Alternatives For Glueten Sensitive Individuals

Are you one of those unfortunate individuals who happen to be sensitive to Gluten? About six percent of the population is afflicted by Gluten sensitivity, a term coined to refer to a non-immune or non-allergic condition in which consuming foods containing gluten will lead to an adverse reaction in the body. Gluten is a type of protein commonly found in oats, rye, wheat and barley, which is responsible for their sticky form when combined in certain recipes.

Some people are intolerant of gluten, so when accidentally or purposely consumed this will cause gluten sensitivity symptoms to surface. Symptoms of gluten sensitivity include:

• Diarrhea
• Pain
• Feeling of discomfort in the abdominal area
• bloating
• lethargy
• tired feeling

People who are sensitive to gluten are advised to have a gluten-free diet. This diet became really popular when Oprah Winfrey gave up gluten temporarily to complete a 21-day cleanse. In the past decades, the diet has been touted and been considered an excellent way to lose excess pounds, increase energy, boost health, and to better cope with headaches and other conditions. But before the gluten-free diet became popular, this diet has already been prescribed to people afflicted with celiac disease or those unable to digest or process gluten.

Gluten sensitive individuals will need to live with a gluten-free lifestyle. It is critical for gluten-intolerant people to abstain from consuming food containing gluten or they will have to suffer through the symptoms of gluten sensitivity. Since gluten is mostly found in wheat products, gluten sensitive individuals will have to stay away from eating pizzas, buns, breads, cakes, croutons, malted beverages, pancakes, beers, candies and some salad dressings containing gluten.

If you are sensitive to gluten, it is essential that you read food labels to know if the food you are about to eat contains gluten. But do not worry since there are now a number of gluten-free products that are now being produced so finding food that you can eat without worrying about dealing with an adverse reaction to gluten should not be a problem.

For gluten-sensitive individuals as well as patients afflicted by celiac disease, gluten-free diet becomes a way of life. It is important that they stick to this diet. There are a variety of food alternatives for individuals with intolerance to gluten. This includes unprocessed meat, fruits and vegetables. It would also be best to prepare your own meal. There are now a number of gluten-free recipes circulating online, most of them are very easy to prepare. Today, it is possible to eat pasta, cookies, doughnuts, and deserts that do not contain gluten, thanks to the growing number of manufacturers producing gluten-free products. Therefore, just because you are sensitive to gluten does not mean you can’t indulge in good-tasting food. However, make sure that the food you will be consuming is 100% gluten-free.

Bio Engineered Grains – Pros & Cons

Genetically modified or bioengineered foods have been gracing the news as of late. This is perhaps because of the on-going protest against the production of such kind of product. Bioengineered foods technically refer to crops, like grains for instance, which have been genetically modified to carry enhanced characteristics or traits such as having enhanced nutritional content or increased herbicide resistance.

Grains are being modified and upgraded in the laboratory to introduce better gene traits. Although enhancing the traits can be naturally done through breeding, this process is mostly inaccurate and very time-consuming. Genetic engineering offers a better and efficient way of altering the traits of grains more accurately and rapidly. Depending on what trait they want to introduce, certain genes can be transferred or removed from grains and other plants.

The Pros

One of the obvious advantage of bio-engineering grains and other food products is ensuring that there will be sufficient food supply to feed the world’s continuously booming population. Today, the world population has estimated to be around 6 billion and genetic modification of grains, so as with other products, will help address the issue about the adequacy of food supply in the coming years. Some of the advantages that grain and crop growers can attain from bioengineering or genetic modification are as follows:

Resistance to Common Plant Diseases
Bioengineering grains and other crops will increase the grain’s resistant to common plant viruses, bacteria and fungi. Like human beings, plants are also susceptible to disease-causing microorganisms. When contracted, they can cause the plant to die and wither. Therefore to avoid this, genetically modifying grains and crops will help increase their resistance to typical and emerging plant diseases.

