Bonus: Gluten-free play-dough!
Similar to what other have said, I’m allergic to gluten. I helped my nephew with a middle school project where he had to build a tower from dry spaghetti sticks and marshmallows, and about five minutes in my fingertips were extremely itchy.
I also know my version of this is very mild compared to some.
They can take gluten out of dream sand but they can’t take dream sand out of gluten!
I’m not sure why there is an issue here? My son has a gluten allergy and breaks out when he plays with play dough that isn’t gluten free.
Niche product, sure. But definitely a market.
Okay, the play-dough maybe… but the sand? Would you ever buy your child sand and worry about the gluten content?
It’s not normal sand, it’s kinetic sand. There is more in that container than just sand. Most notably silicone oil, dyes, etc.
People don’t know what other ingredients are in there, and it sits on the shelf right next to other smushy things that can cause certain kids to have an allergic reaction.
Same concept. Kinetic sand not having gluten in it is initially why we swapped to it.
Truthfully having a big Gluten Free label on it just makes it easier for parents to know kids with gluten allergies can play with it.
But it wasn’t something that was obvious to us without researching it specifically.
I mean it’s like buying a hairless cat if you’re allergic to them. Like I still want to play with a cat, I just need one that doesn’t cause issues for me due to dander.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I mean it’s like buying a hairless cat if you’re allergic to them. Like I still want to play with a cat, I just need one that doesn’t cause issues for me due to dander.
Common misconception. Cat allergies are triggered by proteins in their bodily fluids, particularly their pee and their saliva. Cats do lick themselves a lot, and dander also contributes to it, but hairless cats are not hypoallergenic
Sincerely, a pet lover with cat allergies :(
wait is gluten alergy on the skin too? I thought the person had to eat it
Bro you are talking about play dough age kids here. Even if they don’t stick the dough in their mouth they most certainly won’t anally wash their hands after every time they play with play dough in a very defined area of the house.
Gluten intolerant person here. It’s like any other allergies where it runs the gambit. Most of us only have digestive issues if we eat it. Very rarely however, people will have the thing where they will just fucking explode into hives if someone breaks out a piece of bread in the same room as them. Just like peanut kid in elementary school.
I’m sorry for my Ignorance I have milk alergy (more severe than simple “intolerance”) and that will happened to me too. For some reason I never though gluten alergies worked that way. but now I know and will take extra care
This is why you don’t get nuts when traveling on an airplane carrying a passenger with a nut allergy. Allergic responses vary wildly. You might have a mild allergy that gives you a rash if you east too much of something. Or, you might go into anaphylactic shock if you breath air that’s had nuts in it.
My wife has an autoimmune disease that’s triggered by foods. Some foods more than others, and there’s some tolerance to each. She shouldn’t eat capsicum, but she loves spicy food, and she can eat some, but it she eats it too often, she gets a response flare. OTOH, she can’t have any amount of dairy: the response is rapid, and severe, and she has to take steroids to get it under control. Luckily, she’s not sensitive to anything (that we’ve found, anyway) that triggers a response from the molecules in the air.
Oh, there are two things you may have forgotten: first, when you smell something, you’re literally tasting molecules of that thing; second, your skin is your body’s largest organ, and you can absolutely ingest stuff through your skin. That’s how Novichok, and other nerve agents, work.
Yeah that was 100% a stupid question, but one of those things I never thought about before
Oh, hey @MissJinx; I haven’t seen you in a while.
I don’t think it was a stupid question; frankly, it’s not something I find intuitive. I have to stop and think about it. Also, living with someone with allergies makes you more aware of them, since your brain tends to purge knowledge you don’t use. I’d think it’s a curse - especially since my memory is shit to begin with - except that I know a couple of people with eidetic memories, and that can present its own problems.
I know one guy with an eiditic memory who has a problem with information that he learns wrong the first time. He has to build a sort of linked-list model in his brain for corrections, and then do a sort of very slow O(n) crawl of the list to end up with the right result. So say he’s introduced to you and they say your name is Becky; that gets stored in his memory. Then you correct them and say your name is “Susanne”, so he makes a “correction” link. But because someone coughed when you said it, he heard “Susan”, and that was w what got stored; so he has to make a second correction. From then on, whenever he runs into you he has to go through this “Becky” -> “Susan” -> “Susanne” process, and he says it’s real slow and can take a couple of seconds, and longer if there are more corrections. That seems a poor trade-off to me for being able to glance at a page and then repeat it back verbatim by reading the picture in his memory.
yes. Celiac disease is usually the one thing we hear people talk about when they can’t eat gluten, so I never thought about alergies with shock response
My son has celiac disease. Any amount of gluten man’s him vomit violently for an hour. He’s now old enough not to eat the playdo, but even the tiniest amount in his hands when he eats can be really bad. So I was happy this was available to ease this problem.
