chest pain after eating fries coated in wheat?

keegans_mommy · **Posted:** Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:49 am

I am not 100% positive this is the cause but this was the ONLY thing different I ate. I made the mistake of getting fries from McDonald's later to find out they are coated in wheat! I had terrible chest pains that radiated across my shoulder blades in my back and also pulsated down my torso. all of this was alleviated later by lying down but when I get back up, it hurts again. Today it's still hurting a bit.

Is this possible? Or is this something else?

laurie15 · **Joined:** Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:36 pm **Posts:** 144

When I have casein, I get severe pain in my sternum. I can't even breathe. It's horrible. So I feel your pain!

_Susan_ · **Posted:** Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:25 am

McDonalds french fries contain wheat and dairy. News of this came out February 2006 but it was quietly mentioned causing outrage briefly and then people calmed down and forgot about it.

Quote:

The company acknowledged last week that wheat and dairy products are used to flavor its fries. A short time before, it had added the phrase "Contains wheat and milk ingredients" to the French fries listing on its website...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2 ... luten.html

Quote:

French Fries:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor (wheat and milk derivatives)*, citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent)), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent). *CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.)

http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller ... dex.html#1

If you are allergic to wheat and/or dairy, DO NOT eat these fries.

keegans_mommy · **Posted:** Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:31 am

laurie15 wrote:

When I have casein, I get severe pain in my sternum. I can't even breathe. It's horrible. So I feel your pain!

Thank you for posting this and I am sorry you feel this way too! I feel like everytime I eat wheat, the allergy gets worse! I was sore all day yesterday too but today I am back to feeling fabulous! Thank goodness!

Susan-I appreciate your post too. I am greatly disappointed in McDonald's. That will be the LAST time I visit them!

KarenOASG · **Posted:** Sat Jun 23, 2007 1:47 pm

Just want to clarify: McD's fries in the US contain wheat and dairy.

McD's fries in Canada do not - or at least that is what a member of my local support group was told when she enquired when the news first came out. She was told that the ingredients in the Canadian McD'sfries are potatoes and beef tallow - no wheat or dairy. (Of couse, you still have to check to see if other products are fried in the same oil....)

K.

keegans_mommy · **Posted:** Sat Jun 23, 2007 3:44 pm

I just checked their site and it does say "wheat and milk". Ack! This stinks!

gwentheeditor · **Posted:** Sat Jun 23, 2007 6:29 pm

Keegans Mommy,

Just catching up with this. I'm sorry to hear you had such awful pains in your chest and shoulders. But I've honestly never heard of those kinds pains being associated with food allergy or celiac. (See our FAQ for allergy symptoms; celiac symptoms are here: http://www.csaceliacs.org/celiac_symptoms.php)

If the pains were abdominal - that could be allergy or celiac.... In your shoes, with such bad pains, I'd get an appointment with my GP. Could be something else entirely.

Just to weigh in on the McDonald's US fries ... Allergic Living wrote about the "Fry Controversy" back in April 2006. In fact, we went so far as to interview Nebraska food allergen specialist Dr. Steve Taylor, who checked the fries' gluten levels. They were below detectable levels (which usually would mean safe for celiacs) but both he and the Celiac Sprue Assn in the U.S. said it was up to the individual whether to consider safe. The Florida lawsuit against McDonald's was also recently dismissed by a judge. Here's an excerpt of what AL's story said (from the Spring 06 issues):

Quote:

As a restaurant operator, McDonald’s was exempt from the requirement to list common allergens, but on its website chose to add “may contain wheat and dairy derivatives” to the ingredients shown for its fries. (A flavouring agent in the fries’ cooking oil contains the wheat and dairy).
The word change set off a frenzy on gluten-free web forums. Then three individuals filed lawsuits against the fast-food giant; one Florida couple saying their wheat-intolerant 5-year-old was made seriously ill by a serving of fries. In Canada, where one in 133 people are estimated to have celiac disease, all remained quiet. Here, McDonald’s fries contain different ingredients (see www.mcdonalds.ca for a full listing). And while the fries may contain such appetite-whetting things as beef fat and propylene glycol, there is no wheat or dairy to be found.
As the fry flap continued south of the border, Dr. Steve Taylor of the University of Nebraska’s food allergy research centre ran tests on the McDonald’s products. After examining his results, the Celiac Sprue Association announced that the residual gluten in the cooked fries was below detectable levels. However, Taylor said that while convinced the fries were safe, he wasn’t advocating that the gluten-sensitive or milk-allergic eat them. “Any decision to consume a product that contains the offending food has to be an individual decision,” he told Allergic Living. “I will not make it for you.”

keegans_mommy · **Posted:** Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:21 am

I['ve been lurking in the celiac.org site and read several posts about people who get a sharp pain that starts right below their ribs after eating gluten and that is what happened to me. I am sorry to argue :oops:

I am certainly not an expert but their accounts seem identical to mine that day. I can't say if that is the cause or if it was something else but I have never had anything like that before. Weird and hopefully it won't return!

Either way, wheat and gluten are bad news for me and cause a host of other issues I hate, hate, hate! So they are avoided at all costs here.

Thank you for the information and your input! I eat up any and all information like this so it's greatly appreciated!

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chest pain after eating fries coated in wheat?

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