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Monococcum wheat (einkorn) and the market offer

by luciano

Scientific research has long highlighted the peculiar characteristics of the monococcum wheat reported in (https://glutenlight.eu/2019/03/11/il-grano-monococco/) and can be summarized as follows:

  1. High digestibility of gluten
  2. High tolerability in relation to gastro-intestinal disorders (celiac disease excluded)
  3. High mineral and vitamin content
  4. High availability of bioactive components
  5. A different ratio between the components of starch sugar with a prevalence of slow absorption.

Monococcum wheat has, for some time, been the focus of producers-transformers and consumers. The offer, especially of flour, as well as of products is constantly increasing. The products offered, however, do not have, except in rare cases, complete traceability starting from the field to the table. On the flour packages it is rare to find indications regarding the variety of wheat from which it derives; on the final products we find the mandatory ingredients by law but, rarely, the preparation method. The speech, however, applies to all grains both ancient and modern. The greater attention to the monococcum wheat (einkorn) is due to the evocative force of its ancestral origin and to its characteristics of high digestibility, tolerability and healthy contents.

The variety of wheat used and the indicators that inform us about the quantity and “strength” of gluten would be particularly valuable to be able to include more digestible products in our diet when needed. Gluten, as it is formed during water and flour are kneaded, cannot be digested by our intestines, it must first be “broken” by digestive enzymes into very small “fragments”. In this way other digestive enzymes in the intestine will complete the work in order to make the gluten components “amino acids” assimilable. The lower amount of gluten and less strength will sometimes make our task much easier. Products made with monococcoum wheat flour (einkorn) and generally those made with “ancient grains” are advertised as “very digestible” or “highly digestible”. Both terms are very generic since they can present strong differences in terms of gluten quantity and “gluten strength”. Recently I bought two different monococcum wheat flours of which I pointed out the amount of gluten: one has a percentage of dry gluten of 9.6% the other of 17.1%! Same thing with the strength of gluten whose index in one case was 33 in another 71!These indicators are a first valid help that we could have to better balance, with the support of the doctor, our diet. It should also be remembered that the final digestibility of the product made with flours, whatever they may be, is also greatly influenced by the way in which the products are prepared: just think of the considerable contribution to digestibility that we can obtain by using sourdough, but this information is also generally absent or present in an ambiguous way or without specification of which flour was used: “… made with sour dough”. https://glutenlight.eu/2019/05/08/la-fermentazione-della-pasta-acida-ii-parte/.

Grain varieties with low toxic fraction content: an opportunity for products dedicated to children

by luciano

LC/MS ANALYSIS OF GLUTEN PEPTIDES DERIVED FROM SIMULATED GASTROINTESTINAL DIGESTION OF DIFFERENT WHEAT VARIETIES: QUALITY AND SAFETY IMPLICATIONS. Sforza, Stefano & Prandi, Barbara & Bencivenni, Mariangela & Tedeschi, Tullia & Dossena, Arnaldo & Marchelli, Rosangela & Galaverna, Gianni. (2011):

Abstract:

“Gluten content of wheat is highly variable, depending on the plant genetics and the growing conditions. Beside short peptides, gastrointestinal digestion of gluten also produces longer ones, since the high proline content of gliadins (16-26%) and glutenins (11-13%) makes them very resistant to the degradation by digestive proteases. In the present work, a method for the extraction of the prolamine fraction was applied to different wheat varieties, followed by a simulated gastrointestinal digestion of the gliadin extracted. The peptide mixtures generated were characterized by LC/MS, and most abundant peptides were identified by low- and high-resolution multiple stage MS techniques and through synthesis of authentic standards. These peptides were also semiquantified in the different samples against a suitable internal standard. The peptide mixtures were found to be highly variable, according to the different content and type of gliadins present in wheat varieties, with strong differences among the varieties tested, both qualitatively (the sequences of the peptides generated) and quantitatively (their amount). The greatest difference was found between common and durum wheat varieties. Peptides present only in the former varieties were identified, and used as molecular markers for identifying and quantifying the presence of common wheat when added to durum wheat samples. Most of the peptides identified were also already known to be pathogenic for people affected by celiac disease, an autoimmune enteropathy triggered by gluten proteins, which develops in some genetically susceptible subjects after gluten consumption. Some samples belonging to defined varieties showed a lower amount of celiac-related pathogenic peptides upon digestion, due to a lower gliadin content. Albeit not safe for celiac patients, the use of these varieties in the formulations of baby food could be of great help for lowering the spread of the disease, since the prevalence of celiac disease seems to be promoted by an early exposure to a large amount of gluten peptides”.