Gluten-free Bakery Gets Boost From Enzyme: Study

[kenlove]

Got this in email this morning

Gluten-free bakery gets boost from enzyme: study

By Stephen Daniells

24-Jun-2008 - Baking gluten-free breads for the ever-growing coeliac population may be possible using brown rice and buckwheat flours and adding the transglutaminase enzyme, according to results of a European project.

While use of the TGase enzyme is not new in for gluten-free products, the study is the first to formulate bread without the addition of hydrocolloids, according to results published in the Journal of Cereal Science.

"The replacement of the gluten network in the development of gluten-free cereal products is a challenging task for the cereal technologist," wrote lead author Stefano Renzetti from the National University of Ireland, Cork.

"The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of TGase application in improving the baking performances of gluten-free flours without addition of any hydrocolloids, and thus get a better insight on the extent of cereal proteins modifications and network forming promotion for bread making."

According to market analyst Mintel the overall 'free-from' market has already enjoyed sales growth of over 300 per cent since 2000. The growing demand has opened up a new lucrative sector that many food makers are keen to exploit.

The free-from market was worth

[home-based-mom]

The new study tested the effectiveness of TGase (Ajinomoto), an enzyme that cross-links protein, to form networks in flours from six different gluten-free cereals, including brown rice, buckwheat, corn, oat, sorghum and teff.

Interesting. I learn something new here almost every day. I had no idea Ajinomoto made or did anything except MSG!

[ravenwoodglass]

Thanks for posting this. After doing a bit of looking on line I don't think I want this stuff in my food. I appretiate the heads up on the research.

[kenlove]

I have to agree - there are plenty of alternatives without more chemicals and man made compounds.

Thanks for posting this. After doing a bit of looking on line I don't think I want this stuff in my food. I appretiate the heads up on the research.

[Lockheed]

What is TGase? Is it something naturally occurring in the brown rice? Previous posts would make me think that it's not naturally occurring but something they are adding?

[kenlove]

Dont know about the transglutaminase enzyme other than whats in the story I found.

Guess I'm naturally leary of altering these compounds or compiling them but know nothing about it.

Hope someone can give you an answer

ken

What is TGase? Is it something naturally occurring in the brown rice? Previous posts would make me think that it's not naturally occurring but something they are adding?

[Takala]

And just in who's opinion is CORN not an acceptable grain product ?!!

Not everybody gets along with buckwheat, either. What dolts.

[dude]

Transglutaminase is a natural occuring enzyme (protein) which is present in humans, animals, plants and micro-organisms.

Enzyme application is of increasing interest in the food industry in order to replace "chemical, non-natural added compounds" with natural ingredients. These enzymes are generally obtained from micro-organisms which are safe for consumption (like yeast in bread, lactic acid bacterias in yoghurts, etc.). This is the case for example of transglutaminase.

The idea of the research reported is to use gluten-free flours as such to produce baked products in orde to ensure the nutritional value of the food. Most commercially available gluten-free products are in fact of poor nutritional quality, as mainly starch-based, with addition of gums and protein isolates (eg. soy protein) in order to confer some structure to the product. In other words, they tend to reproduce the appearence of a wheat bread, but failing in taste and nutritional quality. Using gluten-free flours such as buckwheat, brown rice, corn, oats (which are considered safe as gluten-free in countries such as UK, Canada and Finland - where good manufacturing practices are in place to avoid contamination of oats with wheat and barley grains) would ensure nutritional quality and "real" cereal taste. Flours such as buckwheat and oat have high nutritional value, far superior to that of wheat, and would therefore be beneficial in the generally nutritionally deprived diet of celiac sufferers.

In order to further promote and increase the use of such flours in the gluten-free sector of food industry, new technological tools must be investigated to improve their breadmaking performances, and make them a "convenient" ingredient for the food industry. The addition of naturally occuring enzymes is one of the possibilities.

Another interesting research approach that has been recently taken is the use of lactic acid bacteria (which are commonly used in food production eg. in sourdough bread and in yoghurt) to "digest" the toxic proteins responsable for activating the immunoresponse in celiac sufferers. This digestion however occurs thanks to the action of proteins called "proteases", which in fact are enzymes. For this reason some researchers had recently the idea of obtaining these proteases directly from the germinated grains of cereals, isolating them and adding it to wheat flour to digest the "toxic" proteins.

