Rice flower

[buddhasbelly]

The rice flower I can buy in my town is made out of brown rice (the packaging just changed so I just found out I have been baking with it all along). Should that be safe? Does anyone know if it is usual for rice flower to be whole-grain/of brown rice? Because for cooking white rice is recommended for HFI, right?

[colormist]

I'm not sure if brown rice flour is safe. I know white rice flour is. If you're feeling off and you can't think of any other ingredient that might be affecting you, maybe try switching to a white rice flour and see if that helps any.

[ukbill]

I presume you have not had a "reaction" to it?

Brown rice flour will have more fibre which will breakdown to sucrose in the intestine and more pure Fructose from the Germ of the rice.

If you have not had a reaction we can assume it is "tolerated" for you rather than safe.. if we are to categorise "safe" as very low to no measurable Fructose or Sucrose?

If you switch to white rice flour you might find a slight improvement in gut problems like bloating, gas, cramps etc..

[tikitavi]

I couldn't find rice flour in the German database, but I did find them in the Finnish one. Here's the data:

www.fineli.fi/food.php?foodid=183&lang=en
Whole grain rice flour
sucrose 0.8 g
fructose <0.1 g

www.fineli.fi/food.php?foodid=182&lang=en
Rice flour/flake
sucrose 0.3 g
fructose <0.1 g

So it seems the brown rice flour has quite a bit more sucrose.

[buddhasbelly]

Thank you for your responses! I don't seem to be doing too well on it, have had a lot of bloating and belly aches lately. The problem is just that I can't seem to find white rice flower in the Netherlands. I've tried glutenfree oats, because I read it should be safe, but those went terribly (my sisters brought me some Nairn's from the UK). I cannot seem to tolerate any grains in the wheat category it seems so far. Teff flower is too heavy on my stomach and the same goes for buckweat, both make me nauseous. Quorn flower gives me heart burn. Quinoa flower seems to be ok, so I mix that with rice flower and sometimes some (white) teff flower, but nothing really seems to be good for me. Do any of you seem so picky with flower too?

What kind of flowers do you use?

[tikitavi]

I use regular white flour (refined wheat). I take enzymes to help with the gluten because I have a slight gluten intolerance.

[esmee]

I have a really difficult time with all grains. I can sort of get away with white rice, but it is not perfect.

[buddhasbelly]

Esmee, maybe that is just the case with me too, that no flower is really good. I don't want to say good bye to bread totally though until I have my final diagnosis, being from a bread-eating nation and my family being bakers and all :-) I want my bread and cookies!

[esmee]

bb-

I have not eaten any bread for 22 years. I had not eaten any grains at all for 15 until recently when I decided to give white rice another try. It sort of works, but it still gives me some problems. Have you ever been tested for celiac?

[buddhasbelly]

Hi Esmee, wow, 22 years, that is persistent! No I haven't been tested for celiac, but I read about it just this week in a German book I ordered about food intolerances. One thing that striked me as rather odd, was that it said that one of the symptoms cán be having blister-like rashes on elbows and/or knees. I get those on my elbows. So maybe it is not a wheat allergy but celiac than I thought, and the dropping weight also sounded too familiar. Were you tested? Is that how you found out? Is gluten intolerant the same as celiac?

[esmee]

Yes, gluten intolerance is celiac.

I had the blisters you refer to (known as dermatitis herpetiformis) for 8 years before I found a picture of them on the internet and self-diagnosed celiac. I stopped eating all wheat and the blisters were gone in 3 weeks. Almost 7 years later, I had an intestinal biopsy which showed flattened villi which is considered diagnositic for celiac. I never had the genetic test for celiac.

[buddhasbelly]

It took me a while to understand what that means ´flattened villi´, but now I understand I think it is remarkable that after seven years they still found them flattened. What a good thing you found out about de wheat. But I can imagine when you have a flattened villi, you absorp foods and vitamins more difficult. Does that mean you could not recover fully from the damage already done?

I am going to ask my internal specialist to refer me to a dermatologist for the skin test of the dermatitis herpetiformis, that sounds better than starting to eat wheat again for six weeks (which I read is necessary for a proper celiac test). Yesterday I read that 80% of people with dermatitis herpetiformis are celiac as well. All this information this last half year makes my head spinning! It used to be just psychological :-)

[esmee]

Yes, flatten villi make nutrient absorption more difficult. It is unusualy that my villi were still flattened after 7 years without wheat. In fact, I think the doctor did not believe me when I told him that I had not had wheat for that long. If the skin rash you have is caused by wheat/gluten, then it should go away within a few weeks after you stop ingesting the wheat/gluten. Have you stopped eating wheat/gluten yet? If so, for how long?

[buddhasbelly]

Yes, I haven't eaten wheat (deliberately) for half a year now. A few weeks ago I suddenly got the rash back and I thought it was connected to the regular troat infections I get (because I always seem to get the rash then), until I figured out, the tiny licorice I take when my troat is sore contains gluten. So now, the rash is gone again

[esmee]

Well, that seems like a pretty good indication that the rash is gluten induced.

It did something completely idiotic 3 days ago and decided to try sour dough white wheat bread, as I have read that there is some speculation about whether the fermenting of the flour will deconstruct the gluten in the wheat flour and make it okay for people with celiac. I can now say with absolute certainty that it does NOT do this. I got sooooooo sick: extreme bloating, inflammed intestines, and the appearance DH skin rash. I have still not recovered, and it will likely be a few more days before I am back to normal. But, atleast I can put that idea to rest and stop wondering...It did not even tast that good to be honest. I do not miss bread.

[buddhasbelly]

Sounds like a painful experiment! But I understand you wanted to know. Good it didn't taste all that great good luck with the recovery from this!