Oh man... this seems overwhelming & impossible!

[crunchy_mommy]

I'm going gluten-free/soy-free/corn-free next week (already dairy-free). I've done GF & SF before & it's annoying but manageable, and TBH I really don't suspect a corn allergy but want to rule out 'the big ones' -- how careful do I really need to be?!?!?

Seriously, corn is in EVERYTHING!! I mean... we make our own toothpaste, but it has xylitol. We make our own cleaners, but they are vinegar-based. Then there's baking powder, and citric acid, ascorbic acid, vanilla, I have to double-check the ingredients but I probably can't take any of my supplements... sheesh!! I thought I'd just be avoiding corn tortillas/corn pasta/corn on the cob!!! Not every single ingredient in our house!!!

How bad would 'traces' of corn be? Could I still notice an improvement if I miss something with tiny amounts of corn-derived ingredients??? How on earth do you eat anything if you do have a corn allergy?? (And I thought gluten & soy were overly prevalent... but corn, wow... I'm still in shock...)

[changingseasons]

Yeah... corn is a hard one. Basically, we don't eat anything packaged or processed in any way. I cook whole foods at home, and that's it. DD uses pascalite clay for toothpaste.

Traces of corn really depends on how sensitive you are. I can take some vitamins and nurse DD without a problem. But she definitely cannot have something with say citric acid in it. It's best to start by avoiding everything for a while, then you can add things in that have traces and see how you do with them.

[crunchy_mommy]

I was afraid you'd say that!!!

[kjbrown92]

Yeah, if you're trying to rule it out then you have to take it all out first to see. Then you can see if you can add any of it back in. For instance, we can tolerate ascorbic acid, but not citric acid. We make our own baking powder (equal parts baking soda, cream of tartar, tapioca starch), vanilla (grape or potato vodka and vanilla beans, steep for 6 weeks, www.saffron.com uses cane sugar alcohol in their vanilla). Yes, it's in everything. No, it's not impossible. We've been doing it for over 2 years. But yes, it's a pain in the butt.

[crunchy_mommy]

OK just a question, most of my supplements I know I need to stop but how about these two?

Floradix - there is ascorbic acid but I did see 'free from corn' on one site, anyone know if that's true?
Ingredients:
Extracts of: rosehips, camomile flower, fennel seed, spinach leaf.
Juice concentrates of: black grape pear, currant, cherry, blackberry and carrot;
with ascorbic acid.

Magnesium
Ingredients: Magnesium Oxide, Cellulose Gel, Croscarmellose Sodium, Magnesium Stearate

[changingseasons]

It's really best to contact the company. I always email if they have an email contact, because that gives the rep some time to research my question and get back to me. Often I've found that if I call, they don't really know the answer and just tell me what I want to hear, or what they think the answer is.

Also, supplements are tricky, and you need to phrase your questions carefully. Many supplements say "corn-free" or "free of corn allergens." That does NOT mean that there is no corn in the product, unfortunately. It simply means that there is an ingredient that was made out of corn, but the corn has been processed so that there are no (or below a certain percentage of) proteins left. With true allergies, it's normally the protein that you're reacting to. With intolerances, that is not always the case.

So bottom line is this- if you want to make sure there was never any corn used in making the product, you can ask if there are any corn or corn-derived ingredients. I will tell you right now that you're not going to find a multivitamin that doesn't have corn derived ingredients. (And again, this totally depends on your level of sensitivity; some people with corn allergies are totally fine with these trace amounts of processed corn.)

And easier way to do it is just stop taking your supplements for about 4 days, then add them back in and see what happens.

[crunchy_mommy]

Great idea, I didn't want to call them for exactly the reason you mentioned but I hadn't thought of emailing them! I just sent out emails to both companies, thanks!

ETA: I heard back from both manufacturers, in case anyone else needs to know, both the Nature Made Magnesium & the Floradix Floravital Iron + Herbs are NOT made from any corn-derived ingredients.