All these research approaches are studied and intended to improve the quality of life/food for the celiac sufferers, certainly not to worsen it or to add more chemical in their diets.

Finally, the aim of the research reported was not to give an opinion on which grain is acceptable or not. The aim was to evaluate which flours could be "improved" in their breadmaking performances with the addition of the enzyme.

[Takala]

My quality of life improved dramatically as soon as I got over the notion that I had to eat commercially prepared ersatz manufactured baked goods made to imitate "wheat."

On buckwheat:

"The prevalence of allergic sensitivities to specific foods varies from one country to another depending on the frequency with which the food is eaten in that country and the typical age at its introduction into the diet....

Another example would be buckwheat allergy. Buckwheat allergy appears to be rather common among adults in certain Southeast Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea where it is used as a significant dietary component. In contrast, buckwheat allergy is rather uncommon in the US. "

Open Original Shared Link

More on buckwheat Allergy:

Open Original Shared Link

"As indicated by several case reports, buckwheat contains very potent allergens, which may cause various types of allergic reactions, including asthma and anaphylactic shocks. The allergens seems to be a thermostabile proteins with a high molecular weight. The pathomechanism is type I, which means it is an IgE mediated immediate type reaction. Because the antigenicity of buckwheat is extremely strong, hyposensitivity treatment with buckwheat extracts should not be applied because of the risk for severe and dangerous reactions.

The lack of epidemiological studies on buckwheat allergy, makes it difficult to estimate the prevalence, or incidence, of allergic manifestations to buckwheat in the population in different countries. As indicated by available case-reports, a large proportion of the cases consist of allergic children, and food allergy is a common type of allergy. There are, however, many subject, both children and adults, with asthmatic reactions at airway exposure to low levels of buckwheat allergens. Domestic exposure during preparing of food may be one cause of this allergy, but allergen exposure from buckwheat used in pillows may also be of importance in some countries."

On oats, there is enough similarity between oat proteins and wheat proteins that some gluten intolerant people react to them anyway, irregardless of what is "thought" to be "safe" in other countries.... even the goofy wikipedia recognizes the relationship, altho they confuse intolerance with allergy:

"Treating An Oat Allergy:

It is wise for you to see your doctor. If you are allergic to oats you could well be allergic to wheat, bran and rye and this is called 'Celiac Disease' which is an Auto Immune System Disease. Have your doctor give you a test to Celiac Disease. Open Original Shared Link

The "generally thought to be nutritionally deficient celiac diet " is a myth. Being gluten intolerant also means that many people make the discovery that they don't really need or benefit from using the like amount of grain carbohydrate products that non gluten intolerant people have been shuffled into using under the dreadful guide of the USDA Food Pyramid, which recommends many, many servings of bread and cereal per day in a sort of high carb, low fat diet that has been proven to be .... fattening to the general population.

quote from you:

"In order to further promote and increase the use of such flours in the gluten-free sector of food industry, new technological tools must be investigated to improve their breadmaking performances, and make them a "convenient" ingredient for the food industry.

Uhm, no thanks to that and to the idea of trusting some sort of lactic acid type of thing to pre digest the bad proteins for us, which would again have us placing faith in the manufacturer that they "killed" all the bad stuff out of an iffy product so it could be eaten.

An acceptable grain to a celiac or a gluten intolerant person is one which is naturally gluten free. Which means it didn't have to go thru any manufacturing process to be made safe to eat, which does 2 things.... increases the risk of cross contamination and increases the cost.

The problem for food manufacturers is that they don't need to be re manufacturing certain foods to replace other more valuable alternatives for the gluten intolerant under the guise of "they must be nutritionally deprived if they don't eat wheat." There are many, many alternate grain products and protein or starch meal substitutes made from many different things, some of which are even suitable for growing in a world which has less water to use for agriculture. Combining different products gives complimentary amino acids which would give usable proteins. But again, only a vegan person avoiding gluten would have to worry about possibly not getting enough protein in the diet, such people are rare enough no food manufacturer is going to dedicate much research and money to their getting all their protein from a fake bread product.