What about gluten‐free products? An insight on celiac consumers' opinions and expectations

Gluten-free lentil cakes with optimal technological and nutritional characteristics

BACKGROUND

The celiac population usually struggle finding nutritive gluten-free (GF) baked goods. GF foods can be improved using legume flours. Eleven GF cake formulations were elaborated according to different percentages of lentil flour (LF), corn flour (CF) and rice flour (RF) using a simplex lattice design. Water holding capacity and particle size of flours were evaluated. Moisture, aw, pH, specific volume, texture profile, relaxation, color and alveolar characteristics were determined for crumbs of all formulations. An optimization process was used to enhance the technological and nutritional attributes, selecting the three best formulations containing LF: 46% LF + 54% RF (CLF+RF); 49% LF + 51% CF (CLF+CF); and 100% LF (CLF), evaluated in their proximal composition and sensory characteristics. Linear and quadratic models for predicting the behavior of GF lentil cakes were obtained.

RESULTS

LF and CF could favor water incorporation and show more resistance to enzymatic digestion than RF. Formulations with LF showed an improvement in specific volume and alveolar parameters, while use of RF led to better cohesiveness, elasticity and resilience but with a deterioration in chewiness and firmness. CLF can be labeled as high in protein and fiber and presented the lowest amounts of lipids, carbohydrates and energy content. Consumer preference leaned towards CLF+RF.

CONCLUSION

It was possible to elaborate GF cakes using LF, obtaining nutritive products that can be offered to people intolerant to gluten ingestion. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Free Drawing to assess food consumption information in comparison with the Free Listing: An intracultural study in Brazil with adolescents and dairy products

This study aimed to evaluate the Free Drawing method to assess food consumption information compared to the Free Listing method. Furthermore, the citation frequencies of dairy products consumed by adolescents were compared in Brazilian regions. Adolescents (14-17 years old, n = 265, n = 53 for each region, North, South, Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast regions) listed or drew the dairy products they consumed using Free Listing or Free Drawing. The contingency tables were constructed, and the cognitive saliency indexes (CSI) were calculated. Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) was performed, and the RV indices were determined. The adolescents listed/drew 55 dairy products, grouped into 10 categories. The Free Listing method resulted in greater citation frequencies of dairy products. The Free Drawing method resulted in richer and more detailed information, with specifications of the type of product consumed within the category, flavor, type of packaging, and brand. The dairy products with the highest citation frequencies/CSI by adolescents were milk, cheese, and fermented milk. The South and Southeast regions observed greater citation frequencies and diversity of dairy products (prevalence in 6 categories). The CSI did not depend on the method, but it was affected by the region (p < 0.05). The sensory methods showed high similarity considering the categories of dairy products (RV = 0.80) and regions (RV = 0.79). It is concluded that the Free Drawing method proved to be an alternative to Free Listing for evaluating adolescents' consumption information of dairy products in an intracultural study in Brazil.

Compliance and Attitudes towards the Gluten-Free Diet in Celiac Patients in Italy: What Has Changed after a Decade?

This study aims were (i) to describe Italian celiac patients who agreed to participate in the latest web survey and their attitudes toward the GF diet (compliance, perceived limitations, and worries) and (ii) to compare the answers given by the 2011 and 2022 responders. The self-administered questionnaire was distributed through the Italian Coeliac Association channels (link on social media, websites, and newsletters) to all of the celiac patients willing to participate in 2011 and 2022 (2427 and 3529 responders who answered the same questions, respectively). Descriptive analyses and the Pearson's chi-squared test were performed. The responders were 1 to 84 years old and mainly female. The prevalence of adherent patients in 2022 was 91%, with the highest value (94%) in children (≤10 years old) and adolescents (15-17 years old). Overall, young adults were the most worried group. About a decade after the first survey, we observed a decreasing prevalence of transgression events (-5%) and (at least) occasional temptation (-17%), a decreasing prevalence of health-related and general worries, but an increasing prevalence of social life withdrawal. In conclusion, it is important to periodically monitor celiac patients' compliance and attitudes towards the gluten-free diet. As also highlighted in international guidelines, a reorganization of the diagnosis/follow-up visits, including an expert dietary consultation, is needed.

