About GF School Supplies Part 1: Composition Notebooks Made of Wheat

It looks like a typical marble composition notebook but this Green Ozone marble composition notebook made by American Scholar is made of 80% wheat straw. I wouldn’t believe that someone with celiac or gluten intolerance  would have a reaction to a notebook made of wheat paper but my 7 year old had blisters on his elbows for a year until the teacher alerted us that my son had been using this “green” notebook and we discontinued using it. I had noticed that he would get blisters during the week on his elbows which would go away in the summer and get slightly better over the weekend so I spoke to the teachers about it. About a week later, at pick up, his teacher brought me this notebook and showed me the back cover and told me “It’s made from WHEAT PAPER-80% WHEAT STRAW!”

I thought his itchy elbows were a result of cross contamination from all the sandwiches and goldfish crackers his classmates eat–but his symptoms went away once we switched to a regular non-wheat notebook. It turns out a lot of school supplies can contain hidden wheat–which might be a problem for some kids with celiac, gluten intolerance or wheat allergies.