Gluten is the general name used to describe proteins found in wheat and other cereal grains. Gluten is the sticky, elastic component of grains, essential for breads and baking. Bread is the most desired wheat product and is, unfortunately, the hardest food to duplicate with non-grain flours. Any flour made from the starchy endosperm of grains contains proteins that are potentially problematic to the person with gluten allergy.

Gluten is a mixture of proteins classified into two groups, the prolamines and the glutelins. The prolamine, gliadin, seems to be a major problem in celiac disease; anti-gliadin antibodies are found in the serum and in circulating immune complexes associated with this disease.

Wheat, barley, rye and oats have been excluded from “gluten-free diets.” Most of evidence implicates wheat as the main problem food. Recent studies suggest that oats may not be as problematic as wheat. Both the type and the amount of the gluten proteins decide the kind of reaction that is likely to occur. It should be noted that there is considerable variability in the protein content of various foods made from cereal grains, and this variability is one of the many reasons why food reactions are not consistent.

The Prolamine Fraction of  Proteins in Grains