A Paleo Primer on “Gluten-free” Beer

For many people, beer is the big stumbling block when considering the Paleo diet.

“Can I drink beer?”, with a look of alarm, is the first response one hears (usually from men) when explaining it.

So finding a beer alternative becomes a pretty high priority, for most folks who decide they want to adopt the diet.

I recently encountered a new species of the genus “gluten-free beer” and it was an interesting experiment for me.

My last regular beer…

First, a little background.  Before going Paleo three years ago somewhat against my will, I was a connoisseur of micro-brews and single-malt Scotch, both of which are brewed from barley (generally).  In hindsight the fact that I avoided beers brewed from wheat (weissbeer, in the trade) because they made me feel “not right”, and the fact that the hangovers I got from drinking scotch or beer were far, far worse than from any other alcohol should have clued me in that something was amiss, but I just assumed that it was “normal”.  And it was, for me, but it was not good.

The first sign that something had changed in my diet in a permanent fashion was when I gave my stock of beer and scotch to a friend.  (That friend is now also pursuing a wheat-free diet.)  That gift was prompted by my last attempt to enjoy a regular beer, back when I was gauging my tolerance to wheat.  I wound up waking up in the middle of the night in agony with intestinal cramps.  Not fun; I haven’t had a regular beer since.

Shortly thereafter I realized that I wasn’t a freak: I discovered that Anheuser-Busch, the brewers of Budweiser, had a gluten-free beer, “made without wheat or barley”.  Huzzah!  Redbridge is brewed from sorghum and was introduced by AB in 2006. They were way ahead of the curve…  The taste is a bit different, however.  Within the range of microbrewery beers, I think, but I’m not mad about it.  The Beer Advocate rates it as average, but the user ratings are “poor”.

There are some other sorghum-based beers around, some are better than others.  One of the better ones I’ve found recently (courtesy of my local liquor store) is New Grist, which is a light, summery beer.  The Beer Advocate crowd, with brutal honesty, also gives it a “poor”, and one rater says:

“So hard to rate these gluten free beers.. to be honest they are all bad, but if they were the only option I'm sure they would be fine. This one has a light taste to it that might be good for a summer beer.”

That’s a little harsh.  I’ve given friends these gluten-free beers, and no-one’s made an issue out of it, most people’s reaction is “it’s fine”.

If you happen to be in Vermont, a local brewery called the Alchemist produces a beer called Celia (get it?) which is pretty good, it rises to a stellar “average” with the BA crew.  If you’ve wondered what a brewmaster would make if his wife couldn’t drink beer, this is your answer (she is gluten intolerant).

Sorghum beers solve the problem of gluten by making beer from a grain that doesn’t contain gluten.  But, as you may have gathered, the taste is different.  So it was with great interest that I recently discovered a new variety of “gluten-free” beer, which are brewed from barley, but reduce the gluten content during the brewing process.

I was recently in Nashville, Tennessee attending an open-mic night at a local bar, and had just given the waitress my usual “I’m allergic to wheat” speech when she mentioned that they had a gluten-free beer that they’d just picked up.  Cool!  I ordered a bottle, took a sip, and… Head rush. 

(I’m not actually allergic to wheat, but that’s the easiest way to get them to take it as seriously as I do.)

The first symptom I get when I eat something that contains wheat or barley is a head rush.  It happens within seconds, and may be related to this phenomenon: “Beer's Taste Alone Gets People a Little High”; although that study blames it on alcohol, not beer.  I don’t get the effect with any other alcohol-containing beverage, and I do get it when I eat something non-alcoholic that does contain wheat, like soy sauce.

The mark of a gluten-free beer, in Europe

So I started looking all over the bottle for the “gluten-free” label.  There was none.  I went and spoke to the bartender and the manager, they assured me that the whole reason they’d picked up the brand was because it was gluten-free.  So I went back to my seat (the music hadn’t started yet) and got to work.

It turns out that they were right, and wrong, that this beer was gluten free. 

In Europe, a beer (or a food) can be labeled “gluten-free” if it contains less than 20 parts-per-million (ppm) of gluten.  This beer, Estrella Damm Daura, purports to contain only 6 ppm, and indeed, the beer’s web site states that it’s “A beer suitable for people with coeliac disease…” 

But the bottle in my hand didn’t have the gluten-free label on it.  Why not?

