Gluten Intolerance

This is clearly a Tea Room topic, but I have a serious question:

Does “free-from” Bread [so called] really need to be so expensive and so revolting ?

t’other day, I made the mistake of buying a 400g loaf from Tesco … proudly displaying the “Tesco finest” branding and reduced from £3.00 to £1.50

“ Seeded Loaf” Baked with a blend of five seeds including sunflower and poppy seeds for a rich flavour”.

I took two slices and made a Peanut Butter sandwich to have with Coffee.

… it was a struggle to eat it; and the rest of the loaf went straight in the bin.

The taste is definitely the wrong side of mediocre, and the texture is revolting … it just falls-apart in the mouth … This is not Bread.

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I am fortunate not to have Gluten Intolerance, but there are presumably some here who do … so I ask: Is all “free-from” food this bad, or is any of it a pleasure to eat ?

MichaelG.

Since gluten is what holds the structure of the bread together, the bread is going to be a bit odd without it. As for the taste, rice and wheat don't taste the same as each other!

Have to agree about most supermarket "free-from" bread being awful.

I was recommended gluten free bread from a company called Rana's Bakery, which is the best I've come across and all I buy now. https://www.mygfbakery.com/

No connection, just a very satisfied customer.

David

Thanks for the link. David

As I mentioned, I don’t personally have any need for Gluten Free, but I was so appalled by what I bought from Tesco that my heart went out to those who do.

MichaelG.

I once made the mistake of buying a "free from" sandwich from M&S and yes, it was pretty horrid.

I put it in the same category as vegan cheese. It is possible to make bread from other grains so why not do so instead of making something which pretends to be ordinary wheaten bread?

That Tesco seeded is one of the 'better' gluten free breads. The fact that it was reduced implies that it was far from fresh. I do indeed suffer from coeliac disease so have no choice but to endure these offerings. Believe me they are infinitely better than those available 15 years ago.

All the gluten free loaves dry out very quickly and I find keeping them in the fridge helps to maintain a reasonable texture. Genius, Warburton and Promise all do reasonable facsimiles of 'real' bread. The supermarket own brands are, shall we say variable.

Other grains whilst available aren't necessarily useful for bread making and coeliac sufferers can't have anything with wheat, barley or rye as all contain gluten. The usual flour mixes these days use rice, potato and corn flour along with a few more exotic grains for flavour. Texture remains the big stumbling block with the usual additive being xanthan gum to hold things together.

One day they will find a cure but until then it is make do with non-bread bread, so to speak and pay the exorbitant prices for said exotic concoctions. Usually at least twice the price of a normal loaf. So enjoy the cheap sliced white while you may. Coeliac disease is thought to affect as many as 1 in 100 people and of those probably at least 75% are undiagnosed Just putting up with 'a bad gut' frequently fobbed off with a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome.

Oh well, just grin and bear it.

John

My eldest granddaughter has to avoid wheat and dairy. I can attest to the terrible taste in comparison to what most of us eat. Fortunately her mother likes cooking including making her own bread so this enables her to avoid the mass produced dietary foods. Now that she is teenager she is learning to cook for herself but still has to be reminded of the effects of not following her diet.

I dont think that it stops with buggered bread. I once tried caffeine free coffee. Never again - what muck, in my opinion. Vaguely recall other foods that have been tampered with. "Nowt taken out"?? Ah, but what muck has been put in that has not been mentioned, disguised by bullshit wording? " Hydrolised vegetable fats"? Other dodges like gravy browning to darken a cake because it's a cheaper ingredient than black treacle. Now I wont touch anything like that. Fortunately, I dont have too many health problems. I am pre - diabetic so dont touch iced cakes but very occasionally have a small amount of "marzipan" as I find the flavour irresistible. Go easy on it since its sugar paste with colouring and flavouring. Having had a double bypass some years ago, I'm now on 6 prescriptions for life, in theory, but the aspirin causes internal bleeding, so I very often 'forget' to take it. Some of the other medicines sometimes get forgotten due to their interference with my sense of balance such that biking has ceased as I feel that I'm a danger to myself wobbling about. Not supposed to eat grapefruit, a favourite, as it allegedly interferes with medication. Had one last week and still busy gardening, workshop, walking everyday. I take the view that many things are 'bad' for me but I enjoy them in moderation and stay happy. I feel that my careful behaviour with foods and drink, won't make much difference to my longevity so enjoy life. 'Summat' will get me sooner or later even if I do give up so many of my favourite foods, so why do it and snuff it anyway even after a few remaining years being miserable taking notice of "experts" saying I shouldn't eat this or that. I do realise that some people suffer from various ailments that mean it's imperative that they avoid certain foods and I sympathise. I said pre or borderline diabetic so I counter that with continued gradual weight loss, almost no alcohol, daily walks and try to keep as active as possible. Now mid -70 s so whatever I do now won't make much difference. Would just like to hang around long enough to draw out a darn sight more pension than what I ever paid in for!

Edited By DMB on 20/07/2023 21:59:36

I tried a gluten free beer made from chestnuts once. Guess what it tasted like.

Beer.

If they can do that, then surely they can make edible food without gluten?

