Word of Caution: Buffalo Wild Wings

Buffalo Wild Wings - a.k.a. BW3's used to be a favorite of mine before going Gluten Free. Since one was just built near my house, I figured I would look into their Gluten Free status. A quick check of their Web site reveals the following FAQ page. Nothing here about Gluten Free menu items except...

Nutritional and Allergen information can be obtained on all Buffalo Wild Wings menu item by contacting us directly through our web site. Use the Contact Us link and request this information. We will send a PDF version and answer any other BWW dietary question you may have.

So, I fired off an email to BW3 asking for the PDF allergen menu information. Turns out it would be easier if they would just update the above statement saying if you are Gluten Free to STAY AWAY. They promptly responded with an Allergen List and information about the ingredients in their burger seasonings and wing sauces. Below is a summary and my word of caution.

• BW3 traditional chicken wings, fries, buffalo chips, boneless (breaded) chicken wings and tortilla chips are all cooked in a deep fryer which is shared by everything else fried. NOT GLUTEN FREE.
• All grilled items including naked chicken tenders (themselves GF) are cooked on the same grill. NOT GLUTEN FREE.
• BW3 burgers contain Gluten, burger seasoning does not. NOT GLUTEN FREE.
• BW3 sweet BBQ Wing Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce and Asian Zing Wing Sauce do contain Gluten. Other sauces do not but as mentioned before the risk of cross-contact exists with all products that could be sauced.
  

You can probably have some celery and Ranch dressing, coleslaw or salsa without tortilla chips but that's about it. Hope you are not too hungry. I've convinced myself that I didn't really want to eat at BW3's again anyway, especially after reading their wing sauce ingredient and nutritional information list - most sauces have more than twenty ingredients and some have more than 600mg sodium per 1 Tablespoon (that's 25% of your daily intake)- yikes. It's funny how you don't care about looking at ingredients until you go Gluten Free and then you realize what kind of crap you were eating before.

Word of Caution: Inaccurate Vitamin D tests at Quest Diagnostics Labs

If you are like most diagnosed Celiacs, you've had your nutrient levels checked via a blood test. If you have had your Vitamin D levels checked within the last 2 years at a Quest Diagnostics Lab then you may want to keep reading. I think they may have been too busy counting the $5 Billion in sales they had over the first nine months of 2008.

The company (the nation's largest medical lab) has acknowledged that their Vitamin D tests have been inaccurate. The consequences are..

An erroneously high result might mean patients would not take vitamin D supplements when perhaps they should, doctors said. And an erroneously low test result might lead in rare instances to a toxic overdose of vitamin D. When the Quest tests have been inaccurate, the reading has typically been too high, although not in all cases.

Quest blames an increase in demand for the test (while at the same time switching to a new testing method), using sophisticated equipment, using faulty equipment, and the fact that many of their labs did not following proper procedures for the errors. Did they get any tests right? Who knows.

Dr. Wael A. Salameh, the medical director for endocrinology at Quest’s most sophisticated laboratory, said the inaccurate results represented fewer than 10 percent of all the vitamin D tests done by the Quest from early 2007 to mid 2008.

I myself have had my Vitamin D levels taken and they were found to be low. I was then diagnosed with Osteopenia after having a bone density scan. My test was conducted at LabCorp though. If you are like me but have not been taking high doses of Vitamin D daily to up your levels after going Gluten Free, then your bone problems could be getting worse.

Like we need anything else to worry about! It's good to know that the FDA has decided NOT to regulate these diagnostic tests either. What do they actually do?

Meanwhile the F.D.A. is considering increasing its role in regulating diagnostic tests. Right now test kits sold to labs, hospitals and doctor’s offices have to be approved by the agency. But tests developed and offered by a single laboratory, like the Quest vitamin D test, do not.

See the following NY Times article for more information.

Click here for Quest Diagnostics Web site.

See below for Raleigh locations...
Raleigh-West 3200 Blue Ridge Rd Suite 200
Raleigh-Northeast 11001 Durant Rd
Raleigh-Northwest 8300 Health park Suite 223
Cary 530 New Waverly Place

Word of Caution: Osteoporosis drugs linked to esophageal cancer

There are many Celiacs out there who have developed Osteopenia/Osteoporosis (bone loss) as a result of their Celiac Disease. Some folks are then put on a bone mass building prescription drug like Fosamax, Actonel, Didronel or Boniva. The drugs aim to treat bone-weakening Osteopenia/Osteoporosis by increasing bone mass.

A recent study by the US FDA now shows an increased risk of esophageal cancer in patients taking these types of so-called bisphosphonate drugs.

See the following article for more information.

Word of Caution: Pace Foods No Longer GF

I have read a few things over the past few days alerting me to the fact that Pace Foods no longer provides anything Gluten Free. A factory/ingredient change took place in October 2008 so please check "Use by" date on any Pace products you may have.

Check Cecelia's Marketplace Product Alert for more information.

The alert above also contains information about Swanson broth, Campbell's soups, Prego sauces and Old El Paso products.

Feel free to contact Pace and their parent company Campbell's and let them have it.

Word of Caution: Terra Chips

I was recently asked by a reader about Terra Chips and their GF status. I checked their Web site and found information about their ingredients but nothing about Gluten Free. I called their customer service number and spoke with someone at the company.

While they indeed do have many varieties of their vegetable and potato chips that have no gluten ingredients, they do not have a dedicated facility or even dedicated production lines. This means gluten containing chips are run on the same line as gluten free versions. I also asked them if they currently tested their products for Gluten and they do not. This is not Gluten Free and not safe.

WORD OF CAUTION - Lucky 32 in Cary

I have received some emails about Lucky 32 in Cary offering a Gluten Free menu option. I had been to the location in Raleigh a few years ago before it closed and always liked the food so I decided to do a little digging.

The following is a warning about what I found out about Lucky 32's menu as well as information given to me by their Executive Chef, Jay Pierce.

If you have been to this restaurant in the past, you may have noticed something interesting about their menu. See the following webpage for yourself. Beside some of the menu choices are little GF logos. Somebody like myself automatically assumed that meant Gluten Free, right? WRONG. If you look down at the fine print you will see the following.

GF - Say "Guilt Free" and we'll modify the receipe to reduce sodium and fat. For other special dietary needs, please inform your server.

YIKES - as you can see from this, GF is not Gluten Free at Lucky 32. Once I saw this I contacted Jay to inquire further. I would hate for any people trying to order Gluten Free to be misled. Jay's prompt response is below...

From: Jay Pierce jpierce@qwrh.com
Date: Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 10:13 PM
Subject: RE: Gluten Free Question
To: GlutenFree Raleigh glutenfreeraleigh@gmail.com

Thank you so much for your email. We do train our staff to offer gluten-free options on menus, because we do have recipes on hand for everything that is made in house, and most things are. We will not call anything gluten free that contains wheat, soy sauce or mustard, which I learned from a celiac-centric web site causes problems for some folks but not all.
As for our GF designation, I will definitely run your suggestion up the ladder. I do know that the symbol you are referring to is a registered trademark that we have been using for quite a few years to designate items lower in sodium and fat.

Once again, thanks for your observations, and feel free to asks questions about menu items of our good folks there in Cary when dining in, or email me when planning a trip there; I’d love to help out.

Jay Pierce
Executive Chef
Lucky 32
1421 Westover Terrace
Greensboro, NC 27408
p: 336-370-0707
f: 336-574-0037
jpierce@qwrh.com
www.lucky32.com

So there you have it. As I always recommend, proceed with caution at ANY restaurant, even the ones that have GF all over their menu.