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Coffee should be avoided by those who are Celiac and many who suffer from wheat sensitivity as it contains cross-reactive proteins to gluten.
If you drink coffee, even bulletproof coffee and have gluten sensitivity or celiac, you might want to sit down for this one.
There is a surprising connection between gluten and coffee that is by and large ignored by the health community. This revelation holds ramifications for other autoimmune disorders as well.
The problem has nothing to do with caffeine, so decaf coffee would be included in this discussion.
In a nutshell, fairly recent lab research has revealed that 10% of coffee is a protein that cross-reacts with gluten antibodies.
This means that if you are gluten sensitive or celiac and are avoiding gluten-containing grains or perhaps have even gone completely grain-free if you still drink coffee there is a strong likelihood that the protein in the coffee is triggering the very same gluten-related health problems you are trying to avoid.
In other words, even if you think you are doing fine with your current gluten-free diet, it is very possible that skipping the coffee could take your health to the next level.
Symptoms of Gluten Sensitivity
Most people who are gluten sensitive don’t realize it because gastrointestinal problems like burping, gas, tummy upset, or toilet issues are the least common way for gluten issues to present themselves!
The most common symptoms of gluten sensitivity?
Migraines and other neurological issues – even MS!
Hormone and endocrine problems are another common way for gluten issues to manifest themselves.
How Coffee Triggers Gluten Sensitivity
So what exactly happens when a gluten sensitive person eats gluten?
Folks with gluten antibodies react to any gluten in the diet by mounting an immune response. This means that gluten is perceived by the body as an invader and the gluten antibodies attack the gluten itself trying to destroy it.  This gluten attack is an inflammatory response and inflammation issues can occur anywhere in the body in any tissue or organ.
Here’s the real shocker I came across when researching the coffee/gluten connection:
According to Dr. David Clark DC, functional neurologist and endocrinologist:
There’s not a disease or health condition you can think of that does not have an association – in the research literature – with gluten sensitivity.
That’s a very strong statement!
In essence then, if you are gluten sensitive in any way shape or form, and it seems that most people are whether they know it or not given the epidemic levels of autoimmune issues today, gluten antibodies have the potential to react to proteins in other foods as if they are gluten thereby triggering an immune and inflammatory response.
The protein in coffee is the most common cross-reactor for gluten. Because it is the protein in the coffee that is the trigger, switching to decaf coffee does not solve the problem. Apparently, instant coffee is the worst offender.
Is it possible to be gluten sensitive and not cross-react to coffee? Yes, it’s possible but you’ll have to do some expensive lab testing with a knowledgeable doctor to find out.
Reference
Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences
More Information
You Probably Need to Change WHEN You Drink Coffee
Coffee Enema
Morning Coffee Fix
Caffeine and Chronic Back Pain
Healthy Coffee Substitutes
Historically coffee has often been made from grain. Companies such as Starbucks and General Foods have patents on using “carbohydrates” in coffee. I wrote Starbucks and asked them if they deny that their coffee is a wheat product. They did not deny it, but rather went on a rant on their natural coffee process. General foods has a patent on natural coffee flavor made from fermenting grain, so we know what they mean by natural. There are even inventions on pressing carbohydrates to imitation coffee beans. Coffee is expensive, would a multinational be capable of leaving it alone?
Thank you for this post because I am coeliac and I have been feeling ill off coffee for ages, Drinking loads of decaf I seem to be addicted to it. I know I have to stop now thanks again.
My husband has been diagnosed celiac (after colonoscopy) and has the dermatitus herpeformis rash but was told by his doctor that he DOESN’T have the gluten antibodies in his blood.
Thought maybe it was an allergic reaction to something…but now I’m begining to wonder.
He is a BIG coffee drinker.
Jamie, 3-4 servings of caffeine a day is plenty enough to cause diarrhea, cramping, etc. all by itself in a person with no other health problems. Perhaps the obvious explanation is more likely than that you also have a rare allergy to coffee. It is unlikely the coffee is doing you any permanent harm, but if the symptoms are bothersome to you, I would try drinking less coffee before I would get some expensive lab test of unproven clinical significance.
I have been on a Glueten Free diet now for three weeks and I am still having the same issues. I drink 3 to 4 cups of black coffee a day. This really stinks… I love my coffee. I wonder if it was just the coffee the entire time.???
If this is true, thanks for the ‘heads up’.
This also may be of (added) interest.
I have read a few times, that one should avoid freeze dried coffee, as that has gluten in it.
Rob down Under
PS Perhaps the freeze drying process makes the protein discussed in your article more availalble (aka worse for us who are gluten intolerant)