If gluten is harmless for a majority of individuals, it happens that its consumption leads to an allergy or food intolerance.

Gluten intolerance can be difficult to diagnose because clinical signs do not appear immediately and may be innocuous.

Once the diagnosis is confirmed, it is vital to adopt new eating habits.

Gluten: where is it hiding?

Gluten can be found in most foods *:

• Flour of wheat, barley, wheat, spelled, kamut, rye.
• Unleavened bread.
• Breadcrumbs.
• Rusks, toasts, pastries, cookies (appetizers and sweet), industrial cakes, gingerbread, cereals for breakfast (muesli, oatmeal).
• Wheat semolina, vermicelli, pasta, pizza, ravioli, gnocchi, cannelloni, potatoes Dauphine, bulgur.
• Meat and cooked fish (breaded, canned, in sauce, crust).
• Hamburger.
• Cold meats with a bite to the queen, West Indian pudding, pie.
• Crustaceans and molluscs in sauce, industrial dumplings.
• Prepared dishes in sauce, frozen or freeze-dried dishes, cooked green vegetables, gluten-free cereal-based meals.
• Purees, soups and sauces (instant, canned).
• Sauces made from wheat flour, soy sauce, tamari sauce, bouillon concentrate (powder, cube), tomato, mayonnaise, mustard and prepared vinaigrettes.
• Yoghurt and fresh cheese with cereals.
• Industrial confectionery, ice cream (cornet), industrial chocolate, pastries, crêpes and waffles with wheat flour, icing sugar, vanilla sugar, baking powder, figs dried in flour.
• Frozen pie dough.
• Beers and coolers.

But it can also be found in ingredients for making certain foods (malt, cereal starch, thickeners ...).

How to follow a gluten free diet?

Gluten intolerant people should avoid eating the foods listed above.

The moment of shopping at the supermarket is very important: it is thought to check the label of the products purchased (especially when it comes to processed industrial products) to check that they do not contain any.

In the case of a gluten-free diet, it will be necessary to replace these foods with others in order to receive the right dose of nutrients.

Fortunately, most stores offer a gluten-free product line. Otherwise, we can turn to shops offering products from organic farming, all of which have some departments dedicated to "gluten-free".

There are also books in which you can find a multitude of recipes based on foods and ingredients allowed under this scheme.

And for those who do not want to ignore the outings to the restaurant, we reassure you: many addresses now offer a kitchen or some dishes 100% "gluten free".

* See the complete list on the website of the French Association of Gluten Intolerants: www.afdiag.fr/