Gluten is the general name given to a protein that is present in various types of cereals, from those most common such as wheat, barley, oats and rye to spelled, triticale, malt, spelled, farro and kamut. Among its functions is to act as a binding element in the pastry and bakery doughs , contributing to the union of the rest of the ingredients and the water molecules they contain, and achieving a firm consistency.
Composition
This protein is made up of glutenin and gliadin, and represents 80 percent of the proteins in wheat. Gliadin is the protein that presents the greatest problem regarding gluten intolerance in general and celiac disease in particular. The antibodies of the immune system of people with these conditions react against gliadin, and give rise to the characteristic symptoms that gluten intake causes in people suffering from these diseases. Furthermore, gliadin can cause intestinal permeability to become higher, and regardless of whether a person is celiac or not, there is a possibility that they will develop various autoimmune diseases and even cancer , infections or allergies .
Likewise, gluten also contains a small percentage of lipids and carbohydrates , although in a lower proportion.
Use of gluten
Gluten protein is present in most bakery and pastry products , but it is also used in many other foods, such as additives , in which it is responsible for giving viscosity or volume to the products of the food industry of which it forms On the other hand, they can reach more than fifty percent, and carry a health risk for celiacs and those who suffer from any type of gluten sensitivity.
Cereals from wheat contain gluten.
Gluten-related disorders
This protein is not essential for the functioning of the human body, and can be easily replaced by other types of proteins present in different foods, whether they are animals (mainly meat, fish, eggs and dairy) or vegetables (legumes, nuts, seeds and other cereals that do not contain gluten).
Thus, if you suffer from celiac disease or another type of gluten intolerance, you can follow a diet that eliminates the foods and ingredients that these cereals contain. In these cases, any amount of gluten, even if it is very small, can cause severe damage to the small intestine, more specifically in the small projections that line it, called intestinal villi, which are destroyed. When the villi function properly, they are responsible for absorbing nutrients from food and transporting it into the blood stream; however, when they disappear, the body will not absorb these nutrients well and malnutrition can occur.
Celiac disease affects each person differently. The symptoms can occur in the same way in the digestive system and even in other parts of the body, or manifest in the mood; in fact, irritability is one of the most common symptoms during the childhood stage. Also, there may be someone who suffers from the disease and does not have any symptoms.
However, the most common symptoms are diarrhea , vomiting or anemia , as well as other more serious reactions. Therefore, it is essential to follow the recommended diet according to the doctor’s instructions and permanently, it should not be stopped unless the doctor indicates it in such a way.
Other diseases related to gluten intolerance are the so-called dermatitis herpetiformis, a manifestation of celiac disease on the skin, which affects one in four patients with the disease; the ataxia gluten, autoimmune disease related antibodies in the blood, which is characterized by the occurrence of damage in the cerebellum; or non-celiac gluten sensitivity, also known simply as gluten sensitivity, gluten-sensitive enteropathy or lymphocytic enteritis, and is the most common form of disorders related to this protein, and although the symptoms are very similar to those of the disease Celiac, differs from this in that the antibodies it presents are negative.
