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More tolerable durum wheat for non-celiac gluten sensitive subjects

by luciano

The aim of the study “In search of tetraploid wheat accessions reduced in celiac disease-related gluten epitopes” is the identification of accessions of durum wheat with the least amount of fractions (epitopes) that activate the adverse response of the human immune system in celiac disease and not only.
Durum wheat with a smaller amount of these fractions (epitopes) might help undiagnosed CD-patients (approximately 95% of all CD-patients) who are daily consuming CD-stimulating gluten proteins without realizing its effect on their health and well being.
Durnm wheat identified although not suitable for celiac subjects “may contribute to delay or even prevent the onset of CD and its symptom development in that part of the population that is genetically susceptible, especially in children 37 (van den Broeck et al. in press), because the quantity of consumed CD-epitopes is a major factor that may influence the clinical representation of CD, along with some other recognized factors such as the type of cow’s milk formulas, omission of breast feeding, and age at gluten introduction. “

The study analyzed the gluten of “103 tetraploid wheat accessions (obtained from the Dutch CGN genebank and from the French INRA collection) including landraces, old, modern, and domesticated accessions of various tetraploid species and subspecies from many geographic origins. Those accessions were typed for their level of T-cell stimulatory epitopes.” The study has highlighted the existence of “ 8 CGN and 6 INRA accessions with reduced epitope staining.”
…omissis “Tetraploid wheats contain less T-cell stimulatory a-gliadin epitopes than hexaploid bread wheat because of the absence of the D-genome. The highly immunodominant T-cell stimulating 33-mer is exclusively present in a-gliadins encoded by the D-genome (bread wheat). In addition, the levels of T-cell stimulatory epitopes have been shown to vary among varieties (van den Broeck et al. ). This opens possibilities to select for wheat varieties with significantly reduced a-gliadin epitope levels, aiming at direct use or to apply in breeding programs directed towards large-scale reduction or even total elimination of CD-stimulating gluten-elements from wheat.”

Note
From the study
“A landrace may be a mixture of genotypes, which evolved under the environmental conditions where they were grown because of natural selection and selection by the farmer. Tetraploid wheat can mix up with hexaploid bread wheat very easily under agricultural conditions and care should be taken if the tetraploid wheat should be maintained as a pure genotype. As a result, many commercial lots, currently sold as durum wheat, nearly always contain some hexaploid bread wheat.”

“Differences among wheat varieties in gluten proteins occur because of allelic variation (genotype) that determines the gluten protein composition. The approach we used in this study analyzes this genotypic variation by comparing the same amount of gluten protein per accession. Changes in gluten protein composition have been described, but are mainly expected if growth conditions are extreme (high or low temperature, dry or wet conditions). The varieties and accessions we have analyzed were grown under normal wheat growth conditions and therefore, their influence on the gluten protein composition is not expected.”

”The occurrence of different genotypes and even different ploidy levels in a single genebank accession is a complicating phenomenon for genebank managers to accurately characterize landraces. Many landraces often result from maintenance and selection practices by local farmers directed towards optimizations to local agronomic and food applications. As a consequence, genebank passport data turned out to be poor predictors of the real genetic composition of landrace accessions that may be mixtures of genotypes of tetraploid and even hexaploid wheat species.”

In search of tetraploid wheat accessions reduced in celiac disease-related gluten epitopes. Hetty van den Broeck et al.
www.rsc.org/molecularbiosystems. July 2010 DOI: 10.1039/c0mb00046a

Keywords:

durum wheat, less toxic wheat, immunogenicity of wheat, predisposition to celiac disease, more tolerable durum wheat varieties, gluten proteins

Organic products: wheat

by luciano

The organic products market is constantly growing and with the problems related to covid 19, it recorded a strong increase in the current year. Il sole 24ore of 1 October 2020 (https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/emergenza-covid-consumi-cibo-biologico-quota-33-miliardi-e-record-ADXFNts) reports some significant data taken from the “report “Bio in figures 2020″ presented by Ismea at the meeting organized by Coldiretti on the occasion of the formalization of the annual report of the SINAB (National Information System on organic farming) ”
Italy – as of 2019 – boasts the largest number of farms engaged in organic farming. At the same time, Italy recorded a significant increase in organic imports in 2019.
The strong demand of the market, in fact, has induced several operators to import these products often from countries with quality standards and, above all, safety standards that are significantly lower than ours.
In organic wheat, which has a strategic importance due to the massive presence of wheat-based products in our diet, it should be emphasized that not only the absence of chemicals (pesticides *) is important but also the absence (or a strong limitation) of chemical fertilizers**. https://glutenlight.eu/en/2019/03/14/fertilizers-and-wheat/
In fact, nitrogen fertilizers used to increase yield, also have a strong impact on the quantity and strength of gluten. Quantity and strength of gluten which are directly responsible for the digestibility – and consequently also for the tolerability – of the finished products.
Nitrogen fertilizers can alter the relationship between gliadins and glutenins thus also altering the quantitative composition of the immunogenic fractions they contain.
Products made with organic wheat are “strongly” to be preferred in the diet of non-celiac subjects who have problems with gluten / wheat.
www.glutenlight.eu/en/2020/09/25/variety-of-ancient-grain-and-market/

Note
* Pesticides – also known as agrochemicals – are substances used to protect plants from parasites; they include herbicides (to kill weeds), fungicides (to fight disease) and insecticides (to kill insects). Unfortunately, these substances not only free us from unwanted species, but can also cause damage to our health and the environment.

** Chemical fertilizers for agriculture are substances or mixtures of substances that are used to enrich the soil with nutrients useful for the development of plants. To get to produce the fertilizers, water, saline compounds based on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are used for the most part.