Gluten is a general term for the "proteins" found in cereal grains such as wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, and triticale. Gluten is made up of several families of "proteins" with the most common scientific name of "gliadin". Gliadin is found in all gluten cereals except for oats. Some gluten-sensitive folks find they can metabolize oats, but many cannot.
For some great information about "why gluten cereal grains may be hazardous to your health", check out the book Dangerous Grains by James Braly, M.D., and Ron Hoggan, M.A., copyright 2002.
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