NATIONAL charity Coeliac UK is asking the nation to take part in the Gluten-free Challenge this week to raise awareness of the daily frustrations encountered by the 1 in 100 people in the UK who have coeliac disease. Highland News Group editor Paul Breen grabbed his plate and cutlery and rose to the challenge for a week.

The lowdown on coeliac disease

COELIAC disease is an auto-immune disease caused by intolerance to gluten for which there is no cure or medication. The only treatment is a strict gluten-free diet for life. It affects one per cent of the population and on average it takes 13 years to get diagnosed with many people being initially misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Takling the challenge

THE one thing you become very good at when taking the gluten-free challenge is reading the labels on foods.

It does make the shopping drag on, but the ingredients information is vital to avoid gluten which can cause serious complications for people suffering from coeliac disease. Apart from painful stomach upsets and anaemia, the complaint can sometimes ultimately lead to infertility, osteoporosis and bowel cancer.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, and therefore is in bread, pasta, pizza, cakes and beer.

And it is also often used in a wide range of products including mayonnaise, soy sauce, a variety of other sauces, sausages and many processed goods.

So how easy is it to avoid gluten in your diet for a week?

I did have the advantage of a close family member with dietary issues far more complex than finding gluten-free food, so I did have a something of a head start rather than starting cold.

And with whole ranges of gluten-free products now being stocked on many supermarket shelves and in many cases quite clearly highlighted, as well as specialist items available via the internet, I found it was not too great a chore.

But the one drawback is that they are generally pricier than your standard shopping items, although many coeliac disease sufferers can obtain basic foodstuffs like bread on prescription.

For the purposes of this challenge, I chose to base my diet for the first part of the week on ready meals and food from a range of suppliers who had been eager for us to test their offerings. For the latter part I ate home-prepared meals, staying as near as possible to my normal diet and intake.

And on the whole it proved fairly easy to avoid gluten without feeling deprived of tasty offerings.

I am not normally a lover of ready-to-heat meals and there was nothing among the products sent by the various suppliers that would tempt me again. In most cases the main courses were pretty short on meat and on a couple of occasions I felt pretty hungry in the evening, even though I tried to stick to my normal size portions through the addition of potatoes and veg.

I also tried a variety of snacks which varied greatly in the taste test from good to bland.

Breakfast was a particular problem. I normally have porridge but the expensive gluten-free offering was a tasteless paste which wasn't much improved by the "posh" serving suggestion on the packet which I tried with added cinnamon. I eventually switched to oat muesli, which wasn't much better.

Any night-time hunger pangs disappeared when I switched to normal family meals later in the week, substituting standard pasta for the gluten-free variety on a couple of occasions with no noticeable difference.

My one real hankering during the week was for a proper bottle of beer. The wheat-free ale I tested didn't make the grade for me.

The favoured tipple of many coeliacs is cider, quite a trendy drink at the moment. But as a dedicated beer drinker I quickly got fed up with that.

So at the end of the week, overall the gluten-free test was not much of an ordeal. Label checking is essential, and I would certainly recommend sticking to home cooking rather the ready-to-cook meals.

Plain food is no real problem as it appears to be the sauces that cause complications. One good tip from my wife was to use cornflour instead of ordinary flour and this opens up a range of possibilities.

Below is my verdict of some products sent by suppliers for testing.

Paul’s verdict on some gluten-free products

THE following products were supplied for the purpose of this feature.

Nairn’s Gluten-free Real Porridge Oats (pictured) (450g – £2.99) – Chewy and pasty tasting. Two stars

Nairn’s Gluten-free Oat Muesli – Has 40 per cent dried fruit, but still pasty. Two stars

Genius Gluten-Free white bread (pictured) – light and tasty for sandwiches. Four stars

DS White and Brown Cabiatta Rolls – a bit chewy, but tasty when toasted. However, one packet was mouldy a month before the sell-by date. Three stars

 Look What We Found! Country Cured Ham and English Pea Soup – Thick, but sweet. Good size portion. Three stars

Stewed! ready meals for 1 (ranging from £3.49-£3.79) (pictured):

Chorizo, Chickpea & Pork Stew – Pretty bland apart from the spicy chorizo, but only two small pieces of pork. Two stars

Chickpea, Sweet Potato & Feta Stew – extremely bland. Two stars

Hungarian Goulash – Tasty, but also light on meat. Three stars

DS Gluten-Free pasta range (Fusilli Pasta, Pasta Shells, Lasagne) – very little difference in taste and texture from normal ranges. Four stars

Look What We Found! ready meal for 1 (£1.99-£3.99)

Fellside Beef Chilli Con Carne – boasts as good as homemade, and its true. Hot and spicy, filling and the cheapest in the range. Four stars

Cumbrian Lamb Hotpot – Disappointing lack of meat. Tasty but not filling. Three stars

Gloucestershire Pork Meatballs with Butter Beans in Tomato Sauce – Good portion but sauce was over-powering with pasta. Three stars

Provamel Vanilla Yoghurt Pudding (£1.65 for 4) – Tasty mix of soya milk pudding. Three stars

Provamel Chocolate Yoghurt Pudding – Tasty and chocolatey Three stars

Kent & Fraser biscuit range (including Vanilla and Walnut Shortbread, Chocolate Butter Crunch, Lemon Butter, Vanilla Butter Crunch – around £2.50 for 125g) – all pricey, but a luxury treat. Four stars

TruFree range – Herb & Onion Crackers (£2.90 for 200g) – tasty and crunchy. Four stars

High Fibre crackers – rather bland. Two stars

Pretzels (95p for 60g) – crunchy and tasty alternative. Four stars

Bourbon biscuits (£1.80 for 125g) and Chocolate Fingers (pictured) – ideal for those with a sweet tooth. Four stars

Against The Grain (500ml 4.5%ABV £2.50) – A wheat-free maize ale brewed in Yorkshire. Light-coloured with fruit flavour, but bitter after-taste. Three stars