Some people are gluten intolerant, which means they can't eat many foods that contain gluten, including wheat and barley. Does this mean that people who can't eat gluten should not drink wheatgrass juice? Luckily, most of these people can drink wheatgrass juice. The reason why wheatgrass juice is OK is because it is cut when it is still very young -- only at 6-10 inches tall and about 10 days old. In this stage, the grass does not contain any gluten. Even most people who are allergic to wheat can still drink wheatgrass juice, because they are usually allergic to the gluten in the wheat kernel. The gluten is present in the wheat kernel (seed), after the wheat plant has grown for a long time and is ready to be harvested.
It is worth stating here that although every wheatgrass source I have ever come across says that wheatgrass juice is gluten free, wheatgrass does show up on this really, really long list of foods that may contain gluten. It has wheatgrass on the list, but interestingly does not say wheatgrass juice. If you are a celiac (cannot consume gluten), check with your doctor first before drinking wheatgrass juice just in case.