Impact of Sourdough from a Commercial Starter Culture on Quality Characteristics and Shelf Life of Gluten-Free Rice Breads Supplemented with Chickpea Flour

This study aimed to develop a novel gluten-free bread using a rice/chickpea flour-based sourdough, fermented by a commercial starter culture, to improve the quality characteristics and shelf life of this product. The effects of sourdough incorporation, chickpea flour content (6.5 and 10.0%), and added water level (80-110%) on batter rheology and bread quality were investigated; bread textural characteristics upon storage (0-2 days) were also monitored. The level of added water was the primary factor influencing batter rheology, as evaluated by the back extrusion test. Sourdough incorporation decreased the pH and increased the acidity of batters and breads. The inclusion of sourdough, the water level, and the storage time affected the moisture and texture parameters of the bread crumb. Sourdough incorporation into bread formulations decreased crumb hardness and staling rate and increased loaf specific volume. Moreover, intermediate water (90 and 100%) and high chickpea (10%) levels in the batters increased loaf specific volumes and crust redness, respectively. Sensory analysis revealed that sourdough-enriched breads were preferred by the assessors concerning general appearance and crumb texture. Overall, bread formulations with the incorporation of sourdough, at a 90% level of added water in the batter mixtures, exhibited the most desirable characteristics according to both instrumental and sensory analyses.

Plant-Based Antioxidants in Gluten-Free Bread Production: Sources, Technological and Sensory Aspects, Enhancing Strategies and Constraints

The recognized contribution of antioxidant compounds to overall health maintenance and spotted deficiencies in celiac patients' diets has driven more intensive research regarding antioxidant compounds' inclusion in gluten-free bread (GFB) production during the last decade. The presented review gathered information that provided insights into plant-based antioxidant sources which are applicable in GFB production through the resulting changes in the technological, sensory, and nutritional quality of the resulting antioxidant-enriched GFB. The influence of the bread-making process on the antioxidant compounds' content alteration and applied methods for their quantification in GFB matrices were also discussed, together with strategies for enhancing the antioxidant compounds' content, their bioaccessibility, and their bioavailability, highlighting the existing contradictions and constraints. The addition of plant-based antioxidant compounds generally improved the antioxidant content and activity of GFB, without a profound detrimental effect on its technological quality and sensory acceptability, and with the extent of the improvement being dependent on the source richness and the amount added. The determination of a pertinent amount and source of plant-based antioxidant material that will result in the production of GFB with desirable nutritional, sensory, and technological quality, as well as biological activity, remains a challenge to be combated by elucidation of the potential mechanism of action and by the standardization of quantification methods for antioxidant compounds.

Eating Attitudes of Patients with Celiac Disease in Brazil: A Nationwide Assessment with the EAT-26 Instrument

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy triggered by the ingestion of gluten in genetically predisposed individuals. In this sense, a gluten-free diet is the only safe treatment available. Due to the restrictions resulting from this eating pattern, this treatment may impair the relationship of the people with CD with food, increasing the risk of a disordered eating attitude, which is associated with eating disorders. The EAT-26 is a validated instrument already applied worldwide in different populations, and higher scores are suggestive of eating attitudes prone to evolve into eating disorders. Studies carried out in other countries have already shown that people with CD are prone to developing eating disorders; however, no study has been carried out with this theme in the population with CD in Brazil. We carried out a nationwide cross-sectional study in three steps: (i) study design and instrument; (ii) recruitment of participants and ethics; (iii) statistical analysis. A total of 385 participants were included in our sample, 96.36% of them being women. The internal consistency of the applied self-administered Brazilian version of the EAT-26 online questionnaire presented a satisfactory Cronbach's alpha of 0.812, and in total, 36.1% of the respondents were classified with a disordered eating attitude. No differences were found among the scores of participants when divided by categories regarding gender, average monthly income, age, and educational level. However, scores classified as a disordered eating attitude were found in respondents with a body mass index classified as overweight and obese. Our study highlights that disordered eating attitudes are present in overweight and obese women with celiac disease; thus, public health politics are needed to prevent and treat these attitudes.

Current status and future prospects of sensory and consumer research approaches to gluten-free bakery and pasta products

Sensory and consumer research performs a pivotal role in gluten-free (GF) food research and development due to consumer dissatisfaction about currently available products, despite the continued growth of this market and promising research developments. Nowadays, almost half of the original articles about GF products include sensory analysis. A current overview is needed to help both food scientists and industry indentify current trends and forward-looking approaches. This current review has gathered information concerning sensory and consumer research for GF bakery and pasta products, from studies published in the last decade, and then discusses future challenges in the light of recent advances. Among the promising approaches, projective techniques that collect data using social media can provide quick, spontaneous and direct opinions from GF consumers. They can also be used to evaluate trends and cross-cultural or global insights. Participatory methods have highlighted the importance of label information and may further explore the behavior of GF consumers in more realistic environments, as well as to evaluate the intrinsic GF food factors in GF consumer opinions, emotions, behavior and choices. This review details current issues occurring in sensory analysis of GF products, which still need to be resolved. The combination of affective and analytical methods allows for a better characterization of the samples and such sensory analysis of GF products in the future could guide product development and quality control, overcoming technological, nutritional, and shelf-life issues.

