This recipe is appropriate for people with wheat and milk allergies and for people living with coeliac disease. ⁣

Gluten? Wheat? Fructans? These are all terms that are used interchangeably but are 3 VERY different things. This topic is complicated and if you’ve eliminated gluten from your diet but you don’t quite know why then keep reading...⁣

Gluten is found in wheat, rye & barley. This means that while all foods that contain wheat also contain gluten, not all gluten comes from wheat.⁣

Some people are allergic to wheat, but that is not the same as a gluten allergy. Gluten allergy is a misleading term commonly confused with wheat allergy, or sometimes celiac disease. There is no such thing as a gluten allergy, but there is a condition called coeliac disease. ⁣

Both wheat allergy & coeliac disease arise because the immune system is reacting to either the wheat or gluten present in food. If you have coeliac disease you require complete and strict elimination of wheat, rye, barley & oats. If you have a wheat allergy you typically only require avoidance of wheat. ⁣

However, if you have not been medically diagnosed with coeliac disease or a wheat allergy, and you’ve noticed you get bloating, gas or altered bowel habits when you eat foods like bread and pasta, you likely have IBS and are intolerant to fructans. In fact it’s now believed that most people who think they have ‘gluten sensitivity’ are actually intolerant to fructans. Fructan intolerance does NOT involve the immune system.

The take home message? Understanding the science behind food allergies and intolerances is damn hard and you should always seek expert advice before unnecessarily restricting your diet. 

Wheat & Dairy Free Tea Cake ⁣I makes 10 slices