Sneaky Sources of Gluten in Beauty Products
You may have thought you had heard of every possible gluten-derived ingredient found in beauty care products, until now. Fortunately, many natural skin care and cosmetic companies now disclose gluten-containing ingredients on their websites, often in FAQ sections.
When searching for gluten-free beauty products, it is very important to be familiar with the ingredients listed. And for those that you don’t understand, be sure to contact the manufacturer to verify that they are not sourced from gluten.
Here are the two ingredients that I believed were gluten-free until I read otherwise:
- Lactic Acid: For those of you who (like me) are also intolerant to dairy, you may already be watching out for this ingredient which can be sourced from dairy. The most common sources are beet sugar and cornstarch, but others include sugar cane, grape sugars, potatoes and alfalfa. But I recently spied it on the ingredient list naming wheat as its source.
But does lactic acid from wheat contain gluten? Most gluten-free sites list lactic acid as free of gluten, but wheat is not a commonly known source. What we do know is that if you are intolerant to casein, you should avoid lactic acid sourced from milk or whey, as the proteins may be present.
- Zea Mays: Otherwise known as modified cornstarch, I spied this naturally gluten-free ingredient labeled as containing gluten on one cosmetic site, the reason is likely contamination.
This actually reminds me of my recent search for buckwheat flour, which is naturally gluten-free, but because it is ground using the same stones as gluten-containing flours, the end result is not gluten-free. The bottom line is that even ingredients you don’t expect may be suspect.
Posted 3/24/10 by Kristen Campbell, co-founder of GlutenFreeFox.com (learn more about Kristen Campbell)
