Is Oat Milk Gluten Free?

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein most commonly found in cereals including wheat, rye and barley. It's a common allergen which can cause an autoimmune response and mild to severe digestive symptoms. Intolerance to gluten is prevalent in the UK, with an estimated 1% of the population suffering from severe intolerance (known as coeliac disease) and as many as 10% with some of form intolerance.

What is classed as gluten free?

A food or drink can be classed as “gluten free” if it contains less than 20 parts per million of gluten. Another common classification is “low gluten” which is when a food or drink contains between 20 and 100 parts per million of gluten. 

Is oat milk gluten free?

Oats grown and processed in isolation do not naturally contain gluten. However, oats are commonly processed and grown alongside cereals containing gluten, so unless oats are specifically grown and processed in isolation, they will contain gluten.

Oats are unsurprisingly the main ingredient in oat milk (besides water), and therefore the same goes for oat milk. Unless the oats used have been grown and processed in isolation, the oat milk will contain gluten and should be avoided if you are gluten free.

Similarly, if you are making your own oat milk and you want it to be gluten free, make sure you are using certified gluten free oats. Check out our DIY oat milk recipe for delicious home made oat milk!

Which brands are gluten free?

In the UK, not that many brands have been certified as gluten free, which may be surprising to some. Brands which are NOT gluten free include: Oatly, Mighty, Minor Figures, Jord, Alpro & MOMA.

Brands which are gluten free include: Rude Health, Plenish, Glebe Farms, and of course Overherd (shameless plug).

Check out our more in depth guide about which UK brands and varieties of oat milk are gluten free.

How to know if an oat milk contains gluten?

The main way to check if an oat milk contains gluten is to check the label. Look for the allergens section next to the ingredients list. If nothing is mentioned under allergens, but the oat milk isn’t specifically marked as “gluten free” it’s probably best to avoid just to be safe. Frustratingly lots of supermarkets still don’t provide any gluten information on product pages, so it can often be difficult to know. Remember that if an oat milk is marked as “low gluten”, this is different to “gluten free”.

What other allergens are in oat milk?

In addition to gluten, oat milk can contain other allergens. Plant milk blends are becoming increasingly popular, and so oat milks can often contain other allergens for example nuts. Oat milk also contains oats… duh! Which although not a common allergen, can still cause symptoms in rare cases.

Although not usually classified as an allergen, beware of highly refined oils in your oat milk, these can be really unhealthy. Check out our guide on oils in oat milk, and how to avoid.

How sustainable is oat milk?

We mentioned earlier that the main ingredient in oat milk is water, this may not be a surprise, but what if we told you that it was 90% water? We are on a mission to make oat milk more sustainable. How you ask? Well, we focus on the other 10% that isn’t water, the 10% that contains the flavour, nutrients, and creaminess. You add the water at home instead and it saves a tonne of packaging, CO2 emissions and food waste. Learn more about why powdered oat milk is more sustainable.

By sacking the water, our dried oat milk becomes 10 times lighter which means less packaging and fewer trucks needed for transport. It gets better though, as dried products naturally have a longer shelf life, our oat milk is less likely to be wasted - say bye to off milk. Learn more about our sustainability here, or don't...