Gluten and Gluten: What It Is and Whether Gluten Is Harmful

Gluten is not an additive, a preservative, or a toxin, but a group of proteins that nature packed into the grains of wheat, rye, and barley. An entire fear industry has been built around it, so it is useful to separate chemistry from marketing. Everything about gluten comes down to three questions: what it is, where it is found, and who it actually affects.

What Gluten Is

Gluten (from the Latin gluten — "glue"; an obsolete name is "kleber") is a concept uniting a group of similar proteins in cereal seeds, especially wheat, rye, and barley. These are proteins of the prolamin and glutelin groups. On average, a person consumes 10–40 g of gluten per day; most comes from bread, pasta, and baked goods, where its content reaches 10–15% of dry weight. It was first isolated from flour by Jacopo Bartolomeo Beccari in 1728. The takeaway: an ordinary dietary protein with a well-known history, not an invention of the food industry.

Wheat Gluten: Composition and Properties

In wheat, prolamins are called gliadins and glutelins are called glutenin; together they account for 75–85% of the grain's total protein and lie in the endosperm alongside starch. Other cereals have their own names: hordeins in barley, secalins in rye, avenins in oats. The viscoelastic and adhesive properties of gluten give dough elasticity, help it rise during fermentation and hold its shape, and its low cost has made it a universal industrial ingredient: dry gluten is added to low-quality flour, to minced meat, pasta, and products that need a thick texture — ice cream, ketchup, gravies. In its pure form, it is seitan.

What Gluten Looks Like

Raw gluten moistened with water is a grayish solid mass: sticky, elastic, pliable; when dry, it is translucent and tasteless. In finished food it is invisible: it is part of flour and dough, not a separate piece.

Corn Gluten: The Same or Not

No. Proteins of other grains — for example, zein in corn or rice protein — are sometimes also called gluten, but they do not have a harmful effect on people with celiac disease.

Is Gluten Harmful: Who It Is Truly Dangerous For

The harm of gluten has been described for specific gluten-associated conditions; in most people who believe they have gluten intolerance, the causes of their digestive complaints are not related to it. In total, they account for an estimated 0.2 to 6% of the population in different regions of the world. Celiac disease affects at least 1 in 100 people in the UK, is more often reported in women, and can debut at any age. Self-diagnosis is different: no more than 16% of people with non-celiac gluten intolerance actually have any form of it, and at least 40% experienced symptoms due to the nocebo effect; in the US, at least half of people diagnosed with "celiac disease" do not have it. Wheat allergy is several times less common than celiac disease. A diagnosis from a forum is made faster than by biopsy.

Gluten-Related Diseases: Celiac Disease and Intolerance

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition: the immune system attacks the body's own tissues when gluten is ingested, the lining of the small intestine is damaged, and nutrients stop being absorbed. Symptoms may come in waves or be absent altogether:

• diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating and gas, indigestion, constipation;
• fatigue, unintended weight loss, anemia;
• an itchy rash — dermatitis herpetiformis;
• in children — growth retardation and delayed puberty;
• problems conceiving, nerve damage, impaired coordination and speech.

Without treatment, osteoporosis, iron-deficiency and B12-folate-deficiency anemia are possible, and less commonly some cancers, including bowel cancer, and pregnancy complications. Risk is increased with type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroid diseases, Down and Turner syndromes, and in first-degree relatives. Diagnosis involves a blood test and small bowel biopsy during esophagogastroduodenoscopy; there is no universal screening, and people with symptoms and risk factors are tested. Non-celiac gluten intolerance does not damage the intestine; wheat allergy causes itchy eyes or difficulty breathing and also does not destroy it. Gluten can be found in vitamins, supplements, toothpaste, and lip balm, but it is not absorbed through the skin from cosmetics. Treatment and follow-up are determined by a doctor.

Celiac disease and gluten intolerance are not in themselves a reason to call an ambulance; 103 or 112 — if the condition is life-threatening, for example with signs of stroke or heart attack.

This material is for reference: it does not replace a doctor's consultation, and the scope of examination is determined by a specialist.

This content is for reference and does not replace a doctor's consultation. Medical disclaimer