Are coca cola products safe for celiacs?
Is coke gluten free?
After the positive feedback I received from the Pepsi Gluten Free post earlier in the month I decided it would make sense to write a Coca Cola one too. Today I emailed Coca Cola for a list of their gluten free products.
I should have remembered that the company Coca Cola makes a lot more than just coke, fanta and sprite. They sent me a huge list including all the various juices, teas, flavoured water and sports drinks which they produce but it was so long that for the purposes of this post I wil focus on Coke soft drinks/soda. If you’re looking for the gluten free status of a different drink manufactured by Cola Cola you can check out their full gluten free list here.
This information relates to Coca Cola soft drinks in the US. They confirm that the following products are gluten free.
Barq’s
Caffeine free Barq’s Root Beer, Diet Barq’s French Vanilla Crème Soda, Diet Barq’s Red Creme Soda, Diet Barq’s Root Beet, Barq’s French Vanilla Crème Soda, Barq’s Red Crème Soda, Barq’s Root Beet
Coke
Caffeine free Coca-Cola, Caffeine free Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Cherry Coke Zero, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola with Lime, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Coke, Diet Coke with Lime, Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda, Diet Vanilla Coke, Vanilla Coke, Vanilla Coke Zero
Fanta
Fanta Apple, Fanta Grape, Fanta Grapefruit, Fanta Orange, Fanta Peach, Fanta Pineapple, Fanta Strawberry, Fanta Orange Zero
Sprite
Sprite, Sprite Green, Sprite Zero
OtherÂ
Fresca, Fresca Black Cherry, Fresca Peach, Inca Kola, Diet Inca Kola, Mello Yello, Northern Neck Ginger Ale, Diet Northern Neck Ginger Ale, Pibb Xtra, Pibb Zero, Red Flash, TaB, Carver’s Ginger Ale
For those of you in the UK or Ireland, the ingredient FAQ section of the UK Coca Cola website answers questions on ingredients in Coca Cola products and whether they are suitable for those of us with dietary requirements.
One of their FAQs is ‘Are your drinks suitable for those with a gluten intolerance or coeliac disease? The answer is “Yes. None of the Coca‑Cola or Schweppes brands contain gluten, milk, egg or soya” I also emailed Coca Cola UK and got the same response from customer service that none of the Coca Cola or Schweppes products contain any gluten at all. This includes Dr. Pepper, Lilt, Oasis and all variants of Schweppes. Great.
Sarah
Feb 28th, 2012Interesting, it’s funny how I would never have even given a thought to checking if I could have drinks or not, you just get so focused on food you forget all the additives in drinks!
Richard Gottfried
Feb 29th, 2012Very useful blog posts.
I have found that a lot of ‘own brand’ cola drinks do contain Gluten (Barley)!!!
Conor
Mar 2nd, 2012Nice post Laura, looks like we have to pay for the good stuff and avoid the thriftier Cola’s 😉
jen
Jan 23rd, 2013A lot of sodas contain CARAMEL COLOR. This isn’t good for people with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease. I just learned that coffee is BAD for me too. The body confuses the proteins in coffee as gluten which causes a reaction. Eggs can also contain a low amount of gluten unless they are labeled gluten-free. There’s sooo many things that I have to watch out for one wrong move sends me to the ER. Hopefully others don’t have it as bad.
Alex Calder
Jan 24th, 2013If they are Gluten Free why don’t they say so on the product. I always have trouble drinking dark colas and I don’t consider them Gluten Free. Maybe it is a Parts Per Million gluten tolerance level so I don’t eat or drink anything that is not tested and labled Gluten Free.
Emilytwinmom
Apr 24th, 2013Coke started making me react about two years ago, and today my son and I both got diarrhea from drinking a glass of orange Fanta. We have celiac disease, and no other allergies! Something is fishy…
Federico
Jul 10th, 2013Dear Laura, do you know the reason why if none of the ingredients in the Coca Cola´s products are derivated from grains or flours, the company does not make gluten-free label claims??. In my country (Argentina) the webpage of Coca Cola is misleading because at the question (faq) whether the products are suitable for coeliacs, answer “our products do not contain gluten” http://cocacoladeargentina.com.ar/preguntas-frecuentes/
Please, let me know your opinion. Best regards.
Laura
Jul 13th, 2013Hi Frederico,
Perhaps in Argentina, Coca Cola products do not keep within your countries guidelines for what can be labelled as gluten free. Since Argentine labelling laws are quite strict, perhaps they don’t feel comfortable saying that they are “gluten free” meaning less than 10ppm but they want to tell customers that they don’t contain any gluten ingredients. We have the same problem with some products in the US too, particularly things like beans and nut butters.
Unfortunately they are leaving it up to us to figure out what’s safe and more often than not I take this to mean I can’t have it. :-/
Jessica
Jul 17th, 2013I had a friend point out that on the bottom of coca colas website it says they cannot guarantee that the carmel color from Mexico is not gluten free. They said they do not have anywhere on the label of the drinks that guarantees it come from the US. So just a thought!
Rebecca
Nov 8th, 2013I have Celiac Disease and I react to Coke. I found this information, but I do not have a date. It is a response from Coca-Cola on the gluten subject.
“Additionally, we can tell you that all of our other products meet Codex’s definition of gluten-free, which is currently less than 200 ppm (parts per million) (0.02%) gluten. Codex is in the process of reviewing this standard and we are monitoring the progress closely. At this time the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not have a regulatory
definition of gluten-free.
We can assure you that the exact amount of gluten in all these other products is very low – perhaps even zero. Some minor ingredients in these products are manufactured from plants that gluten-sensitive people could react to, so we are unable to state categorically that they are totally gluten-free even though they may have undetectable levels of gluten in them. The Codex guideline provides a very low threshold for gluten content. However, extremely gluten-sensitive individuals should discuss consumption of these products with their health care provider.
We hope this information is helpful. If you have additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact us again.”
Lory
Dec 2nd, 2013Vanilla Coke does have Gluten, because gluten is in Vanilla
Angela
Mar 7th, 2014As far as I’m aware the colour additive CARAMEL is the source of gluten,I worry that big companies are trying to play the ‘oh we didn’t know’ line but this won’t happen till they are forced to find out,with stricter laws n regulations.
A leaky gut is no walk in the park.x
Abigail
Mar 29th, 2014Oddly my 4 year old just had a reaction to an Orange Fanta, have the ingredients changed in the last two years I wonder?
Margs
Jul 10th, 2015Any soft drinks with caramel colouring should notbe consumed on a gluten free diet. Malt is used to produce it which is derived from barley.
Katie Thren
Sep 15th, 2015My husband and I both suffer from Celiac. We have noticed that lately canned Coca-Cola has been upsetting us in a celiac sort of way. Have you also noticed this? Soda from bottles and taps do not upset our stomachs but canned does…
Lorrsine
Oct 19th, 2015My son, who has coeliac disease, has had diarrhoea since yesterday after drinking coca cola ..so I would say to stay away from it even though the guidelines say it’s safe.