That’s a bit of a story.  It turns out that beer in the United States is regulated by the Department of the Treasury, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), not the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as you would expect.  For further confusion, hard cider (more about which later) does carry a gluten-free label.

The difference is a key one, and (for once) a very logical decision made by the TTB (PDF). (Although why this would be covered under the “Homeland Security Act of 2002” is a mystery… Was Al-Qaeda attempting to poison us with mislabeled gluten-free beer?)

“Currently, there is no FDA regulation that defines the term “gluten-free.” In the preamble to a final rule on the declaration of ingredients on food packaging published in the Federal Register of January 6, 1993 (58 FR 2850 at 2864), FDA advised that the term “gluten-free” could be used in the labeling of foods, provided that when such claim is used, it is truthful and not misleading. Generally, and absent regulations to the contrary, FDA stated that it would regard a claim that a food is “free” of a substance as false or misleading if the food contains that substance.”

The TTB looks to the FDA for guidance on the meaning of the term gluten-free.  Since it’s not defined, they decided that beers like Daura could not use the term gluten-free, since they’re not.  They’re gluten-reduced.  Close, but no cigar.  When Daura was originally launched, it carried a label that said gluten-free, but not any more.  So is it, or is not “suitable for people with coeliac disease”?

Back to the FDA:

“In 2004, the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA), (Public Law 108-282, Title II) was signed into law. Section 206 of FALCPA required the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue a rule to define and permit the term “gluten-free” on the labeling of foods. Accordingly, on January 23, 2007, the FDA published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register (72 FR 2795) proposing to define the term “gluten-free” for voluntary use in the labeling of foods. Under the proposed FDA rule, a product may be labeled as gluten-free if it does not contain any of the following:

1. “An ingredient that is a prohibited grain (wheat, barley, rye, or crossbred hybrids of those grains);
2. “An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has not been processed to remove gluten;
3. “An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has been processed to remove gluten if use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20 ppm or more gluten in the food; or
4. “20 ppm or more gluten.”

That makes sense.  Now under that ruling, you’d think that Estrella would have gotten back the right to label Daura as gluten-free, right?  All they have to do is prove that their beer has less than 20ppm of gluten…

Well, that appears to be the sticking point.  The FDA hasn’t issued a final definition of “gluten-free” that would include foods made from wheat or barley but with the gluten removed, because:

“FDA recognizes that for some food matrices (e.g., fermented or hydrolyzed foods), there are no currently available validated methods that can be used to accurately determine if these foods contain < 20 ppm gluten. In such cases, FDA is considering whether to require manufacturers of such foods to have a scientifically valid method that will reliably and consistently detect gluten at 20 ppm or less before including a ‘gluten-free’ claim in the labeling of their foods….

“…In other words, a scientifically valid test is one that consistently and reliably does what it is intended to do.”

And we don’t have one.  So:

“Many alcohol beverage products subject to the FAA Act are produced without any ingredients that contain gluten. For example, a wine fermented from grapes, or a vodka distilled from potatoes, may be “gluten-free” if the producer used good manufacturing practices, took adequate precautions to prevent cross-contamination, and did not use additives, yeast, or storage materials that contained gluten. Under this interim policy, TTB will allow the use of a “gluten-free” claim in the labeling and advertising of such products. As always, it will be the responsibility of the importer or bottler of the product to ensure that the claim is truthful and accurate. TTB has further determined that it would be inherently misleading for products produced from grains containing gluten or their derivatives to make a “gluten-free” claim or a claim of specific gluten content levels absent a means to verify the accuracy of that statement through scientifically validated methods or other reliable means as might be revealed through FDA rulemaking.”

Regulatory bodies have many issues, but it’s tough to argue with the stance TTB is taking: prove it’s gluten-free, or don’t say it is.

Given all that, did I take a second sip of the bottle of Daura?

I did.  I finished the bottle  The things I do for science.

I felt like crap.  Got the droopy, tired feeling that I get after the head rush.  That lasted for an hour or so.  And it’s obvious enough that people ask me if I’m feeling OK.  Then I got some intestinal cramps, minor ones, but still…  I did not get diarrhea the next day, so that’s a plus.  Now mind you, this was the first barley-beer I’ve had in almost three years.