Improve Resistance to Pests
A lot of grains and crops have been lost due to pests. Because of this, grain growers found an effective way to avoid such losses through genetic modification. Significant financial loss can be prevented by farmers by bioengineering their grains and crops to have higher resistance to pest.

Consumers, these days, have now increased awareness with regards to the use of pesticides in crops. When grains and crops went through the process of bioengineering farmers can cut their losses and eliminate the need to use pesticides altogether.

Development of Tolerance to Drought
With the growing population, more and more lands are now being used for housing which could otherwise be utilized for crop production. Because of this farmers have no other choice but to grow grains and other crops in locations that are deemed to be unsuitable for cultivating crops. Bio-engineering is now being used to create grains and other types of crops that are capable of withstanding extreme drought, groundwater and high salt content in soils. By doing so, farmers would be able to effectively and successfully grow grains and crops in growing locations that were deemed inhospitable.

The Cons

Like any other things ever developed in this world, bio-engineering grains also come with certain downsides.

Creation of Tougher Pests
A study showed that genetically modified grains and crops that are designed to produce their own pesticides are likely to form tougher pests.

Unintended transfer of Modified Genes to Non-Target Species
There has been a growing concern about bio-engineered grains and plants, modified to have herbicide tolerance, cross breeding with weeds. When this happens, the herbicide resistance engineered to grains and crops will be transferred to weeds, thus, creating what is called as ‘super weeds’. This means that weeds will also build immunity against herbicides.

Baking With Value Enhanced Grains

Value enhanced grains are now being prominently used in baking. These grain products are basically enriched with additional vitamins to boost their nutritional content. Most of the grains used in baking are enriched with Folic Acid. Folic Acid is essential especially to pregnant women since it is known to prevent the likeliness of birth defects. Grains enriched with Folic Acid are also advised to be consumed by women that have reached the child-bearing age.

A growing number of bakeries are now using value-enhanced or enriched grains when baking their goodies. This is mainly because of the fact that there is a huge nutritional difference between refined and value-added flours. Grains that were refined before they were milled lose about 50 percent of their inherent minerals, vitamin E and B-vitamins. Although it is possible to add these nutrients and minerals back during the process of flour enrichment, it is not possible to bring back all the minerals and vitamins that has been lost. Enriched grain products still have lesser chromium, Vitamin E, and B-vitamins compared to unprocessed value-added grains.  Something you can’t learn about in phlebotomy training classes.   Therefore, it is better to use value added grains that have been genetically-altered to have improve nutritional value. Value-added whole grains are ideal sources of fiber, calcium, phosphorus, calcium and other minerals that are bioengineered to the grain.

Grains, particularly whole grains, have been considered as an important part of a balanced and healthy diet. They are packed with complex carbohydrates, B-vitamins and other minerals beneficial to one’s health. Thanks to the availability of value-added grains, baking sweet treats low in sugar and fat is very much possible these days. Rather than buy commercially-produced pastries, you can just bake your own goodies at home. This is especially true for moms who want to teach their children how important grains are as a part of a healthy diet.

When value-added grains are used for baking, you ensure that your family will enjoy delicious baked goodies packed with plenty of nutritional benefits. Value-added grains made for baking are now available in the market so availing one should not be a problem. If you own a bake shop, you should find a reputable supplier of value-added grains to ensure that you will be offering your loyal customers with freshly baked goodies packed with vitamins and minerals.

Now that you are aware of the nutritional benefits offered by specialty or bioengineered grains, you should seriously consider shifting to the use of value-added grains when baking sweet treats for your family since they are especially made to carry more nutritional value to satisfy the body’s nutritional requirements without compromising the taste of baked goodies.

The Role Grains Play In A Well Balanced Diet

Why are whole grains beneficial to your diet? Whole grains are still referred to under the category of carbohydrates. Grains contain complex carbohydrates ideal for a healthy diet. Complex carbohydrates supply our body with the needed energy for every day’s activity. The energy utilized by our brain and nervous system is being supplied by carbohydrates. To keep our nervous system healthy, an adequate amount of carbohydrates should be taken daily.

