Realizing the Advantages and Disadvantages of Gluten
Because of recent changes in blood evaluation, it is easier than ever for health care providers to ascertain if a person is gluten intolerant. As a result of this, many individuals are realizing that they must make some significant changes to their diet in order to remain as healthy as they desire to be. Additionally, people have a new desire to learn as much as possible about this thing called gluten. The questions people want asked are simply: Where does Gluten come from? Is Gluten “bad” for you? What exactly is gluten? This article will cover some of those bases and provide an overview of several gluten basics.
The first question is, quite naturally, what is gluten? Answering this question at its most basic, gluten is a dynamic protein that is often present in food. This protein is generally associated with the food group considered carbohydrates and is a key building block in barley, wheat and rye. Of late a perception has arisen that gluten, in and of itself, is somehow harmful for all people who consume it. This is simply not the case. While, it is true that gluten is not suitable for people who are specifically intolerant to the protein, and therefore have difficulty digesting it, gluten is not by its nature a harmful compound.
There are many myths or misunderstandings regarding gluten. One misconception about gluten is that gluten is simply another word for grain. This is imprecise at best and untrue at worst. While gluten is present is many of the mainstays of the grain group, like cereal and bread, it is not in fact another word for grain. Gluten is a protein often found within grains. Therefore, the two are not synonymous. You may even be surprised to realize that some grains, such as oats, millet and soybeans, don’t contain any gluten at all. Consider them gluten-free foods.
So the next question becomes what does gluten do exactly within carbohydrates? Gluten has several distinguishing characteristics. An example of this would be the fact that gluten is not water soluble. Gluten will not dissolve in water, however a thorough rinse of a wheat dough, coupled with a hearty knead, can remove gluten from wheat flour. In most cases this can be a difficult undertaking, and individuals with a gluten allergy are probably best served by sticking to a gluten free diet.
There are several other characteristics that make gluten unique. For example, is bread it is gluten that gives bread many of its defining features. It is gluten that gives bread its elasticity and chewy texture. Gluten, in fact, when removed from bread exhibits almost puddy-ish features.Gluten, when removed from dough, has a puddy-like make up. Another common trait of gluten is its toughness. Many bread products, such as bagels, get their characteristic toughness and hardness from gluten. Additionally, Gluten holds gases which are released during the process of fermentation that bread is placed under when it is constituted as dough. Due to this, bread rises before baking infusing itself with a light, airy texture.
Those, in brief, are the characteristics of gluten. Remember that while gluten in and of itself is not unsafe, if you have a gluten intolerance it means that you are unable to properly digest this protein. Therefore, if you believe that you are gluten intolerant see your doctor for a screening.
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