Then, a few days later, I got an asthma attack, when running a race.  I had more of an attack that afternoon, when mountain biking.  A couple of days later, I got a massive pimple on my nose.  I haven’t had an asthma attack in warm weather in years, so long I can’t remember when.  I haven’t gotten a zit in years, since before going paleo.  With my daughter, I can tell how much wheat she’s been eating by her skin and her allergies (which have continued to be minimal).  So both those effects are a red flag to me.

Now you might say that asthma’s to be expected, it’s spring time.  But I’ve not had a hint of allergies since then, even though it’s gotten warmer since, and everything is now blooming.  There are tons of anecdotal reports of exercise-induced asthma resolving on a gluten-free diet, and:

“The recent literature underlines the frequency of wheat allergy in exercise-induced anaphylaxis. The initial symptom reported by our patient was an allergic reaction related to exercise that progressed secondarily toward chronic urticaria without a direct relationship to exercise. Through the positivity of the oral challenge test and the effectiveness of the elimination diet for wheat flour, we documented the role that wheat allergy played in provoking his symptoms, both chronic urticaria and asthma. The elements that initially led us to the hypothesis of an allergy to wheat flour were based on the frequent implication of wheat flour in triggering exercise-induced anaphylaxis and on the analysis of the food survey, which revealed a large consumption of wheat flour.”

Urticaria is a skin condition.

There are, as it turns out, lots of other accounts of people having bad reactions to Daura.  But some folks report that they’re fine.  This is not surprising.  As Chris Kresser pointed out recently:

“Here’s the crucial thing to understand: Celiac disease is characterized by an immune response to a specific epitope of gliadin (alpha-gliadin) and a specific type of transglutaminase (tTG-2). But we now know that people can (and do) react to several other components of wheat and gluten — including other epitopes of gliadin (beta, gamma, omega), glutenin, WGA and deamidated gliadin – as well as other types of transglutaminase, including type 3 (primarily found in the skin) and type 6 (primarily found in the brain). (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

“This is a huge problem because conventional lab testing for CD and of gluten intolerance only screens for antibodies to alpha-gliadin and transglutaminase-2. If you’re reacting to any other fractions of the wheat protein (e.g., beta-gliadin, gamma-gliadin or omega-gliadin), or any other types of transglutaminase (e.g., type 3 or type 6), you’ll test negative for CD and gluten intolerance no matter how severely you’re reacting to wheat.”

Wheat-Germ Agglutinin (WGA) is toxic to 100% of people; and there’s Lord knows what else.

So it might be OK for celiac disease (although that remains to be seen) but it’s not OK for me.  I think that if you have any reaction to any wheat-related grain (wheat, barley, rye), you shouldn’t ever eat any of it.  But it’s a difficult thing to figure out what products made from wheat still contain a hazardous amount of wheat.

I just learned that my favorite vodka, Kettle One, is made from wheat.  It was, ironically, a martini made with Kettle One vodka that introduced me to the notion that the hangovers I got from beer or scotch were not from alcohol.  (Meaning I could drink enough alcohol to give me a hangover, but it wasn’t nearly so bad as the wheat poisoning I’d been suffering from.)  And I’ve continued to be able to drink Kettle One, and will continue to do so.  I have no adverse reaction to it whatsoever.  Vodka’s so purified that it’s pretty much just water and alcohol, but be mindful if you try it.

Mmm…

So I’ll pass on the Estrella Damm Daura, thanks.  And you know what?  It wasn’t all that great.  (Despite winning awards as “Best Gluten-Free Beer”, the critics at the Beer Advocate rate it a slightly higher “average” than the gluten-free beers discussed before.)  Drinking that beer made me realize that I much prefer the hard cider I generally consume as an alcoholic beverage.  I really don’t miss beer that much, after all.  I certainly don’t miss the side-effects.

(Estrella makes another beer, by the way, which is called Estrella Damm.  That beer is not claimed to be gluten-free, only the Estrella Damm Daura goes through whatever wizardry they’re using to attempt to remove the gluten.  So if you want to try your own experiment, make sure you get the right beer!  Hat-tip to GlutenFreeBeer.org for the info from the TTB.)