Why You Should Choose Whole Grains Over Refined Ones?

There are generally two types of grains available. One is refined, while the other is whole grain. Refined grains have undergone a lot of milling process. In the said process, a lot of its fiber content and nutrition have already been removed. Whole grains, on the other hand, are very high in fiber, and thus offering more health benefits. The role of fiber in the body is as follows:

• Lowers cholesterol and blood pressure level
• Aids in normal excretion process and prevents constipation and diverticulitis
• Lowers blood sugar level
• Prevents one from overeating
• Lowers the risk of several heart disease

Whole-wheat grains also contain higher concentration of several essential nutrients such as iron. It is the only non-animal source where we can get the most iron. It is also rich in B-vitamins, which is essential for maintaining a healthy nervous system. Whole grains are also packed with thiamin, riboflavin and niacin. They are also known to be a good source of selenium (which functions to protect the cells in our body), and magnesium, which is vital for bone building.

Read and Check Food Labels

When shopping for your carbohydrate goodies, make sure to read the nutrition label to make sure that you are getting ones containing whole grains. Whole-wheat products are listed simply as whole wheat in the list of ingredients. Ascertain that it is listed among the first five ingredients, as nutrition packages often list the ingredients according to its content in the food item. Refined wheat products are often referred to as white enriched or bleached wheat flour. Some manufacturers also refer refined flour as wheat. So better check the labels twice for whole-wheat ingredients to ensure that you are really consuming fiber-filled whole grains.

Add More Whole Grains to Your Diet

There are several ways to apt up your whole grain intake. One way is to prefer eating brown rice over white rice. Instead of using breadcrumbs, use crushed oatmeal to achieve that crispy texture. You should also ditch white bread; and go for whole wheat or rye bread.

What Are Value Enhanced Grains?

Value enhanced grains simply refers to grains that are genetically modified or engineered to carry certain traits. Farmers and processors are showing great interest towards value-added grains. By enhancing the qualities or traits of grains, farmers become more satisfied, grain supplies are increased, consumers’ demands are met, and the grain’s value increases.

Grain enhancement is a new and effective concept that is now being employed in the grain industry. This help farmers and processors create changes in the production of grains depending on the needs and demands of consumers.

Value enhanced grains open up a lot of opportunities for grain growers and farmers. One reason why valued enhanced grains are popular these days is because they help boost diversity in the production of grains.

Forces Propelling the Grain Industry

The grain industry is now being propelled by a variety of forces that have a significant effect not only grain production but also to grain marketing. Value enhanced grains are basically a result of genetic modifications. Genetically enhancing the traits of grains help farmers to produce herbicide resistant, pest resistant and drought resistant grains.

Value-added traits engineered on grains are done to satisfy the ever changing demands of end-users. Consumers, these days, are becoming more and more specific about what they expect from grain products. Because of this, processors feel the need to come up with specialty grains (ones with value-added traits) in order to meet these demands. Grain enhancement helps processors to adjust the grain products they produce according to the consumer’s demand.

Some Examples of Specialty or Value Added Grains

High Protein Corn. High oil corn hybrids are now being widely engineered these days in which amino acid profiles are added to the hybrids. This type of grains is used mainly for livestock feeding.

Specialty Soybeans. Soybeans produced today can now be modified to carry specific genetic traits.

Plant Genetics

Specialty grains are infused with unique genetic characteristics or traits to assume specific uses. For instance, corn engineered with high protein is now being used as livestock feed. This value enhanced grain present a more cost-effective alternative to the more expensive protein sources. High yielding white corn, meanwhile, is mainly used for alkaline cooking commonly observed in Mexican foods. The value added trait to high yielding white corn is quite beneficial, and targeted towards, the Mexican market.

Thanks to advancement made to plant genetics, farmers and producers now have full control on what intrinsic qualities they can add to the grain they are producing or growing. This in turn allows them to improve the genetic qualities of a particular type of grain.