Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Where Your Contribution Counts!
    eNewsletter
    Support Us!
  • Record is Archived

    This article is now archived and is closed to further replies.

    Scott Adams
    Scott Adams

    Celiac Disease and Barley Malt - by Donald D. Kasarda, Former Research Chemist for the United States Department of Agriculture

    Reviewed and edited by a celiac disease expert.

    The following was written by Donald D. Kasarda who is a research chemist in the Crop Improvement and Utilization Research Unit of the United States Department of Agriculture. If you have any questions or comments regarding the piece, you can address them to Don at: Open Original Shared Link.

    The connection with wheat (and rye and barley) wasnt recognized until the 1950s - (a)nd it wasnt until the 1960s that intestinal biopsies began to become commonly used in the diagnosis of celiac disease. With regard to the harmfulness of barley malt, the situation is complicated. I will give you my best shot with the qualification that the ideal experiments have not been done and a definitive statement is not possible at this time.

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A12):
    Because barley malt is made from barley grain that has been germinated it is reasonably certain to be less toxic than barley itself. The hordein proteins and starch in the endosperm of barley grains, like the equivalent gluten proteins and starch in wheat, are there for storage purposes. In a sense, they provide food for the new plant upon germination. In order to use the hordein proteins, the grain releases and generates enzymes upon germination that break down the storage proteins into their constituent amino acids. The problem is that the process is not complete during a short germination, so some peptides (short pieces of the proteins) remain intact in malted barley. There is experimental evidence for this. The resulting mix of peptides is highly complex.

    We know from work described in the scientific literature that relatively small polypeptide chains can still retain activity in celiac disease and we know something about a few sequences that seem to be harmful. But we probably dont know all the sequences that are harmful and we havent put our fingers on the common theme that gives rise to the activity in celiac disease. So the question arises as to whether or not the remaining sequences in malted barley are harmful.

    The possibilities that come to my mind are:

    • There are sufficient remaining harmful peptides (with sizes including approximately 12 or more amino acid residues) to give a significant activity in celiac disease to barley malt (remember though that barley malt is usually a minor component of most foods in which it is used and processing might decrease the amount of harmful peptides in a malt product);
    • There are traces of these peptides, but they are sufficiently minimal so as to cause no discernible harm; or
    • The key harmful amino acid sequences are completely destroyed by the enzymes during germination (I can speculate that there might be an important enzyme, very active, in germination that clips a key bond in active sequences, thus reducing the concentration of those active sequences to almost nil while still allowing non-harmful peptides to exist; no evidence exists for this speculation, but it could be used as a working hypothesis for experimentation).

    There is no completely solid evidence for or against there being a threshold of gluten consumption below which no harm, or at least no lasting harm, occurs and above which definite harm occurs (but see my previous post to the list on starch/malt question). This is a difficult area to study where zero consumption is being approached and the arguments that come up are at least similar to those that have arisen in regard to the question of whether or not there is a minimal level of radiation exposure below which no harm is caused, but above which there is harm that increases with dosage. Accordingly, celiac patients must choose arbitrarily the path they feel comfortable with.

    Here are some references that deal with the question of peptide toxicity. It is not a simple situation:

    • Shewry, P. R., Tatham, A. S., Kasarda, D. D. Cereal proteins and coeliac disease. In Coeliac Disease, Ed. M. N. Marsh. Blackwell Scientific, London 1992;pp. 305-348.
    • Kasarda, D. D. Toxic cereal grains in coeliac disease. In: Gastrointestinal Immunology and Gluten Sensitive Disease: Proc. 6th International Symp. On Coeliac Disease, C. Feighery and C. OFarrelly, eds., Oak Tree Press, Dublin 1994;pp. 203-220.
    • Wieser, H., Belitz, H.-D., Idar, D., Ashkenazi, A. Coeliac activity of the gliadin peptides CT-1 and CT-2. Zeitschrift fur Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und-Forschung 1986;182:115-117.
    • De Ritis, G., Auricchio, S., Jones, H. W., Lew, E. J.-L., Bernardin, J. E., Kasarda, D. D. In vitro (organ culture) studies of the toxicity of specific A-gliadin peptides in celiac disease Gastroenterology 1988;94:41-49.
    • Fluge, 0, K. Sletten, G. Fluge, Aksnes, L., S. Elsayed. In vitro toxicity of purified gluten peptides tested by organ culture. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition 1994;18:186-192.
    • Sturgess, R., Day, P., Ellis, H. J., Lundin, K. A., Gjertsen, H. A, Kontakou, M., Ciclitira, P. J. Wheat peptide challenge in coeliac disease. Lancet 1994;343:758-761.
    • Marsh, M. N., Morgan, S., Ensari, A., Wardle, T., Lobley, R., Mills, C., Auricchio, S. In vivo activity of peptides 31-43, 44-55, 56-68 of a-gliadin in gluten sensitive enteropathy (GSE). Supplement to Gastroenterology 1995;108:A871.


