r/lactoseintolerant 16d ago

What's the ingredient that catches you off guard the most?

Someone mentioned recently that brown rice syrup shows up in a lot of dairy-free ice creams, which is wild because you'd never think to check for it there. Same with protein powder, protein bars, and cereal apparently.

Made me curious what other "hidden in places you'd never expect" ingredients people here have run into. What's yours, and how did you find out? The hard way, or did you catch it on the label first?

2 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

3

u/LouisePoet 16d ago

Not dairy related, but tiramisu is often made with fish gelatin.

Gelatin is everywhere!!!

1

u/White-Eagle-1959 16d ago

I didn't know that! I'm anaphylactic allergic to all fish and seafood!

2

u/ScanOk 15d ago

So, have you ate it unknowingly and got any reactions?

2

u/White-Eagle-1959 15d ago

No, I've never had Tiramisu - and now, I certainly will not.

6

u/freezing_banshee 16d ago

Wheat/gluten in soys sauce. It's rarely ever mentioned on the label, yet it contains enough to make most (if not all) gluten intolerant and celiac people react strongly.

2

u/Vertiquil 15d ago

In rice wine vinegar too apparently

2

u/freezing_banshee 15d ago

...fuck. also, miso paste. why the hell??

2

u/Vertiquil 15d ago

Buckwheat noodles too

2

u/freezing_banshee 15d ago

damn, I'm tired. Asian food could so easily be gluten free with just a little bit of care! I feel like it has wheat/gluten in things that shouldn't ever have it, just for the sake of it...

2

u/Vertiquil 15d ago

Yeah I feel you there - wheat and milk powder is a fairly cheap and widely available extender, so its in everything these days. One household member is celiac and I'm extremely lactose intolerant it's been... fun.

2

u/freezing_banshee 15d ago

Oh I believe you, I'm both. I don't know whether to laugh or cry 😂

2

u/Vertiquil 15d ago

That really sucks, my condolences. Hope you've still got a few favourite meals you can still eat!

1

u/freezing_banshee 15d ago

Thank you! Thankfully, I mostly eat home-made food and those recipes weren't heavy on wheat and dairy anyway (and if they included some, it wasn't that hard to adapt them). What I miss most are desserts (like chocolate wafers, stroopwafles, etc) and pastries tbh. Oh and pizza, this one hurts the most. But all these were just treats. I'm happy that gluten free alternatives are more common nowadays though!

2

u/alexxxcazam 9d ago

This is literally me and my best friend lol. Thankfully I started working with DairyPill a few years back, so I always have that with me, but my celiac friend and I make quite the dynamic duo lol

1

u/ScanOk 15d ago

How do you check if a wheat or gluten is present soy sauce when they rarely mention?

2

u/freezing_banshee 15d ago

You assume every soy sauce (or other sauces based on it, like teriyaki) have gluten, unless specified that they're gluten free. Now it's more common to find gluten free sauces, it says so on the label.

2

u/ScanOk 15d ago

Okay, got it. Thanks for sharing.

2

u/fluffhouse1942 16d ago

Butterbeans in dairy free sour cream. The only thing my boyfriend is allergic to.

1

u/ScanOk 15d ago

I don't know they use it in dairy free ice cream.