Scientists find tasty corn-based replacement for gluten allergy sufferers and dieters

Italian scientists have come up with a dough using a protein from corn
Zein enables the dough to keep the elasticity of a wheat-based dough
The researcher claim their baked goods are suitable for coeliac sufferers

Ryan O’Hare for MailOnline

Published:
05:37 EST, 13 June 2016

|
Updated:
08:11 EST, 13 June 2016

View
comments

For the world’s 17.5 million coeliac sufferers, going gluten-free is a way of life.

The simple pleasure of pastries, pasta or bread can bring digestive misery thanks to the group sticky proteins.

While simply removing gluten can solve the problem, when it comes to bread, it can mean removing the flavour as well.

Now scientists believe they have come up with a genuine, tasty substitute – found in corn – which could inject the flavour back into gluten-free bread.

Italian food scientists believe they have come up with a genuine, tasty substitute which could inject the flavour back into gluten-free bread. By switching wheat gluten for a protein found in corn, they claim to be able to give people with gluten intolerance a new love for baked goods, without compromising their dietary requirements

GLUTEN REPLACEMENT

Italian food scientists Virna Cerne and Ombretta Polenghi have been working on a dough which suitable for people with a gluten-intolerance.

Substitute flours used to make gluten-free goods can use other grains, which up the fibre content, but can trade off elasticity and affect the flavour.

But the pair have developed a flour without wheat gluten, instead relying on a protein from corn, called zein.

The pair claim that this switch enables the dough to have the same elasticity as a traditional wheat dough, and keeps in the flavour.

By switching gluten with a protein found in corn, called zein, two Italian scientists believe they can give coeliacs and people with gluten intolerance a new love for pastries and baked goods, without impinging on their dietary requirements.

They claim the discovery could also help dieters who cut at gluten stick to their regime.

It is estimated that around 1 per cent of people are coeliac, having a strong reaction to wheat gluten which can include bloating, diarrhoea – where their body’s immune system recognises the proteins as a threat and attacks them.

Substitute flours used to make gluten-free goods can use other grains, which up the fibre content, but can trade off elasticity and affect the flavour.

Virna Cerne and Ombretta Polenghi have been working on a dough which uses flours without wheat gluten, such as rice flour or corn flour, along with the zein protein.

According to the pair, this substitution enables the dough to have the same elasticity as a traditional wheat dough, and keeps in the flavour.

Microsoft¿s Xbox One S revealed in leaked images: Console…

Elon Musk’s ‘cargo route’ to Mars revealed: SpaceX to send…

Hunt begins for a SECOND King under a car park: After…

World’s largest rocket launches in Cape Canaveral, carrying…

Substitute flours used to make gluten-free goods can use other grains, which up the fibre content, but can trade off elasticity and affect the flavour. But using zein, found in corn, scientists say it enables dough to have the same elasticity as a traditional wheat dough, and keeps in the flavour

Based at food research company Dr Schar, in Burgstal, Italy, the Italian food scientists were recently listed as finalists in the 2016 European Inventor Awards.

Speaking to Quartz, Dr Cerne said: ‘Once the zein protein is isolated, it can be added to different gluten-free flours like rice or corn flour and it solves the problem of no elasticity.’

According to Quartz, the pair put their baked goods through stringent evaluation with taste testers, with a panel of 10 turning their discerning palates to all aspects including texture, taste, aroma and a host of others, to ensure the substitutes are on par with the real thing.

The pair patented their method for extracting the protein in 2013, and their zein substitutes are still in the development phase.

But they say that in addition to the benefit of wheat-bread-like taste and texture, the corn substitute lowers the cost associated with growing alternative replacement grains – as corn is such a common crop.