The same thing happened to me. I’m not sure if it was from barley but when I started my elimination diet I got cold sores back to back. That’s when I made the allergy association. It’s real!

Hey Diana,

A true cold sore isn’t an allergic reaction, it is a herpes virus outbreak. Don’t be alarmed, the WHO says 2/3 of the world wide population has the virus. It is possible that the stress of an allergic reaction to barley could trigger a virus outbreak. Or it could be that you don’t have a true cold sore.

Yeah, I’m allergic to barley, but I’ve been eating crunch bars recently and I never realized they had barley malt in them, but I haven’t gotten an allergic reaction, which is just a cold sore.

Jerad: thanks for your comment, I liked it so much I turned it into an article. If you would like to follow it for comments, go to http://www.allergy-details.com/food-allergy/barely-allergy-avoiding-barely/ and leave a comment.

Amy,

I have found out I was allergic to barley, but not wheat, over a year ago. I must say you have to be VERY careful as some ingredient lists only have “unbleached flour” and they include barley malt in them. I will tell you a few things I have found. I live in Utah and there are a couple of bread manufactures that do not use the barley malt, they use a potato starch instead I have reached out to them to ask as they are in state. As for a national brand SOME of the Nature’s Pride Wheat bread/buns are without malt, you just have to read the fine print. I have the habit to check it each time I purchase it as some Sara Lee that was safe started adding the barley malt. So my personal rule is if I don’t know, I avoid it. I have found if it the product as malt anywhere in the ingredient list avoid it as 99% of malt is barley. Not to get that confused with maltodextrin. If the product was made in the US it has to say “maltodextin from wheat/barley” if it is not made from corn as from a FDA ruling. But be aware if it is an imported product. The final thing I would recommend is if it says Gluten Free it is not nessarly barley free. Some manufactures (expecally in beer) remove the gluten and leave other parts of the barley (that I am allergic to) in the product. If you have any other questions please let me know I try to monitor this site often or email me at jareay[at symbol]msn.com.

Many people have complained that barely flour is in most breads. Since I myself avoid all gluten, I have not researched this myself. I do suggest however that while you are looking into it, eat gluten-free bread because it won’t have barely in it.

I can’t advise you on how the NH works, but I will suggest that allergy tests are a guide at best. The only way to be sure is to cut out the potentially offending food and see if you get better, then reintroduce and see if you get worse. Anything else is not accurate enough to rely on, but can be ueful in deciding what to try cutting out.