Gluten could be in your medication and pills, AND Big Pharma doesn't even have to label it

Sunday, October 23, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: gluten, labeling, pharmaceuticals

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(NaturalNews) If you're a parent who can't seem to figure out why your Celiac child is still developing symptoms even when avoiding wheat, you might want to check your medicine cabinet. New research is showing that many common pharmaceuticals contain certain "inactive" ingredients derived from wheat that could be putting your child's health and life at risk.

Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune condition that afflicts roughly one percent of Americans. It's marked by a severe reaction to gluten consumption, in which this vital wheat protein destroys the tiny villi projections that line the intestines and assimilate nutrients from food. Celiac sufferers simply can't process wheat gluten the way others can, and thus they must avoid it.

In today's world, it's gotten a whole lot easier to avoid gluten in food, thanks to mandatory labeling requirements imposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But these requirements only apply to food, which means that consumers who use pharmaceutical drugs aren't being told when their medications contain gluten in the form of unlabeled wheat derivatives.

Stephanie Labile is one such individual whose daughter Aeverie had been suffering extreme abdominal pains, bloody diarrhea, and constant migraine headaches as a result of taking medications with added gluten. The Labiles weren't aware of what was causing little Aeverie's reactions until they came to the sudden realization that there was one place they forgot to check: the drugs that were supposed to be helping their daughter, not hurting her.

It took a lot of research before Stephanie finally learned that the culprit was hidden inside her daughter's generic controlled inhaler -- a mystery "starch" ingredient that was not only found to contain hidden gluten, but that wasn't even labeled on the drug in the first place.

"It's not like I want to know what is in a drug for convenience," Labile told Allergic Living magazine in frustration as to this untimely discovery. "This is about my child's life -- and I'll do anything to protect it."

Pharmaceutical excipients don't have to be labeled as containing gluten
Gluten is apparently found in all sorts of drugs, thanks to the various excipients and binding agents that drug companies are allowed to use to keep their pills and tablets in one piece. These additives often contain various other allergenic substances as well, since many of them are derived from things like corn and potatoes.

But none of this has to be revealed on drug labels because the FDA has continually refused to hold the drug industry accountable, insisting that labels are unnecessary. Big Pharma basically gets a free pass, in other words, when it comes to marketing hidden poisons to its customers, which only further puts public health in jeopardy.

A national survey conducted by the Beyond Celiac organization recently revealed that nearly 25 percent of Celiac patients experience gluten-related symptoms whenever they take their prescription medications, suggesting that a great many drugs contain unlabeled gluten ingredients. And while certain groups are working towards a change, the government has thus far refused to standardize a system whereby gluten-tracking is required for all pharmaceuticals.

"We teach people how to read labels and cut through jargon to identify every ingredient -- but with prescription drugs, they can't do that," says Sue Newell, the manager of operations for the Canadian Celiac Association, as quoted by Allergic Living. "They may need to take drugs, but they don't feel safe."

Steve Plogsted, a clinical pharmacist at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio, has built an extensive website entitled "GlutenFreeDrugs.com" that lists nearly 500 name-brand medications and their gluten status.

Sources for this article include:

AllergicLiving.com

GlutenFreeDrugs.com