Significant amounts of gluten may be present in probiotics

Gluten-free labeling does not accurately reflect gluten content in probiotics, which may be significantly high, according to data released in advance of Digestive Disease Week. Aiming to measure gluten levels in popular probiotics, Samantha Nazareth, MD, from Columbia/NY-Presbyterian, and colleagues used liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis to evaluate 22 brands of probiotics based on popularity in the US market. They noted that 68% of the probiotics evaluated were labeled gluten-free.