"New Balance HI-REZ Minimus Review"

Wow.

"New Balance really nailed it with the Hi-rez. Putting these on is like putting on a pair of slippers—the mesh lining is soft and comfortable and the uppers contour to your feet with a process the NB marketers have termed “FantomFit.” I generally prefer sock with shoes, but I am comfortable enough going without in these for shorter runs. The toe box is nice and wide, with plenty of room to wiggle your little piggys and the heel cup is pleasantly snug without feeling too tight. There is no noticeable toe spring and the toe box flexes and widens as your foot lands with each step. The lacing system is pretty standard and allows you to cinch things up pretty securely if needed."

They're $120, which is quite a lot more than the $80 Vapor Glove, and the sole looks quite a bit thicker, but if you find the Merrell a bit too narrow, the New Balance Minimus line tends to run a bit wider. I'd have to try it on to tell... But read Tim's entire review over at Birthday Shoes.

I may have to see if the New Balance store has these in stock...

Stephan Guyenet Reviews: “Salt, Sugar, Fat”

Fascinating:

“Rather than demonizing the processed food industry, for most of the book Moss takes a fairly balanced view of its motives and actions (though he does demonize at certain times). One of the most interesting and unexpected aspects of the book is the seemingly sincere efforts some processed food manufacturers have made to try to improve the public health impact of their products, including imposing limits on the salt, sugar, and fat content of their foods. Nevertheless, as Moss relates, the free market dictates that these efforts typically fail or are eviscerated, because companies that impose constraints on their products are quickly out-competed by companies that don't. Adding insult to injury, publicly traded companies are savaged by Wall street investors if they attempt to consider anything other than profit in their recipes and marketing.”

If you ever need a reason to avoid, categorically, “processed” foods, this book is it.

“A Charity Run Honoring Caballo Blanco (Micah True)”

“Westchester Road Runner

“Saturday, April 20th at 9am

“Come and spend a morning running in the woods of Pound Ridge Reservation in Cross River, NY.
These woods are the home of the Leatherman Harriers, as well as a place that Micah, aka Caballo, enjoyed running.

“The course is, roughly, a 4 mile loop that will keep you inspired and running free.

“This run is free, but for those that are interested, we will be accepting donations for Micah's charity: http://www.norawas.org/

“The organization is 100% volunteers, and all the money goes to the Raramuri.

“Also, if you do not have money to spare, and have some retired tee shirts, shoes or any running apparel, we will be collecting it to send back to the canyons.

“Anything you can donate is greatly appreciated.

“We will meet at Lewisboro Town Park, for a 9am run.

View Larger Map

From Eric Turkewitz’s Paine to Pain Half Marathon Trail Race Facebook Group.

Red Meat And Heart Disease, Again...

As I posted a couple of days ago (Red Meat Kills, AHHHH!), Chris Kresser said he was going to post on that study, so I wasn't going to bother to.

Sure enough he did, but we got a hat trick:

• Chris Kresser: Red Meat and TMAO: Cause for Concern, or Another Red Herring?
• Mark Sisson: Does Red Meat Clog Your Arteries After All?
• Chris Masterjohn: Does Carnitine From Red Meat Contribute to Heart Disease Through Intestinal Bacterial Metabolism to TMAO?

Oh no, look at the squid!

Short answer, it’s extremely unlikely.  It turns out that type of meat that is most likely to raise TMAO levels is fish, not red meat.  You know, fish, the food that contributes to lower the risk of heart disease?

The study’s got all sorts of problems, but all you need to know about it is at the three links above.

Really, look.  Leftover squid!

The bad news, if there’s any, is that I had squid for lunch yesterday...

P.S.  Paul Jaminet also posts about this today.  He buries the lede in a comment: “Yes, if TMAO were really a major problem then seafood would be really bad. It isn’t.”

He suggests you adhere to his PHD guidelines.  Good advice.  He does suggest, “Don’t eat excessive amounts of meat. As we noted in the book, excess protein is available to gut bacteria for fermentation and that produces a number of toxic byproducts.”  I’m fine with eating lots of meat. 

The dangers of meat-eating are more hypothetical than proven, as this latest study demonstrates.

