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Italian researchers develop 'coeliac-friendly gluten'

Italian researchers develop 'coeliac-friendly gluten'

Breakthrough could improve sufferers' quality of life

Rome, 17 June 2014, 16:53

ANSA Editorial

ANSACheck

A group of scientists from Foggia University in Italy say they have developed a method to modify a protein in wheat gluten so that it does not spark the damaging reaction suffered by people with coeliac disease.
    They say it will make it possible to produce "Gluten Friendly" wheat-flour breads, pastas, cakes, biscuits and other goods that, at the moment, coeliac sufferers have to avoid.
    If made on a large scale, the arrival of these products could deliver a big boost to the qualify of life of people with the condition.
    "We could be faced with a scientific discovery of the highest level," said Professor Maurizio Ricci, the dean of Foggia University (Università di Foggia).
    "We kept it under wraps for a number of months for obvious reasons of prudence.
    "But after tests and scientific experiments on the various protocols, we've decided to present it to the public". Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder that reduces sufferers' ability to properly absorb nutrients from food in their intestine.
    It is caused by a reaction to the gluten proteins found in wheat and other grains such as barley and rye.
    The only treatment for coeliac disease at the moment is for sufferers to have a gluten-free diet.
    But the Foggia University team say they have created a way to modify the gluten protein in wheat to interrupt the chemical reaction that is damaging to people with coeliac diseases.
    The process involves treating wheat grains with water and microwaving them for a short period before they are ground into flour.
    The technique should make it possible to have products with wheat flour that are just as tasty as traditional bread, pasta, pastries and so on and are not damaging to coeliac sufferers.
    There are many gluten-free versions of products usually made of wheat flour on the market, created with alternative ingredients such as corn flour and rice flour, but the taste is often not quite the same.
    It is also possible to extract gluten from wheat flour but, once this is done, the flour loses some of the characteristics that make it well suited as an ingredient for many foods.
    The breakthrough is a result of research by professors Aldo Di Luccia and Carmen Lamacchia of Foggia University and Carmela Gianfrani of Italy's national research council (CNR).
    Foggia University has deposited a patent for its method for creating the flour in Italy and the rest of the world and has started talks with companies interested in using it.
    It said tests using "Gluten Friendly" flour to make bread by a mayor food company had been a success, with no complaints from the firm about the quality of the loaves produced. "After depositing the patent request and seeing the method pass tests, not just paper ones, we are aware that the only way to put it, and therefore ourselves, to the test is by putting it on the market," said Di Luccia.
    "But we won't do that until we've done a study of the Gluten Friendly product on coeliac patients". Coeliac disease is thought to affect up to 1% of people with Western Caucasian ancestry, although many sufferers go undiagnosed.
    Symptoms include a failure to grow properly in children, pain and discomfort in the digestive tract, chronic constipation and diarrhoea, anaemia and fatigue.
   

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