If you’ve been reading a while you know by now how important it is to stay away from gluten, especially if you have celiac disease! There is a lot more to it than just making sure your food doesn’t have gluten containing ingredients – you also need to be sure that it hasn’t been contaminated. Fortunately, home test kits for gluten are available and today is your chance to win!
I like GlutenTox because it allows you to choose how sensitive of a test you want to run. Some people find that they are sensitive to gluten at levels far below the widely accepted 20 ppm. Others don’t feel many symptoms but know damage is being done and don’t want to take their chances. Testing can also be valuable if you are trying to figure out other food sensitivities.
Whether you are testing a product labeled “gluten-free” or a raw ingredient that could have been contaminated in a bulk bin, packaging facility, or by roommates, GlutenTox can give you peace of mind. I’ve heard of people using the test kits in restaurants, but honestly, it seems kind of impractical to me. It might make sense to do it the first time you visit a particular restaurant you plan on visiting regularly.
GlutenTox sent me a two-pack to try it out for myself. (I was not obligated to give a positive review or do a giveaway). I decided to test a mushroom I bought at the store and an egg from our hens. I’ve been curious about these foods because I’d heard rumors that mushrooms are often grown on straw and contaminated. I also wondered about our eggs, since we do have straw in the coop and the feed that we use contains gluten. Both eggs and mushrooms sometimes upset my digestion, so I thought I’d see if gluten was involved.
In retrospect I wish I had done one of the tests on something I *knew* had gluten – just so I could be sure the tests would give a positive result. As it turned out, both my mushroom and my egg were free of gluten cross-contamination according to the tests I ran. Both my tests came back negative at the 5 ppm level. Since Kid2 hasn’t felt sick from eating those foods (though he’s not a big fan of mushrooms), I feel pretty confident the tests were accurate.
The kits reminded me a lot of a pregnancy test. Basically, you grind up your sample, mix it in the solution, then apply a little drop of the solution to the test stick and wait five minutes for your answer. One line means the test is working, two lines means the test is working and you have a positive result.
This post is part of Allergy Free Wednesdays, Freaky Friday, Monday Mania, Traditional Tuesdays, Fat Tuesday.
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Would love to check for sensitivity–I’ve been tested multiple times for IgA & IgG which have come back negative though my symptoms are indicative of gluten sensitivity. I’m likely going to eliminate completely regardless, but would like the assurance for a more accurate/specific test.
Thanks!
I was just diagnosed gluten intolerant. What a great item to have for verification of gluten free foods.
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I subscribe to your newsletter! Thanks so much for this opportunity. I need this in the worst way!
That test kit is a really cool thing to have. My 2 yr old has Celiac’s and it does make things hard since she doesn’t understand she can’t have certain things. This would take the guess work out.
I’d love to have this! I’m on the autoimmune protocol, and it would be nice to see if I’m actually sensitive to the things I haven’t been eating.
I signed up for the newsletter because I am interested in getting the gluten-free test kit 🙂
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I signed up for the newsletter…can’t wait to read it!
This would be excellent for me 2 use for my 3 year old & 7 month old! Thx 4 the offer! I hope we win!
Too bad we didn’t have some of these at the last celiac disease/gluten intolerance support group meeting. We had a crock-pot potluck where everyone brought a dish made in a crockpot so we could share recipes, especially for those who were new to being gluten free. Unfortunately a couple of people who ate that night got sick from an apparent cross contamination.
I’m sorry to hear that some people got sick! I’m always wary of potlucks, even with other gluten-free people. So many people who are new to being gluten-free don’t take the same precautions that we do, and don’t notice the effects of cross-contamination as much. I hope that the exposure some people suffered was a wakeup call to everyone who participated to reevaluate whether they are really 100% gluten-free!