Gluten: Pros and Cons

Gluten (gluten) contained in the cereal is the reason why the bread dough becomes viscous and elastic. According to the content of gluten is determined by the quality of the flour. Wheat is easy to grow, it is nutritious, and it is used for making not only pasta, noodles and baked goods, but also a huge number of other products.

People thousands of years consumed cereal, and all of a sudden they have become almost the worst enemy of humanity! How to understand where the truth and where the next marketing move nutritionists, physicians and corporations?

Whether or not to limit itself in the use of bakery products and adhere to a gluten-free diet? The New Yorker magazine conducted a study on this subject, and we share it with you.

Gluten, gluten (Lat. gluten - glue) - concept that combines storage sink group of proteins found in the seeds of cereals, especially wheat, rye and barley. The term "gluten" refers to proteins prolamin and glutelin fractions, with part of the gluten accounts for the first.

Celiac disease - genetically predisposed intolerance foods containing gluten; is a form of enteropathy, it affects the small intestine in children and adults. According to the report of the World Gastroenterology Organization (VOG-OMGE) for February 2005, the prevalence of celiac disease in healthy adults ranges from about 1 in 100 to 1 in 300 people in most parts of the world. Patients with celiac disease should not eat wheat, rye or barley in food in any form. In adults, celiac disease diagnosed on average 10 years after the first symptoms. Patients with active (clinically manifest) celiac disease have an increased risk of death compared with the general population. However, this increased risk of death returns to normal after three to five years of strict compliance with the gluten-free diet.

In the US and Europe traffic, codenamed "Gluten - is death" has been going on a long time ago. On this subject a huge amount of research, made up of no less number of diets and recommendations. Almost every shop near the reception products for diabetics have a stand with products not containing gluten bread gluten-free, gluten-free soups, sauces, gluten free, gluten-free flours, cereals without gluten etc.

Gluten - is one the most commonly used protein among the world's population. He appears when two molecules - glutenin and gliadin - connected and form a bond. When you knead the dough, these ties create a resilient membrane. That it gives the bread its slightly viscous structure and allows the chef to make a show with the pizza dough. Also gluten captures carbon dioxide, which after begins to ferment, add bread volume.

People eat wheat, and with it, and gluten-free for more than 10 000 years. In people with celiac disease - about 1% of the population of our planet - a very short interaction with gluten can cause a very tough response of the immune system. This can seriously damage the surface of the small intestine, which resembles a brush. Therefore, people with this problem have to be very vigilant and not only to closely monitor what is eaten, but at least get a grasp carefully in label products, which are on supermarket shelves - hydrolyzed vegetable protein and malt vinegar are a no less danger than wheat bread. Even re-use the water after boiling ordinary pasta can lead to serious problems, so restaurants and cafes difficulties no less than the grocery store.

And yet the same 1% had to manic closely monitor their diet, the other 99% went happily chew bread, until... Until cardiologist William Davis, the author of the book Wheat Bell, and his aides have not created an empire, the motto of which was the statement "gluten = poison," turn this protein in the culinary villain.

Davis believes that even "healthy" whole grains have a devastating effect on the human body, regardless of whether he is healthy or suffering from celiac disease. He started blaming gluten almost all diseases, from arthritis and asthma to multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia.

David Perlmutter, a neurologist and author of other publications on this subject, entitled "Food and the brain. What carbohydrates do with health, thinking and memory »(Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar - Your Brain's Silent Killers), went even further. He believes that sensitivity to gluten is one of the greatest and most underrated threat to the health of mankind.

Approximately 20 million people say they experience some discomfort after consuming products, that contain gluten, and about one-third of American adults are trying to exclude such products from its power. According to one study that tracks restaurant trends, Americans bought 200 million meals that do not contain gluten or wheat products.

As a result, the movement has gained momentum and reached almost to hysteria. A gluten-free diet began to adhere even those who have celiac disease never threatened and not threatened (you remember the 1%?). This is the latest fashion trends, and people then happily picked it: everybody started vying with each other to talk about how many years they do not eat foods with gluten and when they last ate a piece biscuit. If you there are no signs of celiac disease, it does not mean that you do not have it! What if you belong to that 1% of the "lucky"?

There are many theories on this subject, but none of them did not give a clear answer. Some scholars argue that over time wheat genes become toxic. Davis believes that today's bread and bread that was even impossible to compare the tables of the people 50 years ago. What is now the wheat with modified genes. It kills people. About 40% of us can not correctly processed gluten-free, and the remaining 60% is still in danger.

Although in the past decade, our diet has changed dramatically, our genes are still the same as they were thousands of years ago (evolution - this is a very long process). Our body is simply not able to use modern products, stuffed with a sugary substance and refined, high-calorie carbohydrates. Furthermore, most of the wheat, which we now eat turns into white flour contains a large amount of gluten and very little nutrients. This flour can cause a sharp rise in blood sugar, which can eventually lead to diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Researcher at the US Department of Agriculture Donald Kasarda studied the genetics of wheat for many decades. In the latest study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, he came to the conclusion that evidence that would indicate an increase in the incidence of intolerance to gluten due to changes in breeding wheat, no.

Professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic and president of the North American Association for the Study of celiac Joseph A. Murray also studied the genetics of wheat. He agreed with the conclusions Kasarda. According to him, the genes of wheat remained virtually unchanged, modern grains do not differ from those collected from fields 500 years ago. Moreover, in recent years the use of products made of wheat decreased significantly, not increased, so that the problem, in his opinion, has nothing to do with genetics.

Nevertheless, there is something strange, and the number of people with gluten intolerance have increased fourfold over the last 60 years. Some researchers believe that before this issue has not been given enough attention, and cases are simply not diagnosed. Other suspected causes: environmental degradation, modern diet, the intestinal microflora change and other similar hypotheses. However, so far none of them has been confirmed 100%.

Panic about gluten began in 2011, when a group of scientists led by Peter Gibson, professor of gastroenterology at the University of Monash, in the course of the survey found out that gluten can cause diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, even for those people who do not suffer celiac disease.

Gibson published his research in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, however, together with the other experts urged readers to show restraint in the interpretation of the data from such a small research. But who reads the entire text to the end? As a result, millions of Americans, even with mild gastric disturbances suddenly find yourself with a gluten tolerance issues and put yourself on a diet. Well, what if?

Gibson and his colleagues went further and decided to investigate human exposure to other substances contained in wheat. Subjects sat on a special diet, which excluded not only the gluten, but these substances are: measurable fermentation of the oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (polyhydric asleep) - the so-called group FODMAP. Not all carbohydrates contain these substances, but they are in other foods with a high content fructose (mangoes, apples, honey, watermelon), dairy products (milk, cream), as well as onions and garlic.

Most people have no problem digesting the substances listed above, but these carbohydrates ostomicheskie, ie they delay the water in the gastrointestinal tract. This, in turn, can lead to abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea. It turns out that the research carried out earlier was correct not to the end and did not consider the impact of carbohydrates on the human digestive system. Painful symptoms were caused by the digestion of carbohydrates and not gluten.

In order to get rid of these problems, it is necessary to eliminate from the diet products containing FODMAP group, and then gradually bring them back to the menu and to monitor the response of the body. But in the end we decided to blame in all gluten as "gluten-free diet" sounds much better than "diet FODMAP».

The first study gluten declared enemy number one, the second study showed that these symptoms can cause not only gluten-free, but also other substances, and that it is not deadly. Within a short period of time that passed between the two studies, a lot of Americans declared war on the products of wheat and sat on a gluten-free diet, and marketers have successfully played on this panic.

Another reason for which all started at detecting signs of intolerance to gluten, may be to add additional gluten flour. That is not very gluten, of course, and its components (proteins). It turns out that it has long been practiced in an industrial scale with the manufacture of bakery products. Through this supplement factory bread obtained in this lush and crispy. After all, home to a really delicious bread, soft inside and crispy on the outside, you need the correct oven and... a very long kneading and plants save resources. An additional portion of gluten copes with this problem and thus saves time. But in addition to crisp, higher dose of gluten causes symptoms very similar to celiac disease.

In theory, the bread should contain a flour, yeast, salt, sugar, water (sometimes vegetable or cream oil) and, possibly, some of the additives in the form of seeds and dried fruit - it is for this recipe is preparing a home bread. But if you take the bread magazine and read what is written on the packaging, in most cases you will see a lot more ingredients are not very clear chemical names.

Maybe the whole thing is in this extra dose of gluten in the most ordinary-store bread? Unfortunately, this hypothesis is not one hundred percent confirmation.

A confirmation is not because in Asia, for example, gluten-free in its pure form is used in food. He became a substitute for meat and tofu, and is called "seitan» (seitan), served steamed, grilled or baked.

While the results of a single study, which deals with gluten have not been confirmed at 100%, since the study of different diets and their effect on the body - this is a very long-term process. Moreover, all these recommendations are often too general to really help everyone. How many diets do you know? The Atkins diet, paleodieta, Kremlin diet, "South Beach", pescetarianism and many others - all of them can boast of a long-term effect.

People buy books with newfangled diet without gluten, read and begin to diagnose themselves. And then decide to completely abandon the bread and buy products with substitutes that say "gluten-free". But what does this really mean? In most flour is replaced by starch - maize, rice, potato or tapioca that are refined carbohydrates and which dramatically increase blood sugar levels, as well as those refined products, which usually try to avoid party. As a result, the country receives a diet: gluten free, but high in refined carbohydrates.

So what to do? Do not succumb to this newfangled motion, not to engage in self-diagnosis, reduce or abandon eating white bread and other bakery products made from white flour and replace them with wholemeal grinding. Another option - to bake bread yourself, using whole grain flour, water, yeast, salt, and his hands, which must knead the dough for at least 30 minutes. And then for that bread does not need any additional gluten.

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