🌾Gluten-free diet
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. For people with coeliac disease even small amounts damage the gut, so the only treatment is a strict gluten-free diet for life. Others avoid gluten because of a wheat allergy or gluten sensitivity.
🔬What it means
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition: gluten makes the immune system attack the lining of the small intestine, which then absorbs nutrients poorly. It affects about 1 in 100 people, and many of them do not know they have it.
It is different from a wheat allergy (an allergic reaction that can be sudden and severe) and from non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (discomfort after gluten without damage to the gut). A doctor can tell them apart — please get tested before cutting out gluten, because the tests only work while you are still eating it.
✅What you can eat
- 🍚Rice, corn (maize), potatoes, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, amaranth, sorghum and teff — naturally gluten-free.
- 🥩Meat, fish, seafood, eggs, milk and cheese in their natural form.
- 🥦Fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds.
- 🏷️Products labelled “gluten-free” (in the EU, UK and US this means no more than 20 mg of gluten per kg).
- 🥣Oats only if labelled gluten-free: ordinary oats are often contaminated with wheat, and a small number of people with coeliac disease react even to pure oats.
🚫What to avoid
- 🍞Wheat in any form: bread, pasta, couscous, bulgur, semolina, spelt, durum, kamut, freekeh.
- 🍺Barley and rye, including malt, malt extract and ordinary beer (malt vinegar contains so little gluten that Coeliac UK considers it safe).
- 🍰Most cakes, biscuits, pastries, pizza and breakfast cereals.
- 🍤Breaded or battered food: schnitzel, fish and chips, tempura, nuggets.
- 🥫Hidden sources: soy sauce (usually brewed with wheat), stock cubes, gravy and sauces thickened with flour, seitan, some sausages and ready meals.
- 🍽️Cross-contact: shared toasters, fryers, chopping boards and flour in the air of a bakery.
⚠️What happens if you eat gluten
With coeliac disease, even a small amount — crumbs from a shared toaster — restarts the immune reaction. Symptoms can appear within hours and last for days: diarrhoea or constipation, bloating, stomach pain, nausea, tiredness, headaches. Some people have no symptoms at all, but the damage to the gut still happens.
If gluten keeps getting into the diet, the gut cannot heal and absorbs less iron, calcium, folate and vitamin B12. Over time this can lead to anaemia, weaker bones (osteoporosis), and in children to slower growth. Untreated coeliac disease is also linked to a small increase in the risk of some gut cancers.
With gluten sensitivity, gluten causes discomfort but no lasting damage. With a wheat allergy, a reaction can be quick and, rarely, severe — see below.
🚑When to get help urgently
If after eating you have swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, difficulty breathing or swallowing, or feel faint — this can be anaphylaxis, which is possible with a wheat allergy — use an adrenaline auto-injector if you have one and call emergency services immediately. Lie down with legs raised (or sit up if it is hard to breathe) and do not stand up suddenly. See a doctor if you have long-lasting diarrhoea, weight loss, or anaemia without a clear cause.
📱How Me Nutrition helps
Every dish in the app and on this site is marked gluten-free or not, with the ingredient that decides it. Recipes differ, so always check with whoever cooked the dish.
Dishes that fit: 1161
Sources
Written from the sources below; not reviewed by a doctor. Not medical advice. How we count →