For people with gluten sensitivity (which is 99% of everyone) and food/additive sensitivities, navigating daily life involves meticulous attention to ingredient labels, from food products to personal care items. However, what often goes unnoticed is the presence of GLUTEN and inactive TOXIC ingredients found in nearly all prescribed medications, a fact that can have significant implications for those with gluten-related disorders.

The Ubiquitous Presence of Gluten

Gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye, is commonly used as an inactive ingredient in many medications. It serves various purposes, such as acting as a binder, filler, or coating agent in tablets and capsules. While these roles are needed to hold and stabilize the synthetic chemical formulation, it can obviously pose a massive dilemma for individuals who think they are “gluten free” yet take prescribed medications.

The Ubiquitous Present of Toxic Inactive Ingredients

Im not sure if you know this, but your medication is just “100% medication” – its in a capsule that has ingredients (and often colors) and usually is coated to prevent breakdown in the stomach (with more chemicals) etc.      

The number of added ingredients in prescription medications can vary widely depending on the specific drug, its formulation, and intended use. However, most prescription medications contain several added ingredients beyond the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). These additional ingredients are known as excipients and serve various purposes such as stabilizing the drug, improving absorption, enhancing taste, or aiding in manufacturing processes.

A study published in the journal Pharmaceutical Development and Technology titled “Analysis of Excipients in 42 Compendial Orally Disintegrating Tablet Formulations” (2017) conducted an analysis of excipients in 42 common tablet formulations. The study found that the average number of excipients per tablet was approximately 6.4, with a range of 4 to 9 excipients per tablet across the formulations analyzed.

Binders (polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)), Fillers (dicalcium phosphate), Disintegrants (crospovidone), Lubricants (talc), Colorants (FD&C dyes, iron oxides, and titanium dioxide) and Coatings (polyethylene glycol (PEG), and shellac) are among the most commonly used. 

The Impact on Gluten-Sensitive and The Inactive Ingredient Sensitive 

For individuals with autoimmune disorders triggered by gluten consumption, or those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or those with general chemical sensitivities the inadvertent ingestion of gluten and/or inactive toxins from medications can lead to adverse reactions often mistaken for “side effects” or “normal reactions” which hinder ones ability to heal innately. 

Its easy to avoid peanuts if your allergic/sensitive to them, but imagine if peanuts were in your daily medication for thyroid, diabetes, heart condition (any sort of health issue people medicate for) and you didn’t know it because its not listed on the medication box (which no one gets anyway) nor the label. 

Symptoms of exposure to gluten and/or chemical sensitivity include digestive issues, skin rashes, headaches, and fatigue, among others. Moreover, ongoing exposure to gluten and/or toxic inactive ingredients can exacerbate inflammation and damage to the small intestine which nearly always exacerbates the very condition being medicated.  

It’s a catch 22 for sure as 99.99% of people are unaware of the hidden ingredients in their prescriptive and OTC medications.    The good news – NOW YOU KNOW and you can simply go to www.google.com or chat.openai.com and ask Google and ChatGPT for the inactive ingredients of your medication.   Here’s the top 3 most commonly prescribed so you can see what your also getting when/if you take these:

Lisinopril (blood pressure): Microcrystalline Cellulose, Calcium Phosphate Dibasic Dihydrate, Magnesium Stearate, Corn Starch, Iron Oxide, Mannitol, Silicon Dioxide, Sodium Stearyl Fumarate

Levothyroxine (thyroid): Microcrystalline Cellulose, Calcium Phosphate Dibasic Dihydrate, Sodium Starch Glycolate, Colloidal Silicon Dioxide, Magnesium Stearate, Stearic Acid, Dextrose Monohydrate, Polysorbate 80

Atorvastatin (cholesterol): Calcium Carbonate, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Lactose Monohydrate, Croscarmellose Sodium, Hydroxypropyl Cellulose, Polysorbate 80, Magnesium Stearate, Titanium Dioxide. 

Advocacy and Awareness

Increasing awareness about the presence of gluten and inactive toxic ingredients in medications is crucial for patient advocacy and safety. Healthcare providers play a vital role in identifying and prescribing gluten-free/inactive ingredient alternatives whenever possible. The challenge is most people are unaware.  Most MDs are unaware.  Nearly all Pharmacists know this but they are trained that inactive ingredients are just that, inactive (which clearly isn’t the case).

Lets look at just one commonly used: Polysorbate 80 (also known as Tween 80) is known to induce allergic reactions, GI disturbances, inflammatory response, induce leaky gut, interact with other medications and cause cancer!

What can you do?

1. If you’re taking prescribed medications – go look up the ingredients using the search engines listed above, Type in “Medication Name Inactive Ingredients” and hit return. 
2. If you don’t like what you see, print it off and email to your prescribing MD and say “Doc, I just found out my medication has (X) and I want to know if you have one that doesn’t have (X) in it.” Some are smart enough to find an alternative, others will say they don’t know or simply not reply!
3. Check with pharmacists or contact the pharmaceutical companies directly to inquire about alternative options.
4. Seek the care of a integrative functional physical or holistic physical who can guide you through the path of reducing / eliminating the need for meds all together!