What To Eat If You Want To Win An Ultra-Marathon

This is what worked for Tim Olson at Western States in 2012. He's currently the course record-holder.

"...I don’t like labels and would not call myself low-carb, paleo, etc. I would say that I follow a diet with more protein & fat and less carbs than most people and that it has helped me recover faster, reduce inflammation and overall just feel healthier. My diet consist of mainly organic and local if possible grass-fed meats, vegetables, eggs, nuts, seeds, fruits, sweet potatoes and coconut oil...."

Call it what you want to... But if you were to stick a label on what he eats, it would be low-carb paleo.

I eat a lot more dairy than he does (mostly pastured), which are basically pre-processed vegetables. And I eat fewer vegetables. And I haven't won any races yet. LOL.

But note that he eats a lot less meat and a lot more vegetables than most people think of when they describe the "caveman diet".

But the real trick is that what you eat should leave you feeling great all the time. It's pretty addicting. Thanks to Sean, whose blog is here.

Red Meat Kills! AHHHH!

No one takes down a bogus bit of  "science" like Tom Naughton:

Enjoy your steak.

Thanks, I will!

Chris Kresser promises a post on this on Wednesday. I don't see any need to post anything if he's going to...

"Ruby Muir, 2013 Tarawera Ultramarathon Champ Interview"

Awesome:

"...iRF: It comes over and comes down Harris Saddle—a little techy right there. <long pause> I was amazed, in the US, we do have people run in Vibram FiveFingers. But I’ve not seen anyone run really fast for 100k in FiveFingers. How long have you been running in FiveFingers?

Muir: Well, I grew up in bare feet and ran around in bare feet a lot as a kid. When I started trail running, I think I had some big shoes—Scott or something—and they worked on and off for a year or two. Then I got pain and it was time to take them off. So I got contacted by Vibram because I’d done a couple of races in bare feet (no shoes) and I had a talk with them. A lot of their shoes didn’t fit because their toes are different lengths than mine. So it was a long time before I found some that worked. But since my surgery which was around the 4th of July last year, I’ve really only been wearing these. They’ve really helped with my rehab and stuff. The ones that I wear right now are the SeeYas, which are 5k road running shoes. They’re the least you can get, and I guess they don’t hurt my feet at all because there’s just nothing there.

iRF: They’re like 100 grams of a little bit of rubber and a mesh upper. That’s truly amazing. Aside from your speed…

Muir: Different things work for everybody. I look at people wearing Hokas and think that’s amazing.

Me too.

Good for Vibram: they help this girl out, and she wins the race for which they're the title sponsor.

And one can't help but wonder if she would have needed that knee surgery if she'd stayed barefoot...

Thanks to Chris Bonner.

"What Should We Call Paleo Life"

Click, and keep scrolling. Hilarious.

No thanks to John Durant on Twitter for ruining my productivity tonight. :)

Resveratrol Dying The Death It Deserves

“Red herring is an English-language idiom that commonly refers to a logical fallacy that misleads or detracts from the actual issue.^[1] It is also a literary device employed by writers that leads readers or characters towards a false conclusion, often used in mystery or detective fiction.”

I posted the following over a year ago, after a resveratrol researcher was discovered to have committed a massive fraud:

“The French Paradox arose from the fact that the French eat lots of saturated fat (especially dairy fat) yet have low rates of heart disease. Since we knew that eating saturated fat caused heart disease, clearly something had to protect them from heart disease.

“Resveratrol [a compound found in small amounts in red wine] was the candidate, since we all know those Frenchies drink red wine all day. (Don't you love how this science was justified by a crude stereotype?)

“Of course now we know that saturated animal fat not only doesn't cause heart disease, but that eating lots of dairy fat is protective from heart disease. The French Paradox disappears. Resveratrol is no longer needed [to explain it], nor is red wine.

So why the heck are they still studying resveratrol?

I got a good bit of push-back on that position.  Taylor, in the comments, said:

“The problem with this post is that it implies that the positive view of resveratrol was largely driven by this guy's research when in fact his research is only a very small fraction of the positive research on resveratrol.”

