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xanthan gum and corn allergy  

post #1 of 10
1/27/08 at 10:21am
Thread Starter 
Am I crazy that my girls could be reacting to the xanthan gum because of a corn allergy? Should I keep trying the other ingredients or is this likely the culprit?

Thanks!
post #2 of 10
1/27/08 at 11:08am
I didn't know xantham gum was derived from corn! Thank you. DD has a corn intolerance, and I was avoiding guar gum because she's also legume intolerant. I guess I'm just avoiding all the gums now! Ugh.
Kathy
post #3 of 10
1/27/08 at 12:52pm
No, you are not crazy! It is very possible. I'd pull the xanthan gum and trial the other ingredients separately to be sure. Really, this is good info to have if the xanthan gum is the problem: it tells you how sensitive your girls are to corn.
And FTR, I didn't know guar gum was legume derived! That would explain a few things around here... !!
post #4 of 10
1/27/08 at 2:29pm
DD is allergic to corn and legumes (among others) and I gave her the rice dream ice cream, vanilla, which seemed like it would be benign. The only thing different from the rice milk was carageenan and guar gum. She's had carageenan before, so that left the guar gum. I looked it up and oh look, it's a legume. I should have checked first. Xantham gum doesn't even sound like it's a food! But I'll look more carefully now, that's for sure!
Kathy
post #5 of 10
1/27/08 at 3:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kjbrown92 View Post
DD is allergic to corn and legumes (among others) and I gave her the rice dream ice cream, vanilla, which seemed like it would be benign. The only thing different from the rice milk was carageenan and guar gum. She's had carageenan before, so that left the guar gum. I looked it up and oh look, it's a legume. I should have checked first. Xantham gum doesn't even sound like it's a food! But I'll look more carefully now, that's for sure!
Kathy
What about the vanilla? Most vanilla is corn derived.

Iris
post #6 of 10
1/28/08 at 3:52pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks to all of you. Didn't know about the guar gum or the vanilla. Every time I find some random thing we just might be able to have....oh well! One of these days I just have to roll up my sleeves and start baking. I just feel so defeated some days that I don't even try to come up with my own recipes.

I didn't realize that the xanthan gum or guar gum were in any way related to foods either. I thougth they were some random chemical - as if that would be better lol!
post #7 of 10
1/28/08 at 6:15pm
How can vanilla be corn derived? I thought it came from a vanilla bean? Though when I was shopping today I picked up a bottle of "pure vanilla" and I looked at the ingredients out of habit, and it had corn syrup in it (I put it back). But the regular pure vanilla I buy doesn't SAY corn on it. How would I find out how it was derived?
Kathy
post #8 of 10
1/28/08 at 6:17pm
CuckooMamma -- go to my blog. there are lots of allergen friendly recipes on there. my dd is intolerant to a ton of stuff, so I everything is from scratch here. And all things she is allergic to are LOCKED in the pantry (she's almost 3) so she can't get into them!
Kathy
post #9 of 10
1/29/08 at 11:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kjbrown92 View Post
How can vanilla be corn derived? I thought it came from a vanilla bean? Though when I was shopping today I picked up a bottle of "pure vanilla" and I looked at the ingredients out of habit, and it had corn syrup in it (I put it back). But the regular pure vanilla I buy doesn't SAY corn on it. How would I find out how it was derived?
Kathy
I am still new to the whole world of corn allergy, so I am just learning myself... but I've read that almost all commercial vanilla has corn in it in some way. Sometimes corn syrup is added, as you found out, or corn alcohol may be used to thin out the vanilla. Or, if it's a vanilla extract, alcohol is what is used to extract the flavor from the vanilla bean, and that usually means grain (corn) alcohol.

Some corn-allergic people make their own vanilla extract using potato vodka and vanilla beans.

Have you seen the corn-free products list that a group of corn allergy people compile and maintain? It includes some sources for safe vanilla:
http://corn-freefoods.blogspot.com/2...-dec-2007.html

Iris
post #10 of 10
1/29/08 at 12:47pm
Thank you WildIris - I just ordered some new vanilla. Mine doesn't say how the alcohol is derived, so I'll switch just in case.
Kathy
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