Gluten - good and bad

Gluten (from Latin - glue) is a mixture of substances, the main components of which are vegetable proteins - gliadin and glutenin (40-65%). Contained in cereals:

• wheat;
• rye;
• oats;
• barley.

Most of the gluten is found in wheat, least of all in oats. Gluten, or in another way - gluten, plays an important role in bakery. It provides the test with an elastic consistency. inhibits carbon dioxide, formed by yeast fungi, and thus allows the test to rise.

Gluten is present in human food ever since humans began to eat cereals. However, lately, humanity seems to have declared war on this component of nutrition. More and more often loud slogans "Bread is a poison" are heard, more and more followers are gluten-free diets . Let's figure out whether gluten really bears only harm, or there is also a certain benefit from its consumption.

What is dangerous gluten?

Bad glory gluten has provided such a disease as celiac disease. Celiac disease is the inability of the intestine to absorb gluten of cereal plants. Any, even microscopic, amounts of it cause in the sick people inflammation of the small intestine, which lasts until the body enters gluten. Celiac disease is not only unpleasant in itself, but can also cause such serious complications, such as:

• small intestine cancer;
• chronic ulcerative enteritis;
• secondary osteoporosis;
• infertility;
• for children - a backwardness in development.

This disease is hereditary in nature and the only cure for it is a diet that excludes all products containing gluten. Often celiac disease is manifested already in early childhood (with the introduction of the first complementary meal containing gluten), but intolerance of this substance may appear later, already in adulthood. In adults, celiac disease manifests itself most often, as various digestive tract disorders.

Is gluten is harmful?

For those who suffer from celiac disease , the question of the dangers of gluten is not even worth it - for them it is deadly dangerous. And for healthy people, the harmful properties of gluten can be determined by a single phrase, said by the founder of pharmacology Paracelsus: "Everything is poison, everything is a medicine, both determine the dose."

Let's see what can be harmful gluten. So, if you use gluten in a natural way, for example in cereals, then it will not bring any harm. On the contrary, gluten - contains many B vitamins, vegetable protein, its presence in the seeds of cereals in many ways determines their nutritional value. However, gluten obtained from wheat is now added almost everywhere - in sausages, yoghurts, chocolate, not to mention baking. Thus, the amount of gluten, on average, consumed by man, is much greater than the dose that we could get naturally by eating cereals. Perhaps, here lies the main danger. After all, the excess of even vital substances can lead to disastrous consequences.