Which is a fair point, given that from the press on resveratrol you would think it’s on the verge of giving us longer, healthier lives.  Taylor wasn’t alone, Mark Sisson had a similar view:

“What I’m saying is that one guy fabricating his research doesn’t invalidate all the other research others have conducted on resveratrol.”

The problem is that if resveratrol was so effective, you wouldn’t need to fabricate research demonstrating its effectiveness.

And it turns out that the data from resveratrol isn’t so clear as we’ve been led to believe.  In the Pipeline is one of the blogs I’ve been following for a while. The author, Derek Lowe, is an organic chemist, and has “worked for several major pharmaceutical companies since 1989 on drug discovery projects against schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, diabetes, osteoporosis and other diseases.”  His take on resveratrol is: Would I Take Resveratrol? Would You?:

“The bottom line? Resveratrol is a very interesting compound, and potentially useful. But the details of its actions aren't clear, and neither, honestly, are the actions themselves. Given the importance of the processes we're talking about - cellular metabolism, which is intimately involved with aging and lifespan, which is intimately involved with defenses against cancer - I don't feel that the situation is clear enough yet to make an intelligent decision. So no, I don't take resveratrol. But I'd be willing to if the fog ever clears.”

Right.  I agree 100% with that position, I just don’t think that resveratrol will ever prove to be any more than a red herring.

Well, the fog is starting to clear. “Dude, Where's My Red Wine Pill? The strange saga of resveratrol, the wonder drug that never was.”:

“If ever there was a drug tailor-made for overweight Americans, this seemed to be it. Six months later, Sirtris—the company Sinclair cofounded to develop resveratrol-based drugs—had its IPO. Eleven months after that, in April 2008, GSK bought Sirtris outright for $720 million, or nearly double its stock-market valuation. Five years later, contra the headlines, there are still no red-wine longevity pills on the horizon. What happened?…”

“…The company launched several clinical trials of possible sirtuin-activating drugs. But then, one by one, those trials were halted, at least two of them due to unexpected side effects. That leaves only one Sirtris compound, SRT2104, still under active study, for psoriasis and ulcerative colitis.

“In the labs, as well, the sirtuin theory of aging was taking heavy fire. In 2011, another group published a paper in Nature that challenged Sinclair’s research directly: His results, it was claimed, were an artifact of the way he did his experiments. The Science paper, published earlier this month, was Sinclair’s triumphant rebuttal, outlining in precise detail how resveratrol and friends actually work on the sirtuin pathway. Just four days later, GSK pulled the plug….”

“…Says Sinclair, who is still a scientific adviser to GSK: “We know the science is real; the problem now is to push it over the goal line. If they don’t end up as drugs in our lifetime, it's not the fault of scientists, and more of a business decision.”

Read the whole thing, but big corporations don’t toss $720 million investments just… because.  Somebody at GSK disagrees with Dr. Sinclair.  So do I.

Which leaves me pretty comfortable with the summary of the post script to my original post:

“I'll pass. Call me in 50 years when you finish the long-term studies.”

Now I don’t know if other folks are still studying resveratrol. I imagine they are, and will continue to do so so long as someone is willing to pay for it. Hey, a job’s a job, even if you’re a PhD.

And if you’ve got psoriasis or ulcerative colitis?  Try the Paleo diet.  You won’t have to wait for resveratrol.

(Here’s lots more on resveratrol at In the Pipeline.)

"What's Wrong With the Scientific Method?"

Cool post:

"Open a middle-school textbook or look on the wall of a science classroom. There it is. Written like the Ten Commandments of science – THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD. Too bad it’s mostly a lie. Yes. I’m going there."

He provides some utterly compelling examples.

Simple observation is also science. The word "science" simply means knowledge.

"Western States Announces Changes"

These sound significant, so if you're running, pay attention.

Blog Roll

I've been using Google Reader to populate the Blog Roll to the right. I was informed over the weekend that a blog I long ago unsubscribed to was appearing in the list. I don't know how that happened, but I presume it was a part of the demise of Reader.

Whatever the cause, that blog roll will soon be disappearing, as I don't have the time to maintain it. The only reason I put one there was because Blogger and Reader made it easy, and now that they're making it hard, that will be the end of it.

If you liked it, sorry. Blame Evil Google.

I think I'm going to start giving Bing a try... And no, that's not an April Fool's joke.