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Wednesday 18 September 2013

Facts About Gluten

By Scarlet Black


A protein molecule that is normally found in grains like wheat, barley and rye is known as gluten. Gluten is mostly found in almost all kinds of grain, bread and cereals. Foods that do not contain gluten include oats, sunflower seeds, teff, soybeans, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, rice and corn which mean that food products that make use of these ingredients mostly are gluten free.

The main purpose of using gluten as a main ingredient for bread is that it makes the bread elastic and chewy. Therefore, if gluten is not included in the ingredients of bread, the bread dough becomes thick and sticky that may result to a bread that is hard and dense. Aside from its ability to make the bread rise and make it chewy and elastic, gluten also provides proteins and nutrients. Other than that, it also helps to give bread their beautiful and normal shape and appearance. Another characteristic of gluten is its ability to absorb. You can observe that bread has the ability to absorb not only water but other liquids like gravy or pasta sauces, this is because of the gluten's ability to absorb liquid. This is also the reason why gluten is commonly used in many meat substitute products because gluten can imitate the absorbent quality of meat.

People who have allergy on gluten which is also known as Celiac disease and people that believe that the presence of gluten in their diet may put them at risk of getting problems with their health are two kinds of people that avoid gluten. The following are tips on how you can live a gluten free life:

-Be aware of gluten comes from and those food products and ingredients that contain them. Barley, wheat, pasta and rye should be avoided if you want to be gluten free since they all contain gluten.

-If you want to be able to live your life free from gluten, you need to read the labels of the foods and food products that you buy. Words to watch out for include "food starch" and "modified food starch".

-Gluten free diets is not only accepted in countries like USA but also in many other countries and there are restaurants and food chains that serve a gluten free menu to help those people that are avoiding gluten to be consistent with their diet plan.

-If you ran out of ideas on foods to serve that are gluten free, you can always use the internet to search for recipes for gluten free foods. You can also use the internet to search for food recipes that makes use of gluten free alcoholic drinks, gluten free bread and gluten free crackers.

-For food recipes requiring flour, such as recipes that needs or requires gravy, you can skip the use of flour and try making either arrow root or corn starches which are two of the most acceptable ingredients to substitute flour in making gravy and other food products that require the use of flour.

People that experiences symptoms of gluten allergy or Celiac disease are advised to seek medical help in order for them to know what possible medical intervention is necessary for them. This is due to the fact that even though gluten is one vital part of people's nutrition, it may also be the cause for other people's digestive problems.




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