The Doctor Gluten Project

Gluten is the elastic protein that is left behind after starch is washed away from wheat flour.  However, gluten is actually made up of two main groups of proteins: the gliadins and the glutenins.

When these gluten proteins are digested, they are broken down into much smaller pieces (these are called peptide chains).  Several of these peptide chains have been shown to be harmful to coeliac disease patients when these peptides are put directly into the small intestine.

There are similar peptide chains in rye and barley proteins.  However, oat proteins have similar, but slightly different peptide chains – so these may not be harmful to coeliac patients.

When we talk about a "gluten-free diet," we are actually talking about our food being free of the harmful peptides from wheat, rye, barley, and (possibly) oats.  This means eliminating virtually all foods made from these grains.  This is regardless of whether these foods contain gluten in the very strict sense.