We’ve all heard of gluten, I’m sure we know someone who is allergic, coeliac or has some kind of intolerance. Because of this medical condition, they cannot eat foods that contain this protein, because it can cause health problems.
Even though it is a current topic or we know someone who cannot eat, we may not be clear about what this health problem is.
In today’s article we are going to clear up all your doubts by answering the main questions about this issue that is on the agenda.
What exactly is gluten?
Gluten is a protein that is naturally found in wheat, rye and barley among other cereals. It can also be found in products made by the food industry, or because they have food with these cereals as ingredients. Its main function is to facilitate the union of the different ingredients used in pastry and bakery. It also joins the molecules with the water, allowing us to obtain a firm and unified consistency when preparing these foods.
In other words, it acts as a glue for all the ingredients we use in baking and other foods that contain it. Because as we will see later, there are many foods that we would never say have this protein, that they do.
This protein is found in wheat, rye and barley cereals. Consequently, it is also present in all foods made from these grains.
Most people can eat and synthesize this protein without any problem. But as with any component, there are those who cannot eat it because it causes health problems.
Some of these problems are:
- Celiac disease, which is a chronic intolerance suffered by people who are genetically predisposed. It is a lesion in the mucous membrane of the small intestine that damages the villi of the intestine. This makes them unable to properly absorb nutrients from the food they eat.
- Gluten allergy: is an immediate and hypersensitive response of the immune system. There are several symptoms that appear suddenly and can lead to serious health problems. Some of them are: vomiting, rashes, pain in the abdomen, diarrhea, cough, atopic dermatitis…
- Sensitivity to gluten: it is a newly diagnosed disease. It has certain things in common between the two previous ones, but it is not quite the same. Hence the complication of diagnosing it sometimes.
People who have any of these problems must eliminate foods containing gluten from their diet. They can lead a normal life because we do not need this protein. But sometimes it’s hard to find foods that don’t contain it. Because even if it doesn’t look like it, more foods than we think have it.
To make it easier for you to spot, here is a list of foods that have gluten:
Foods with gluten:
Foods containing gluten are those made from wheat, rye and barley flour. In addition to their derivatives, there are also foods that don’t appear to have gluten but actually do, as we said before. This is why it is so important to read the labels of the products we buy or ask in restaurants before ordering a dish.
Among these foods, we find: white flour, wheat, spelt, wheat germ, wheat bran, couscous, bread, pizza, flour pancakes, cookies, cakes, cereals, oatmeal, pasta, beer…
Foods that don’t appear to have gluten: sauces, salad dressing, concentrated broths and cubes, bread crumbs, fried foods, hot dogs, candy, soy sauce, rice, hard bread for soup, or whiskey
As you can see, there are many foods that contain gluten. Many times we don’t realize how many foods have gluten until we do a little research or until we can’t eat this protein.
For people who don’t have any health problems, it’s not a problem, but for those who can’t eat it, it’s sometimes difficult to shop or eat out.
But it is important to take our time to find out if what we are eating has gluten or not because it can cause serious health problems.
Also, these foods are usually more expensive. Although there is increasing awareness of this condition and we can find more and more gluten-free things at a reasonable price. There is still a lot to do and in some countries more effort is needed.