Unless a medication is specifically labeled asgluten-free, calling the manufacturer is the only way to confirm whether or not your medication is gluten-free. In prescription and over-the-counter medicines,fillersalso called “inactive ingredients” or “excipients,” are added to theactive drug.
Fillers provide shape and bulk for tablets and capsules, aid in water absorption helping the tablet to disintegrate, as well as other purposes. Fillers can be derived from any starch source including corn, potatoes, tapioca, and wheat.
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Ingredients to Look For
Unfortunately, very few medications are clearly labeled as gluten-free. Inactive ingredients may be listed on the box or the package insert, but it can be difficult to tell if these are derived from gluten.
In particular, any starch ingredient, including pregelatinized starch and sodium starch glycolate, not labeled specifically as coming from a gluten-free source—for example, corn, potato, tapioca—can be a cause for alarm.In addition to starch, other inactive ingredients that might come from wheat or barley include, but are not limited to, dextrates, dextrins, dextri-maltose, andmaltodextrin.
Sometimes even the pharmaceutical company itself does not know for sure whether its medications are gluten-free because they do not know the gluten-free status of the raw materials they buy from outside suppliers. Cross-contamination during the manufacturing process is another potential problem.
Best Practices for Avoiding Hidden Gluten
Tell the pharmacist that your medications must be gluten-free. Remind them every time you have a prescription filled.
When generic medications are available, your insurance company will probably not approve the brand-name drug. Generic medications, however, are not required to contain the same fillers as the brand name formulation. Just because you’ve confirmed that a brand-name medicine is gluten-free doesn’t mean the generic form is safe. Likewise, one generic being gluten-free doesn’t mean all generics are.
If you need a brand-name medicine because no safe generic alternative is available, call your insurance company to learn what they require to approve the brand name version of the drug.
When your healthcare provider is prescribing a medication for you, remind them that you are going to need to check the gluten-free status of the medication. Ask to be given a second-choice prescription in case the first-choice medicine turns out to be unsafe. If you’ll be having any radiological (X-ray) procedures for which you’ll need to drink some type of contrast material, call ahead to make sure the radiologists verify the gluten-free status of whatever they’re going to give you.
2 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.The Celiac Foundation.Gluten in Medications, Vitamins, and Supplements.Mollo, Katarina. National Celiac Association.Do I need to check that my medication is gluten-free?
2 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.The Celiac Foundation.Gluten in Medications, Vitamins, and Supplements.Mollo, Katarina. National Celiac Association.Do I need to check that my medication is gluten-free?
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
The Celiac Foundation.Gluten in Medications, Vitamins, and Supplements.Mollo, Katarina. National Celiac Association.Do I need to check that my medication is gluten-free?
The Celiac Foundation.Gluten in Medications, Vitamins, and Supplements.
Mollo, Katarina. National Celiac Association.Do I need to check that my medication is gluten-free?
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