Celiac Disease and Grindstone Breads

Celiac Disease (CD) is an inflammatory illness that leads to destruction of the microscopic fingerlike projections of the small intestine called villi. The disease is triggered by ingestion of the gluten proteins contained in Wheat, Spelt, Barley, and Rye, and symptoms range from minor complaints to severe nutrient malabsorption

Wheat, Spelt, Rye, and Barley are related cereals of the family Triticeae and are toxic to patients with CD.  Oats can be classified as a cousin of Triticeae and thus a more distant family member.   Their storage proteins are collectively called gluten proteins by celiac patients and their physicians, although, strictly speaking, gluten is derived only from the endosperm of wheat grain.

Prolamins, which comprise the alcohol soluble fraction of the storage proteins of cereals, are termed gliadin in wheat and avenin in oats.  They have been named according to their content of the amino acids proline and glutamine, which is much higher in gliadin than in avenin.

The proportion of prolamins in cereals may reflect their degree of toxicity to celiacs. In wheat, rye, and barley, prolamins constitute 40 to 50 percent, 30 to 50 percent, and 35 to 45 percent respectively of total proteins, but in oats, they constitute only 10 to 15 percent. Sixty grams of oats is estimated to contain 1.2 g of avenin.

The injurious constituent of wheat for patients with celiac disease is located in gliadin.  As mentioned before, recent studies at Stanford University have identified a sequence of 33 amino acids in gliadin as being responsible for the exceptional toxic potency against the small intestinal mucosa that characterizes CD.

This same sequence was found in other grain prolamins like hordeins (from barley), and secalins (from rye), all of which are toxic cereals in the Celiac diet.  Proteins in nontoxic food grains, such as avenins (in oats), rice, and maize, do not contain a homologous sequences to the 33 amino acids sequence found in gliadin.

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Celicac Disease and Grindstone Breads continued

Although Oat is technically a non toxic grain, it is normally not recommended to Celiac patients because of fear of a possible contamination with a toxic grain during growing or processing.

Research at European Centers has confirmed that certain species of lactobacilli, found in our cultures, have the ability to hydrolyze the 33-mer peptide extensively or almost totally during prolonged incubation (12 to 24 h).

A revealing testimony of a person with Celiac disease that is able to tolerate a naturally fermented bread made with gluten containing flour can be found at The Weston A. Price Foundation web site: www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/ourdailybread.html.

In conclusion, based on the research mentioned above and the testimony from some of our customers, we speculate that our long natural fermentation process may substantially reduce or even eliminate the toxic amino acid sequence in the gluten grains we use.

But, of course, we DO NOT recommend to anybody suffering from Celiac disease to consume any of our breads made with gluten grains.

Our Gluten Free Loaves are free from the start of any toxic proteins.  We make them in a separate Gluten Free  facility using a dedicated stone mill. and following all our principles of  traditional long natural fermentation process.