    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    Guest Peter Blenkinsop

    Posted

    Very difficult to follow - a firm conclusion in plain, simple language would be helpful!

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Peter Fay

    Posted

    I believe this chemist is clear on the need for further testing and support from the experimental community.

    As a Physicist, I can relate to the sometimes difficult presentation to the layman.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Marcel

    Posted

    Basically, a short summary would be, the proteins and therefore also the active peptides in the barley grains should be broken down during the germination of the barley. But this notion has not been assured yet. Therefore:

    If you consequently don't eat anything that might contain gluten activity, don't eat anything with barley malt.

    Otherwise, try it out. For me, I eat corn flakes with barley malt and I don't feel anything.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Jess McCutcheon

    Posted

    No real conclusion here.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest kora
    Very difficult to follow - a firm conclusion in plain, simple language would be helpful!

    Are you daft? The article speaks of NO firm conclusion, it is something that is not fully researched yet and you should experiment for yourself.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Chris Howell

    Posted

    I just tried a tea containing barley malt, and after just a couple of hours had extremely explosive reaction. My opinion, AVOID IT

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Emma G.

    Posted

    I ate some chocolate and had a HORRIBLE reaction. After I checked the ingredients, I saw there was barley malt and since it was the only "new" food I had recently, I think it did me in! Avoid it if you can!

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest sandra green

    Posted

    It is good that I can get newsletters to read and maybe help me as that amount off foods I am unable to have is high.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites


    Guest
    This is now closed for further comments

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Help Celiac.com:
    Donate
  • About Me

    Scott Adams

    Scott Adams was diagnosed with celiac disease in 1994, and, due to the nearly total lack of information available at that time, was forced to become an expert on the disease in order to recover. In 1995 he launched the site that later became Celiac.com to help as many people as possible with celiac disease get diagnosed so they can begin to live happy, healthy gluten-free lives.  He is co-author of the book Cereal Killers, and founder and publisher of the (formerly paper) newsletter Journal of Gluten Sensitivity. In 1998 he founded The Gluten-Free Mall which he sold in 2014. Celiac.com does not sell any products, and is 100% advertiser supported.


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Related Articles

    Scott Adams
    Preface: The following information was supplied originally in 1991 in the form of a letter to Phyllis Brogden, Chairperson of the Greater Philadelphia Celiac Sprue Support Group, by Donald D. Kasarda, who was a Research Chemist with the US Department of Agriculture at that time. Copies were sent to four other major celiac patient groups in the US. Dr. Kasarda retired from the USDA in 1999, but updated the information in February of 2000. Dr. Kasarda wishes to add the following disclaimer to the information: These are my opinions based on quite a few years of research in the area of proteins as they relate to celiac disease. They do not necessarily represent those of the Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
    The only plants demonstrated to have proteins ...


    Scott Adams
    The following was written by Donald D. Kasarda who is a research chemist in the Crop Improvement and Utilization Research Unit of the United States Department of Agriculture. If you have any questions or comments regarding the piece, you can address them to Don at: Open Original Shared Link.
    Most sprouted wheat still has gluten or gluten peptides remaining. Although the sprouting begins enzymatic action that starts to break down the gluten (a storage protein for the plant) into peptides and even amino acids. Generally this is not a complete process for sprouts used in foods so some active peptides (active in celiac disease) remain.


  • Recent Activity

    1. - Tlbaked13 replied to djmu's topic in Related Issues & Disorders
      8

      Peripheral Neuropathy

    2. - trents replied to JustGemi's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      8

      SCARED: What Do These Test Results Mean?

    3. - Scott Adams replied to Kaylee G's topic in Gluten-Free Recipes & Cooking Tips
      1

      Learning to cook for myself

    4. - JustGemi replied to JustGemi's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      8

      SCARED: What Do These Test Results Mean?


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      120,480
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    EJenkins
    Newest Member
    EJenkins
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      120.2k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Popular Now

    • JustGemi
    • Linedancegal
    • Hannah24
      9
    • jessiemariecar
    • Rhonda H
  • Popular Articles

    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
  • Upcoming Events

×
×
  • Create New...