Zizzle,
I try to stick with white corn tortillas and chips, but during the holidays I found myself munching on Fritos, a couple of times.
Considering that I'm supposedly avoiding the stuff, I have to have been getting a fairly regular source of contamination on a long-term basis, (IMO), to show an antibody level that high. A test result of 64 doesn't leave much room for doubt.
I think you're right - it's probably in and on the pots and pans and virtually anything else used for cooking. All you have to do is to look around in a kitchen where someone is baking cookies, or anything else that uses wheat flour, for example, and you can see that flour is not only scattered all around, but it's easy to imagine all the invisible particles that drift all over the kitchen, any time flour is poured, or otherwise agitated. If a late-afternoon ray of sunlight streaks across the room, for example, you can do much more than imagine - you can easily see that there is a heck of a lot of flour dust in the air. That dust settles in and on anything exposed, and probably a certain percentage of it even drifts into closed cabinets and drawers, to settle on dishes and utensils there. Over time, with repeated exposure, the accumulations add up. Eventually, every time a cabinet door or a drawer is opened, flour dust is blown into the air, by the air currents that result from the door or drawer movement. And, of course, even if dishes and other utensils are carefully and completely washed, (which isn't always a sure thing), they may be contaminated with flour dust wherever they're stored, either from current baking projects, or residual flour from projects done in the past.
When the countertops and tables are wiped off, a lot of the flour dust is launched into the air again, to repeat the cycle, and every time someone walks across the room, the breeze stirs up some more. This way, it slowly spreads all over the house. It's impossible to get rid of all of it - it can only get worse, as time goes on.
IMO, it may be theoretically possible to use wheat flour, and with superhuman effort, somehow keep residual levels down to below 20 ppm in any food prepared in that house, but the chances of accomplishing that goal in the real world, are not very likely, as far as I can tell. I really don't believe that it can be done, on a reliable, long-term basis, unless "the victim" has a very high tolerance threshold.
My hat's off to anyone who can successfully do that, because I strongly suspect that it's a "mission impossible".
Tex
Visit the Microscopic Colitis Foundation Website
Aren't you on a strict GF diet? Any chance of cross-contamination right before your test??
