Can Sharing a Kiss Lead to Gluten Transfer?

Apparently this Digestive Disease Week at Medscape. (I dunno how the spiders got involved.)

Although it is unlikely that canoeists will ever administer first aid for gluten transferred by kissing, more knowledge can't hurt.

This study, with a very small N, suggests that the risks are low. If you are worried about transmitting gluten to your partner, simply drink a glass of water after eating but before kissing.

Fortunately, a sigh is still a gluten-free sigh.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticl...CPEDIT_etid7421821&uac=389934HN&impID=7421821

(sigh) not sure how I missed this but, then again, maybe that's for the best...

The couples were instructed to kiss with an open mouth for at least 1 minute, involving the tongue and saliva transfer.

Click to expand...

OK so, the instructions were: "Slip her the tongue for at least a minute... I'll just watch". God, I miss college (then again, some days I don't)

10 couples? That's not a statistically significant sample size from the design phase. Seems more likely that it's just a professor who is a voyeur. (not that I mind; I'm not paying her salary, I'm just sayin'...)

Sharing a kiss can lead to all kinds of things.

We have to wonder how the researchers ever got a grant to conduct this study!

I'm always hopeful that things like this are funded privately but, then again, it's harmless enough... if it keeps us from getting all of the governance that we pay for...

I suppose the relevance of this topic is whether one should administer mouth-to mouth resuscitation to someone with celiac disease who drowned on a canoe trip. Well, would they prefer a bout of intestinal discomfort or death?

Or maybe it's just that on Father's Day (tomorrow) we are thankful for the conceivable outcomes of kissing.

I know someone who's young son has a gluten problem. He mentioned this once.. So I can confirm this is a real thing that people worry about.

The point wasnt he was worried about his young son making out with a cake-eater. The kiss is used as a example of how little gluten is needed to cause a reaction.

Apparently it only takes around 50mg of gluten to cause problems. That is basically a few crumbs.

While this particular study isn't very interesting from a canoe tripping standpoint, it is a reminder that it's worth knowing your paddling partner's health problems. You wouldn't want to be stuck in the backcountry with someone suffering from celiac disease or a food allergy.

Mr. P., thank you for a serious viewpoint on this topic.

When I paddled with whitewater clubs there was an expectation that paddlers would disclose any medical condition that could put other paddlers, or the trip as a whole, at risk. A heart condition would be an obvious example because other paddlers would have to risk themselves rescuing and then trying to resuscitate someone who had a heart attack in the middle of a whitewater river. In the case of a heart condition, I'd have the same expectation on a flat water trip.

I don't recall any specific disclosures and have no idea how many folks actually complied with that expectation, but those clubs were a lot younger in average age than the group here, so probably a lot fewer medical conditions.

Lots of people have food allergies. It's up to them to provide their own food minus the allergen, plus to cook with their own gluten free gear. I have a hard time believing that a celiac patient with completely gluten free food and cooking supplies would somehow ingest gluten on a canoe trip via kissing or otherwise. Whether they want to disclose their condition to the rest of a group is up to them, or medical disclosures can be made mandatory per the rules of the group trip.

As a solo tripper, I live with my problems on a canoe trip and temporarily escape from others.