Introduction

This post is my journey to understand the nature of gluten. My goal is to be transparent and thorough, but also lightweight and pedagogical. I often find the landscape of health writers to be quite dogmatic and it can be hard to look through the bias jungle. So this is my attempt to create the overview that I would have wanted.

Do note that my northern star is always to find the truth - so if you disagree with anything, I urge you to let me know in the comments below!

Finally, before heading into the topic, please consider giving me a heart if you resonate with this. It is a small action for you, but it has great value to me.

Now, where were we…

What is gluten?

To answer this, I looked for a formal definition for the term. This proved harder than I initially thought.

Origin and definition

The word gluten was first recorded in ~1600 and comes from the Latin word for glue. According to dictionary.com, the meaning is:

The tough, viscid, nitrogenous substance remaining when the flour of wheat or other grain is washed to remove the starch.

So originally, gluten was the name of the substance that gave the bread dough its viscoelastic (stretchy) and adhesive (sticky) properties.

In more modern times, gluten has also been referred to as:

The proteins that are responsible for the negative health effects experienced with celiac disease and other related disorders.

In these definitions, it is often mentioned that gluten mainly consists of the two protein groups Gliadin and Glutenin. We’ll soon deep dive into this.

From this, I have tried my best to come up with a good scientific definition (in the absence of a formal one):

Gluten is a complex mixture of hundreds of related but distinct storage proteins found in the endosperm of wheat, barley, rye, oats and their hybrid grains.

Molecular structure

The first level of categorization in the gluten proteins are; Prolamins, Glutelins, Albumins, and Globulins. Let’s deep dive.

Prolamins

These are the proteins primarily responsible for the elasticity and extensibility of dough. They are also the primary culprits for gluten-related disorders.

Different grains contain different types of prolamins according to the following:

• Wheat - Gliadins
• Barley - Hordeins
• Rye - Secalins
• Oats - Avenins

Glutelins

These proteins contribute to the cohesive and adhesive properties of dough.

Unlike the prolamins, here only wheat has a subcategory called Glutenins.

Albumins and Globulins

These proteins are soluble in water or dilute salt solutions. They play a lesser role in pretty much all essential aspects compared to prolamins and glutelins. I thought they were worth mentioning, but we'll not elaborate further on these.