What is it Wednesday? – Gluten
What it looks like?
What is it?
Gluten is a protein composite that appears in foods processed from wheat including barley and rye.
Health benefits?
When people hear of gluten they probably think about the thing that causes certain people digestive and other health problems. This is commonly known as Celiac disease which (from what I’ve read) about 1 in every 100 people in the US have.
With that being said I should also point out that wheat gluten is a good source of protein as well as calcium and iron.
How to use it?
Gluten is used to give elasticity to dough helping it to rise. It also gives the final product a chewier texture.
Gluten isn’t just used for making bread. Its also used as the basis for imitation meat as well as a stabilizing agent in ice cream and ketchup. Who knew?!?
VC&C thoughts:
I’ve been reading a lot of blogs about people going gluten-free. Some are doing it because they have problems digesting gluten (celiac disease) and others are doing it to see if they see a change in the way they feel after eliminating it from their diets. Others are probably doing it because everyone else is doing it and it seems like the “cool” thing to do 😉 Whatever the reason, it’s good to see companies are starting to offer a lot of gluten-free options in the foods they sell.
I don’t think I have any problems with gluten which is a good thing since a lot of the food I eat on a daily basis contain gluten 🙂
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Disclaimer: I must say I’m not a registered dietitian. This post is based on my own personal knowledge, opinions and research.
2 Comments
emily (a nutritionist eats)
The whole fad GF Diet is very interesting to me….but the amount of people who actually NEED gluten free foods is definitely on the rise!
Allison @ PickyEatingRD
GF is most def. a fad for some people and important for a healthy life for others! I think just like the fat free or low carb fad, it will slowly dissapear.