It's like with fat, gluten is the tasty stuff that holds it all together

The totally fat free milk is totally taste free milk to me

I fear that I may have expressed myself badly. Other grains may be used to make a form of bread, but without gluten, it may be difficult for the dough to support the bubbles formed by the CO2 released by yeast. So in truth, you have pastry.

So if you cannot eat bread, eat pastry (or cake ). To the manufacturers, please do not describe pastry as bread; and please do not make pastry mimic bread because that is simply bad pastry.

I had digestive problems for many years and it was suspected that I was gluten intolerant so proper bread was out of bounds, I found that baking our own bread using Spelt flour seemed the answer. Spelt flour is from an ancient wheat that was brought here I believe by the Romans, most people with gluten intolerance can tolerate it well, it is different from normal bread flour which comes from what is generically known as Canadian wheat which was genetically selected at the time of World War Two because it gives much enhanced yields and helped feed more people when supplies were scarce. It has continued in use because of its greater yield it is far more profitable to grow, its genetic make up makes it unsuited to those with gluten problems. The Spelt bread that I used to bake was virtually indistinguishable from shop bought bread, it’s taste was no different nor its texture when compared with shop bread, I must comment that the gluten free breads available commercially taste disgusting. My digestive problem turned out to be not the gluten content of bread but the yeast it contained, I get allergic reactions from both yeast and yeast extract contained in food products. Unfortunately yeast extract is used widely in processed foods as a flavour enhancer to disguise the poor quality of ingredients used like cheap meats etc. Now having all but excluded any yeasts in my diet, and yes that means beer and wine both made using yeast, I can sometimes tolerate some sourdough breads because they use a different strain of yeast and are prepared differently than ordinary bread, one consequence of excluding yeast from my diet is that very bad excema that I suffered on my hands has completely disappeared, my dermatologist said that there was a common link between the two. Dave W

At least with things like bread and milk non-concerned people have a choice.

Not so with Rowntrees (fruit pastilles and others)... and they're predictably awful. All to get a substitute for gelatin which comes from cows (not Cowes, that's IOW).

(I thought cows were vegetarian anyway).

Edited By Peter Greene on 21/07/2023 01:04:49

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That’s a classic case of something I mentioned recently … advice being given on the basis of research that the advisor doesn’t properly understand.

Grapefruit does ‘interfere’ with some medication, and that interference is typically in the nature of “supercharging” the performance of the drug … BUT … the research was based on people who were drinking grapefruit juice in large quantity.

MichaelG.

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Edit: __  current advice from a well-informed soirce:

https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/grapefruit-juice-and-some-drugs-dont-mix#:~:text=Many%20drugs%20are%20broken%20down,much%20drug%20in%20your%20body.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 21/07/2023 06:48:27

My wife has recently become lactose intolerant. Turns out that's quite common as people age. She now uses soy milk or other dairy substitutes for coffee where the actual taste is somewhat disguised, but you can buy decent lactose free cream and importantly lactase tablets to take if you do eat lactose containing food. This is useful because it turns out that not all lactose free foods are 0% lactose and also there are a lot of foods that have milk or milk products listed in their ingredients.

She bought some lactose free cheese that has a slightly odd texture but is not too bad otherwise but cheeses come in many textures so may just be the cheese texture. However she tried doing cheese on toast with it and that resulted in something that failed to resemble cheese on toast.

Taking the lactase tablets before eating means she can eat things she would now have to avoid so that means pizza, or pasta carbonara is still on the menu as are many curries that use dairy in their sauces and anything with butter is risky. The things that she would most miss (I think) are chocolate and cream cakes. She bought some lactose free chocolate and that was no different from ordinary chocolate, except it turns out that if you eat enough (70g) it is not 100% lactose free.

Martin c

In mammals, milk is a food produced for baby animals . Usually, the ability to digest milk, in particular to break down lactose, is lost as a baby animal is weaned.

Some humans have a mutation which allows them to continue to produce lactase, and therefore digest lactose , into adulthood. It is not normal in most mammals and it is not the norm in most humans either, only about 35% of people have this mutation and are lactose tolerant. It really is not a food designed for any mammal after weaning.

I never had a problem until a few years ago but now seem to suffer from various issues after eating and wondered if this might be a contributing factor. I drink a moderate amount of tea daily plus fairly standard amounts of other ' normal ' stuff and have tried removing milk where possible but with inconsistent results ( as it appears to be in everything in varying amounts, but is usually labelled as one of the allergens) But how much is too much? is there any sort of test you can take to find out if you have this issue to a greater or lesser degree?

regards Mike

There is a link between coeliac disease and lactose intolerance. Once on a gluten free diet however the lactose intolerance will likely improve. Other side effects of untreated coeliac disease include iron deficiency anaemia, B12 (folate) deficiency anaemia and osteoporosis. It also has links to dermatitis herpetiformis about a 1 in 4 chance of getting that.

Coeliac disease is unlikely to see you off but can be unpleasant and debilitating.

John

DMB,

Hydrolysed Vegetable fats = margerine

Other contributors

Sourdough bread is equally disgusting

Cadbury chocalate has become like all USA choc ugh!

Is IBS just a generic term to cover all effects not properly understood as a specific problem?