Is Advil gluten-free?
Looks mostly clean — worth verifying with the maker. Mostly yes — but worth a quick call to the manufacturer for some generics. Of 19 product labels we checked, 11 are clean, 0 are confirmed gluten-free by the maker, and 8 contain an inactive ingredient (typically a source-ambiguous starch) whose botanical origin isn't fully disclosed. None contained confirmed gluten.
Drug context
About Advil
Advil is a brand name for ibuprofen — the brand-name NSAID ibuprofen for pain and fever. The active ingredient is the same across brand and generic versions, but inactive ingredients (excipients) can differ between manufacturers, which is the whole point of this page.
Why this matters
Different manufacturers, different ingredients
Generics of Advil use the same active ingredient, but they aren't required to use the same inactive ingredients. Your pharmacy may switch which manufacturer they dispense between fills, sometimes without telling you. The list below shows each manufacturer's product label as a separate entry, because that's the granularity that actually matters when you're celiac.
The labels
The 19 we checked
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01Actavis worth a call to confirmView source label →
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02Amneal worth a call to confirmView source label →
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03Amneal worth a call to confirmView source label →
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04Amneal worth a call to confirmView source label →
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05Amneal worth a call to confirmView source label →
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06Aurolife worth a call to confirmView source label →
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07Gemini worth a call to confirmView source label →
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08Gemini worth a call to confirmView source label →
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09L. Perrigo Company nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients ANHYDROUS CITRIC ACID · GLYCERIN · HYPROMELLOSE, UNSPECIFIED · POLYSORBATE 80 · SODIUM BENZOATE · SORBITOL SOLUTION · SUCROSE · WATER · XANTHAN GUM
View source label → -
10H E B nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients ANHYDROUS LACTOSE · CARNAUBA WAX · FERRIC OXIDE RED · HYPROMELLOSE, UNSPECIFIED · MAGNESIUM STEARATE · MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE · POLYDEXTROSE · POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL, UNSPECIFIED · SILICON DIOXIDE · SODIUM STARCH GLYCOLATE TYPE A POTATO · STARCH, CORN · STEARIC ACID · TITANIUM DIOXIDE
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11HyVee Inc nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients CROSCARMELLOSE SODIUM · FERRIC OXIDE RED · FERRIC OXIDE YELLOW · HYPROMELLOSE, UNSPECIFIED · MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE · POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL, UNSPECIFIED · POLYSORBATE 80 · SILICON DIOXIDE · STARCH, CORN · STEARIC ACID · TITANIUM DIOXIDE
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12CVS Pharmacy nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients FD&C GREEN NO. 3 · GELATIN · MEDIUM-CHAIN TRIGLYCERIDES · POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL, UNSPECIFIED · POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE · SORBITAN · SORBITOL · WATER
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13AptaPharma Inc. nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients ACESULFAME POTASSIUM · ANHYDROUS CITRIC ACID · CARBOXYMETHYLCELLULOSE SODIUM · GLYCERIN · MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE · POLYSORBATE 80 · PROPYLENE GLYCOL · SODIUM BENZOATE · SUCROSE · WATER · XANTHAN GUM
View source label → -
14AMERISOURCE BERGEN nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients FD&C BLUE NO. 1 · GELATIN · POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL, UNSPECIFIED · POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE · SORBITAN · SORBITOL · WATER
View source label → -
15ARMY AND AIR FORCE EXCHANGE SERVICE nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients ANHYDROUS LACTOSE · CARNAUBA WAX · FERRIC OXIDE RED · HYPROMELLOSE, UNSPECIFIED · MAGNESIUM STEARATE · MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE · POLYDEXTROSE · POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL, UNSPECIFIED · SILICON DIOXIDE · SODIUM STARCH GLYCOLATE TYPE A POTATO · STARCH, CORN · STEARIC ACID · TITANIUM DIOXIDE
View source label → -
16Granules Pharmaceuticals Inc. nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients CELLULOSE, MICROCRYSTALLINE · CROSCARMELLOSE SODIUM · HYDROXYPROPYL CELLULOSE (1600000 WAMW) · HYPROMELLOSE 2910 (3 MPA.S) · HYPROMELLOSE 2910 (5 MPA.S) · HYPROMELLOSE 2910 (6 MPA.S) · MAGNESIUM STEARATE · POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 400 · POVIDONE K90 · SILICON DIOXIDE · SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE · STARCH, CORN · TITANIUM DIOXIDE
View source label → -
17Kroger Company nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients ANHYDROUS CITRIC ACID · GLYCERIN · HYPROMELLOSE, UNSPECIFIED · POLYSORBATE 80 · SODIUM BENZOATE · SORBITOL SOLUTION · SUCROSE · WATER · XANTHAN GUM
View source label → -
18H E B nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients ANHYDROUS CITRIC ACID · FD&C RED NO. 40 · GLYCERIN · HYPROMELLOSE, UNSPECIFIED · POLYSORBATE 80 · SODIUM BENZOATE · SORBITOL SOLUTION · SUCROSE · WATER · XANTHAN GUM
View source label → -
19(manufacturer not listed) nothing flagged on the label
Inactive ingredients Trometamol · Sodium chloride · Sodium hydroxide (for pH adjustment) · Hydrochloric acid (for pH adjustment) · Water for injections · water for injections. See section 2. Ibuprofen Gen.Orph contains sodium
View source label →
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Background
What “gluten in a medication” actually means
Gluten enters drugs through their excipients — the inactive ingredients used to bind, coat, fill, or stabilize the dose. The main concern is wheat starch as a filler. Source-ambiguous starches (plain “starch”, pregelatinized starch, sodium starch glycolate, modified starch) get flagged for verification because their botanical origin isn't always disclosed on the label.
The 2024 Mangione et al. pediatric NDC analysis (689 NDCs across the top 100 pediatric medications) found 1.5% contained gluten outright; another 25.7% couldn't be confirmed either way. Liquid and oral-suspension formulations carry disproportionate risk because wheat starch is a common thickener. Full methodology →
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