive to buckwheat itself?
It's related to rhubarb if that helps.
Probably the Curry Mix as it is a mix and they do put something in with the herbs to keep them from sticking although less and less is that wheat derivative, I've seen a lot of rice starch used for this application.
I'd find another way to make your dish, not using this curry mix first and see then if you react again.
Buckwheat in a pure flour should not cause a problem for most folks, it isn't related closely at all to other non-gluten grains.

BTW, I'm relatively new to this board, so hello everyone. I've been posting on another CD board for several years; our house has been GF for almost ten years. My DH has CD; I stay GF in the home and do most of the cooking and shopping. I really stopped in here today by accident, but decided to make a few posts.

Reactions are sooooo hard to nail down. We don't even always know if it's a reaction of something else! Of course, this is just my perspective.

I'd wonder why you only had one reaction, and not two if you ate it twice. I'm not at all saying that it's not gluten, or that you don't know your body, just that figuring it out can be really, really, really hard.

I have two different curry powders at home with no gluten. Without having the ingredients, you can't know. Buckwheat alone is fine. . .unless you are sensitive to it - some people are. For whatever reason, some people with CD just seem to be more sensitive to other grains, too.

I'd definitely find out what's in the curry before you use it again. Then, if you are sure the buckwheat you have is safe (as in not cc'd) I'd isolate the buckwheat and try it in a week or two, after this reaction is passed. Hope you figure it out. As you said, being GF is harder than it seems in the beginning, isn't it? The good news is that it really does get a LOT easier.

Thanks for the reply, Viewaskew, and welcome to NT. Actually, I probably ate it more than twice, I had it for supper, then snacked on it, then breakfasted on it! I LOOOVE curry. The reaction started in the morning, and i suffered from it most of the day. Even when I get the diarrhea of a gluten reaction under control, I still have the other things, like the frequent, urgent, painful bm's, the fatigue, etc. I'm leaning toward cross-contamination of the buckwheat, because I did find the labet, and it was some my Mom had bought for me at a country store type place in Ohio. Not a pre-packaged brand, but bulk. Probably stored in bins, and maybe the same scoop used to scoop out the buckwheat that was used to scoop out the regular wheat flour.
I'm going to try a little of the curry powder on my popcorn tonight, so tomorrow I'll know if it was that. Did I mention I LOOOOOVE curry?
Thanks again,

Well, it wasn't the curry. I've tried it, no reaction at all, for which I'm very grateful. I guess now I need to try the buckwheat, just to be sure, but I'm going to wait until I have a day I can spend at home on the toilet, just in case.
Of course, as ViewAskew pointed out, it could have been something else, though it sure did seem like a gluten reaction to me.
Hugs,

Hi loisba, I'm sorry to here about your reaction to the curry? I LOOOVE curry to. I make a mean pot of curry. I use chicken and milk. I was going to say it's the milk bothering you, but you use water. Sooooo, I'm not sure. Anyway you can't stop eating curry, anyway I couldn't. Good Luck, Rashelle