Foods you can eat if you are allergic to wheat

With time and a little practice, alternative staples to wheat can be found for just about everything, and ready-made products can be sourced such as wheat-free pasta. For wheat-free bread, oat, rye and corn-based breads offer plenty of options. Using whole ancient grains, such as quinoa, millet, and buckwheat, will help replace the B vitamins and minerals usually found in wheat-based products.

For home baking, there are many wheat-free flours available with different properties to trial and make tasty biscuits, cakes, and pastries. Finely crushed cornflakes make a good substitute for breadcrumbs, and corn or potato starch are alternatives to thicken sauces. Keep reading to learn more about wheat-free eating.

Wheat can be found in bread, rolls, bakery products, pastries, pies, pizza, biscuits, cakes, breakfast cereals, muesli, granola, pasta, noodles, couscous, semolina, breaded meat and fish, wheat-based beer, and in many packaged and processed foods, sweets, and sauces, often including soy sauce.

Wheat has many other varieties and forms, including bulgar wheat, durum wheat, whole wheat, einkorn, emmer wheat, farro wheat, freekah, kamut (khorasan wheat), triticale, wheat bran, wheat germ, and wheat rusk.

Wheat is not naturally present in fruit, vegetables, nuts, meat, poultry, fish or dairy, but it is important to carefully read labels to identify any wheat-containing additives in processed versions of any of these foods.

People with celiac disease or who have gluten intolerance also avoid wheat flour, which contains gluten, as well as barley and rye. Barley, rye, and oats are OK for a wheat-free diet, although they can be mixed with wheat flour, so it is important to be cautious and read food labels carefully.

Here are some grains that are safe to eat if you have a wheat allergy:

• Rice
• Quinoa
• Oat (look for gluten free to be safe)
• Rice
• Corn
• Buckwheat
• Amaranth
• Legumes
• Sorghum
• Tapioca
• Millet
• Teff
• Arrowroot

In the European Union, US and other countries, food producers are required to indicate the presence of wheat in their product labeling.

Although buying gluten free-labeled products may be a generally useful approach, it is still important to carefully read ingredient labels as some gluten-free products may contain certified gluten-free wheat starch. Eating gluten-free wheat starch can trigger an allergic reaction in someone with a wheat allergy.

Wheat allergy is an allergic reaction to foods containing wheat, which, in some cases, can also be triggered by inhaling wheat flour.

Wheat allergy is most common in small children, who often outgrow wheat allergy, but adults can also develop a wheat allergy. Up to 1% of children in the US have a wheat allergy with two-thirds of children likely to have outgrown their wheat allergy by the time they are 12 years old (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19492663/).

Wheat allergy symptoms show up on the skin and in the respiratory tract, often directly after meals. Wheat allergy can also cause indigestion, which may occur some time after eating wheat.

Symptoms of wheat allergy include swelling, itching or irritation of the mouth or throat, hives, itchy rash or swelling of the skin, nasal congestion, headaches, difficulty breathing, cramps, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.

In some cases, wheat allergy can cause a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis with severe symptoms including chest pain, swelling or tightness in the throat, severe breathing difficulty, trouble swallowing, and dizziness or fainting.

If you think you or your child has a wheat allergy, you should make a note of reactions and food eaten, and consult with a doctor to arrange for allergy testing.