The quest for celiac-safe wheat

Gluten proteins from wheat have the unique property to interact with each other and form a network in dough preparation. In this gluten network gas bubbles can be retained that are produced by yeast, which is added during dough preparation. The result is a voluminous, viscoelastic dough for bread making. Besides these network forming properties, gluten proteins contain remarkably high amounts of the amino acids proline and glutamine. Therefore, these proteins can not be degraded completely in the human gastrointestinal tract and so called epitopes are generated in the small intestine after ingestion of gluten containing foods such as bread and cookies. Intolerance to gluten proteins can cause inflammation of the small intestine, which leads to villous atrophy (flatten mucosa) and malabsorption. This intolerance to gluten proteins is also called celiac disease. The with celiac disease occurring inflammation can lead to many symptoms such as malnutrition, weight loss, stomach pain, diarrhea, dermatitis and in the worst case lymphoma. In children, celiac disease can cause growth retardation. Gluten proteins from rye and barley, because of their similarity to gluten proteins from wheat and high proline and glutamine content, can also cause celiac disease. Celiac disease patients therefore have to avoid life-long all food products containing wheat, rye, and barley (gluten-free diet). Not only gluten protein intake but also genetic susceptibility is necessary to develop celiac disease. Therefore, relatives of celiac disease patients have a highly increased risk to develop celiac disease. About 0.52% of the Western population suffers from celiac disease of which 7097% is undiagnosed, and the prevalence of celiac disease is still increasing. The reason for this may be the consumption of many bread, cookie and pasta products, but also because wheat constituents, such as gluten and starch, are increasingly used as food additive in soups, sauces, sausage, candy, ice-cream, a