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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
I just have to chime in and say that just because you eat gluten free doesn’t mean you’re not being cross-contaminated, etc, as such would cause your body to have the antibodies that would cross-react with the coffee. I’ve been diligently gluten free for 6 years and still occasionally get ‘glutened.’ I DO drink daily coffee and will be quitting it today in order to see if it’s a problem for me.
Yes, all the more reason to fix the gut wall and heal/seal the colon so that cross reactivity is no longer a concern. GAPS Diet is the way to go. The modern plague of our culture is an imbalanced and overall very messed up gut environment from all the processed foods and pharmaceuticals.
What I am saying is just my personal experience. HOWEVER, I have found decaf coffee to be beneficial for my gluten intolerance coupled with low stomach acid issues. I supplement with Betaine HCL/ pepsin also, but I find that due to the acidic nature of coffee it settles my stomach when I drink it with food.
I’m Italian and I suffer from GS, I can not drink coffee because it causes me great agitation and confusion. But I think that, unfortunately, is a party also magnesium, can not eat almonds, which contain much. Some of you is?
you could do a test then refer to me the effects?
mail: [email protected]
(I am sorry for the translation)
I would like to see facts and research on this, 8 Oclock coffee is gluten free and I have Celiac & my gut is fine after I drink it, and I have non of the issues that I did when eating gluten. I would like to see proof of your claims. Seems as though people are alarmist about coffee lately, I want to make sure this isn’t another one of those posts.
Great site, I just want research not someones personal opinion. Thanks!
the problem is certainly important for people with gluten sensitivity, but for those with acclaimed celiac disease I think that there are no problem. I have the GS and I can not drink it.
I have actual celiac a no problems 🙂
Can you send me some specific medical documentation on this? I would appreciate it. Thank you for posting.
I would hope people continue to drink coffee and ignore this pseudo-science. Stop encouraging orthorexia. This whole story is designed to increase cyrex lab’s bottom line. There is no scientific literature backing up your claims.
I do not condone people drinking coffee for a number of reasons, but I’d like to see/read the study before I officially start agreeing with this from a GF standpoint. Do you have any more information about where the study has been published?
This is very interesting! Explains why I started having “reactions” to coffee, including decaf. Occurred before I worked out that gluten was problematic for me though. And I have a similar, less pronounced reaction to green & black tea too, any chance of a link with those too?
Can’t do coffee or green or black tea here too. I’ve been a heavy coffee drinker since I was 18, but since going GF with Celiac diagnosis in 1995 I began to,have problems with coffee. I at first thought it was CC problems with coffee and would switch brands regularly, usually to the more expensive small organic rosters who would guarantee no gluten ever near the beans. Many switches were to no avail, with glutening symptoms showing up within a few days and then I would have to give away my expensive coffee because it had ‘gluten’ in it. Saw this news last summer and did NOT want to believe it, but after starting on GAPS to deal with severe leaky gut problems and stopping coffee, it IS true!! I have given the coffee trials 3 times now in 6 months, and my body most definitely cross reacts to coffee as if it was gluten. The stronger the brew, the faster and stronger the reaction. This is also proven in my son and my husband, who also gave up the coffee to see if it was problematic—-and coffee drinking trials in them prove it is also. For all the naysayers—-try it yourself before you debunk someone else’s personal physical response. I still LOVE coffee, but am so grateful I now have another key to my health solved.
Coffee is my socially accepted, comforting drug. I think I’d rather die early than give it up.
Thanks for more great info …. I’ll think about it 🙂
I had a cup of coffee the other day and I paid for it soon after. I will not be drinking coffee umtil finished with Gaps. Green tea is for me.