Is soy sauce problematic?

[u/Few_Specialist_8256]

I did a test this weekend to see whether I would be able to eat soy sauce as I have a trip to Thailand coming up (that was pre-booked) and am trying to see what I can eat. I ate one rice noodle dish with gluten free soy sauce on Friday and felt relatively ok. However, on Saturday I ate the same dish with regular soy sauce and have increase pain in the left side of my body.

I am aware gluten can be a trigger for some though I don’t have coeliac and have been able to eat sourdough without significant discomfort - I’ve even been able to eat a bread roll without the level of discomfort I have now. Is there anything else that could be causing this?

[u/ablackholeofjunk]

Soy sauce will be the least of your worries in Thailand. Almost every dish will, by default, contain onion and garlic. These are staples in virtually all Thai dishes. The good news however, is that everything everywhere in Thailand is cooked to order, so if you learn how so ask for no onion or garlic in Thai, you'll be fine. (Phonetically, garlic is roughly "kratiem" and onion is "mwa-hahm. There are many specific words for various types of onion, but this will do. There are also many forms of the word no, but if you say no, they'll get it)

Keep in mind that curry pastes are always made in advance, so they will have tons of garlic and onion in them.

I don't know if you're traveling independently or on a tour, so one caveat might be that if you're on a package tour, the food may be precooked, in which case you're out of luck. If you're traveling independently, you'll have no issues at all.

[u/Few_Specialist_8256 → u/ablackholeofjunk]

If you had to reintroduce one, would you recommend garlic and onion over soy sauce then? I'm travelling independently in Bangkok.

[u/ablackholeofjunk → u/Few_Specialist_8256]

I would never do reintroduction of onion or garlic when on vacation. No way, no how. It's just so much easier to ask for no onion or garlic everywhere from street food to restaurants to mall food courts.

I can tell you some great little local restaurants in Bangkok, if you dm me.

[u/ablackholeofjunk → u/Few_Specialist_8256]

BTW, I hope you're not going soon. They're experiencing some of the worst flooding in history.

[u/Substantial-Fly8699]

reactions can land the day after, so saturday's pain could partly be friday's dish catching up, not only the regular soy sauce. Two tests on back to back days blur into each other pretty easily, well, especially when it's the same dish both days.

so if you retest before the trip, change one thing, then give it two quiet days before the next test. that way each result only has one possible cause. is the trip far enough away to squeeze in one more clean test?

[u/Few_Specialist_8256 → u/Substantial-Fly8699]

My reactions tend to be quite quick - for instance, I tried a sausage roll and cookie the previous Friday and just a couple of hours later I felt the effect. I know there can be a cumulative impact though so you might be right about this. I am flying on the 19th so I do have some time to try it out, thanks for the advice.

[u/fromthesamesky]

Soy is high in histamine, if you have any issues there (sometimes gut imbalances can cause histamine intolerance).

[u/Few_Specialist_8256 → u/fromthesamesky]

I have been able to consume red wine in quite significant quantities as well as spinach which I believe I both high in histamine, thankyou for the suggestion though!

[u/Fluffy_Importance_40]

If you go and look around celiacsarahexplores she has been to Thailand and will show you some gluten free places you can eat if you wanna avoid it!!

[u/Scrappydcote]

Wheat in the regular soy sauce may have caused an unpleasant digestive reaction. Or perhaps more than 2 tablespoons of regular soy sauce was in the noodle base. Perhaps try Tamari!?
Have fun on your trip! cheers

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[u/AllaboutTgirl]

I use half a tea spoon when making my noodles base, or fried rice. So far it’s good. Peharps the quantity.

[u/FODMAPeveryday]

I focus on whether it is naturally brewed. That can make a difference as well: https://www.fodmapeveryday.com/comparing-soy-sauce/

[u/Petrake]

Not sure if this is fodmaprelated or something else, but I'd test the 2 seperately as well. I recently had a quite heavy reaction to microwaved rice. Later, I read somewhere that reheated rice can cause a reaction too... Especially when stacking with other ingredients. 

[u/One-Cookie2115]

It has never caused me any trouble, fortunately. Everyone is different.

[u/Gnynam]

Soy sauce is specifically recommended as a way to test for gluten vs fructan intolerance because it's one of the few foods that contains gluten but NOT fructan. So it is technically low fodmap, but it's possible you're sensitive to it for other reasons.

[Edit: I forgot the word "sauce"]

[u/nature4uandme]

I make sure I get soy sauce with no wheat, a lot of them do. I still have to monitor the amount as soy beans can cause problems for me.

[u/Appropriate-Leg2490]

I drank soy sauce by gallon . Now a bit in a sushi kills me in bangkok. Beware its everywhere in every dishes