Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic small intestinal immune-mediated enteropathy precipitated by exposure to dietary gluten in genetically susceptible individuals. Currently, medical nutrition therapy consisting of the gluten-free diet (GFD) is the only accepted treatment for CD. In the last years, the impressive growth of CD incidence, significantly provoked changes in the dietary habit of an increasingly large population, with a rise in demand of gluten-free products. GFD is a complex and challenging diet but recent advances in the food industry are making it easier to follow.
Although several advances have been made in the preparation processes of gluten-free products, many of them, available on the market, exhibit a low nutritional quality. Previous studies have demonstrated that these products are poor sources of minerals, vitamins and fibre; therefore, its nutritional content is an increasing area of concern. A promising area is the use of minor or pseudo-cereals such as amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa and sorghum.In addition, patients with CD tend to compensate the restrictions of a GFD by eating foods containing high levels of fat, salt, sugars and calories, leading to the risk of developing obesity and diseases related to the metabolic syndrome. Therefore, getting nutritional therapy should be an essential part of this complex disease.
The safest way for celiac patients to live healthfully is to eat naturally gluten-free whole foods, however, consumers must be educated to read labels carefully and look for sources of gluten. Currently, shopping for commercial gluten-free products is less difficult than in the past, but still risky for those particularly sensitive to gluten because many foods aren’t labelled accurately or consistently.
In accordance with the European Regulation No 1169/2011, which came into force on 13 December 2014, it’s mandatory to include the substances or products that cause allergies or intolerances on the label. At European level there is a great concern with this type of food intolerance, therefore foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional use have a specific regulation (No 41/2009). This regulation, applicable since January of 2012, concerns the composition and labelling of foodstuffs suitable for people with gluten intolerance.
In order to comply with this regulation, and to insert reliable information on the food labels, our laboratory works with the food industry companies and carry out analysis for detection and quantification of gluten in food and raw materials.
In this study we evaluated the gluten content of 45 samples. Gluten analysis was performed using two different immunoenzimatic assays: RIDASCREEN® Gliadin and/or RIDASCREEN® Gliadin competitive.The obtained results showed that all the samples analysed can be safely labelled as “Gluten-free” as they contained levels of gluten below the 20 mg/Kg limit proposed by the Codex Alimentarius for gluten-free foods.
This study underlines the importance of the laboratory in ensuring that the information “gluten-free” on the labels is reliable, so people with CD can make informed choices about the products available on the market