I also know hipsters will buy it just for eating it secretly at night in their basement because it’s gluten free
Someone else said their child would have an issue with the playdough, so fair enough. But the sand? Why would anyone think that sand had gluten in it in the first place?
My teenage son and I both have celiac disease, but the rest of my family does not. We have to have separate parts of the kitchen for anything gluten related, including separate toasters. We have to wash our hands after handling anything not gluten free, otherwise we risk some low-level cross- contamination issues which can cause big issues for either of us. Been there, done that, did not enjoy my immune system attacking my intestines from it.
I get that this struggle is not well understood by anyone who hasn’t had to deal with it, but allergies and autoimmune reactions (like celiac disease) are no joke. Having to miss school or work can be pretty devastating, not to mention the gastrointestinal issues that can cause those absence.
Sure, people can make kinetic sand. I can also make gluten free bread and cake. Quite often, the convenience of buying something is a pretty good thing if it fits the budget and makes it easier to focus on other things in life. So, I’m wondering if your point is more about anti consumerism than it is about pervasive use of gluten free labeling. I’m fine with that, but call it by what it is.
I honestly just thought the concept of gluten-free sand was amusing. That’s as far as it went.
Why has it gone too far? Can children not be coeliac?
Are they planning on kids eating the sand?
Honestly yes. Why it’s also labeled peanut and soy free.
If your kids are eating sand so often that you have to make sure the sand is gluten free, I think that’s the least of your worries.
I know some people who would’ve preferred sand. My nephew had a cat food phase.
I mean, actually eating it isn’t necessarily the thought. Putting it—and especially in the case of nut allergies their hands—in their mouth is the main consideration. I can’t speak to the rest of the design choices.
Nut allergies, sure. But I’ve never heard of someone with celiac not being able to touch something with gluten in it. Someone here claims their child does, but that sounds surprisingly niche to be in a regular toy aisle. The sand just mentions about being gluten free.
I don’t know, I just don’t know why anyone would expect sand to have gluten in it in the first place, even a parent with a gluten-sensitive kid. It’s sand.
From what I’m reading on their website it’s definitely a hypoallergenic/safety feature.
Okay, but who ever heard of sand that wasn’t hypoallergenic? Is that really a thing? Has someone with celiac or a nut allergy had that allergy triggered by sand?
It’s important for children with celiacs or allergies as even a tiny amount of exposure can have catastrophic effects. They don’t need to consume it, even touching it can affect them.
Do I think it’s silly to have it in rainbow letters right smack at the top of the package? Absolutely, but it’s nothing to be annoyed about.
I’m not annoyed. I was amused. I’m still amused at the idea of gluten-free sand. All sand is gluten-free. It’s sand.
This is KINETIC sand, a special compound that is either made with polymers, starch or flour. It isn’t just sand.
And if you spend any amount of time with children, you’ll know they put anything in their mouth.
Maybe listen to people who are parents and have legitimate concern of products containing gluten being problematic for their offsprings.
As I said to someone else, no one needs to buy kinetic sand, it’s incredibly easy to make. If an allergy is an issue with that sort of thing, they can make it themselves. Same with play-dough. Why are they trusting someone else to do it with stuff so easy to make they literally have kids make it themselves in things like Girl Scouts.
Means you’re probably expecting children to eat it? At which point you might have other problems?
Kids eat everything 😂
Have you ever seen a child?
And yet my dad still has trouble finding anything that won’t kill him if he eats it.
Ok, but is it PFAS free? Huh?
Well considering how much kids just eat whatever the fuck they feel like, it’s not the worst idea ever. I mean kids can have a gluten allergy, technically, just not most of the ones who’s parents claim they do.
Gluten free play doh kinda makes sense. Kids will put it in their mouth and IIRC, it’s non-toxic because it’s mostly made with flour and water. Making it gluten free and also non-toxic means kids with gluten allergies won’t end up having a reaction if they eat it.
I guess the sand makes sense too with the same logic? But I wouldn’t have thought that would normally contain gluten anyway 🤷🏻♂️
Yeah and in bad cases i heard even the slight contamination from other similar non gluten free products near it can cause severe reactions in people eith gluten intolerance. My main question is what you also asked, why does normal magic sand have gluten in it?
My brother found gluten free chocolate milk being sold in a big bottle, so we laughed real hard and bought two. He got more than halfway through before lookin at it and saying out loud, as we were heading to the camp site, “oh wait, I’m lactose intolerant” his girlfriend wasn’t pleased, but I didn’t have to share a tent with him so I was fine, an I got the rest!
