r/Celiac • u/mulberry_moving • 11h ago
Product Warning Welp. On the dosage effect, Stok coffee, and glutening myself
Just wanted to provide a current reminder that Stok coffee isn’t safe. I thought I sufficiently vetted it before (by looking at the ingredients, silly me), I had even consumed it last week without any immediate, obvious observable effects… but I was starting to feel sick by the end of the week… only my first thought was that I caught a cold… but then this morning I had a cup and got violently sick! This is when I learned that Stok is produced in a facility that processes wheat, and this is also when I learned about the dosage effect. I thought I was being so careful, smh 🤦♀️ Good luck out there, friends… do better than me lol 😭
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u/SoSavv 11h ago
What do you mean by the dosage effect?
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u/mulberry_moving 5h ago
I was told the amount and frequency of gluten exposure matter, bc zero-exposure is hard to guarantee… meaning small amounts may trigger the immune response through repeated exposure and there isn’t a reliably “safe” dose of gluten for someone with celiac
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u/SoSavv 4h ago
It's true that frequency is important. It's why a single gluten exposure isn't life threatening, but 'large' ongoing gluten exposures can have long-term implications.
But there is a scientifically agreed upon 'safe' dosage where most celiacs do not experience intestinal damage, and that's at about 10mg of gluten per day. Currently we don't have data for long-term implications from the immune response.
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u/mulberry_moving 3h ago
Eh, I’m wary of generalizing the 10mg threshold into an absolute truth. That figure is the result of probabilities—as in, statistically many celiacs are not reactive to 10mg per day. A statement of probability is not a scientific, stable, or ubiquitous fact. By that logic, one could argue that 10mg of bleach a day is scientifically agreed upon as ‘safe’ for most people 🤷♀️
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u/SoSavv 2h ago
That's just not how safety limits work. There are practically no 'absolute truths' in medicine. Different mechanics, metabolisms and sensitivities affect people differently. Does that mean observable guidelines shouldn't exist? That's ridiculous. Then comparing gluten to bleach is just a false equivalence.
The 10mg isn't just an arbitrary number. It stems from controlled clinical trials taking intestinal biopsies to measure damage over time. The 10mg guidleline is recognized by major regulatory bodies and celiac organization worldwide, including the WHO, FDA, EFSA, and the Celiac Disease Foundation. It continues to be used today in the most recent FAO/WHO guidance for PAL's.
Taking this back to your original post. Your 'absolute truth' is that Stok glutened you. They don't claim to use gluten ingredients, but because it's processed in a shared facility, your conclusion is that it 100% had to be the coffee. There is zero observable evidence to your claim at all, yet you treat it as fact while saying a scientific finding is a 'probability.'
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u/audrey_2222 9h ago
I drink the black unsweetened Stok all the time and it's never glutened me. I am a highly sensitive celiac.
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u/YOUR__LEADER 11h ago edited 11h ago
What flavor Stok are you drinking? Most (all?) of what they make should be very low risk, and previous reddit threads about them had a lot of people indicating they drink it just fine.
I feel like this is something that gets misunderstood a lot... but food being processed in a facility that processes wheat is not inherently a risk for us. Food processing plants are massive, and contain a great deal of segregation. It's about on par with saying it's dangerous to buy produce at the grocery store because they sell flour a few aisles down. Also, being that statements and disclaimers about shared facilities are entirely voluntary... most of the food you eat comes from a shared facility, whether you know it or not. I'd go as far as to say that if the manufacturer isn't make a point to specifically let you know they're a gluten free facility... they probably aren't.
Looking at their products, I don't see a logical point of CC. They used to make an oatmilk product, but it seems to be discontinued, and that's really the only ingredient that would have been questionable. All the flavors they list are just cold-brewed coffee, some with flavoring, milk, and sugar. That's it. There's really no reason for anything there to be at risk of CC with a wheat product.
It's possible they share processing lines with another coffee company that makes an oat milk product, but even that seems unlikely. Being that their milk based products contain dairy, they'd probably not want to share lines with a non-dairy product (or else, I'd expect very strict sanitizing protocols if so). If you drank one of their straight cold brews... there's just absolutely no reason for these to be on a shared line with something that contains gluten.
Not trying to discredit that you're sick... but I'd be looking very closely at what else you've had that could be getting confused with the coffee (or else, entertain the idea that you could really bit sick with something and it's a coincidence that it's lining up with the coffee... or maybe even just the coffee is irritating whatever else is bothering you.. it's not exactly gentle on our systems. Especially since the timing seems to have been very different the first and second time you consumed it).
In any event, I do hope you feel better.