Coeliac disease is defined as an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.

Anne Lee, an assistant professor of nutritional medicine at the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University in New York City, explained that “There was no one who had researched this.”

“We have all just given guidance based on, ‘It seems like it’s OK,’” Lee said, “There were no guidelines.”

Prompted by the lack of research, Lee herself decided to carry out the study, and she presented her team’s findings at Digestive Disease Week in San Diego on Monday.

The study enlisted the help of 10 couples, all of whom had one partner with coeliac disease.

The partner who could consume gluten ate 10 saltine crackers before kissing their coeliac partners.

The kiss had to be open-mouthed, with tongue, and it had to last close to a minute.

Post-kiss, Lee and her team collected saliva samples from all of the coeliac partners and tested their urine for traces of gluten. The researchers found that just 10% of samples resulted in traces of gluten higher than the amount deemed safe for food.

They found that kissing seems to be safe, especially if the person who ate the glutenous food drinks water before going in for the kiss.

“Gluten exposure has to be at a certain threshold for someone with celiac disease to react. It looks like for most of these people it was well below this threshold,” said Dr. Joseph Murray, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic, who was not involved in the research.

Lee, who led the study, said, “There are so many aspects of being coeliac and on the gluten-free diet that impact overall quality of life,” including social anxiety around dating.

“This is at least one thing we can say is not something you have to worry about,” she said. “Go ahead and kiss.”