Development of Functional Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread with Pseudocereals and Enriched with Moringa oleifera

Celiac patients tend to have an unbalanced diet, because gluten-free products typically contain a high amount of fats and carbohydrates and a low amount of proteins, minerals, and dietary fiber. This research focused on the development of gluten-free functional breads using pseudocereals, psyllium, and gluten-free sourdough to replace commercial yeast, fortifying them with Moringa oleifera. Six different gluten-free breads were made with sourdough: three control breads differentiated by sourdough (quinoa, amaranth, and brown rice) and three breads enriched with moringa leaf differentiated by sourdough. The antioxidant capacity, phenolic compounds, nutritional composition, physicochemical parameters (color, pH, and acidity), folate content, amino acid profile, reducing sugars, mineral composition, mineral bioaccessibility, fatty acid profile, and sensory acceptability were evaluated. A commercial gluten-free (COM) bread was included in these analyses. Compared with COM bread, the reformulated breads were found to have better nutritional properties. Moringa leaf increased the nutritional properties of bread, and highlighted the QM (quinoa/moringa) bread as having increased protein, fiber, sucrose, glucose, maltose, phenylalanine, and cysteine. The AM (amaranth/moringa) bread was also shown to have a higher total folate content, antioxidant capacity, phenolic compounds, 9t,11t-C18:2 (CLA), and 9t-C18:1. Reformulated breads enriched with moringa could meet nutritional requirements and provide health benefits to people with celiac disease.

A Decade of Evidence of Sorghum Potential in the Development of Novel Food Products: Insights from a Bibliometric Analysis

Due to the increasing interest in sorghum for human nutrition, recent literature reviews highlight its nutrient and bioactive contents, potential health benefits and its 'gluten-free' feature. Moreover, a current view of research advances on sorghum-based food products is needed to help both food scientists and industry identify current trends and forward-looking approaches. Studies on homemade processing are still scarce. Thus, this review aimed to provide the latest information regarding the use of sorghum to develop ready-to-eat products or food ingredients based on studies published in the last decade (2012-2022), which then guided discussions on recent advances and prospects. The articles were identified by searching the Elsevier Scopus database. Sorghum has great potential as a functional and sustainable food that can be used in daily meals as a substitute for common cereals like wheat, rice and corn. The studies in the review show that it is possible to process sorghum in a wide variety of ways to obtain ready-to-eat products and ingredients for food products and preparations, such as popping, lamination, extrusion and wet cooking. The studies also show promising approaches to use sorghum in acceptable and nutrient-dense bakery and pasta products, highlighting their gluten-free versions. However, more efforts to make these novel food products available to consumers should be made.

Gluten-free bakery products: Ingredients and processes

There is an increasing demand for gluten-free products around the world because certain groups of people, which have increased in the last decades, need to eliminate gluten from their diet. A growing number of people consider gluten-free products to be healthier. However, making gluten-free products such as bread is a technological challenge due to the important role of the gluten network in their development. However, other products, such as cakes and cookies usually made with wheat flour, can easily be made with gluten-free starches or flours since gluten does not play an essential role in their production. To replace wheat flour in these elaborations it is necessary to resort to gluten-free starches and/or flours and to gluten substitutes. Additionally, it can be convenient to incorporate other ingredients such as proteins, fibers, sugars or oils, as well as to modify their quantities in wheat flour formulations. Regarding gluten-free flours, it will also be necessary to know the parameters that influence their functionality in order to obtain regular products. These problems have originated a lower availability of gluten-free products which have a worse texture and are less tasty and more expensive than their homologues with gluten. These problems have been partially solved thanks to research on these types of products, their ingredients and their production methods. In recent years, studies about the nutritional improvement of these products have increased. This chapter delves into the main ingredients used in the production of gluten-free products, the processes for making gluten-free breads, cakes and cookies, and the nutritional quality of these products.

Defining Amaranth, Buckwheat and Quinoa Flour Levels in Gluten-Free Bread: A Simultaneous Improvement on Physical Properties, Acceptability and Nutrient Composition through Mixture Design

The study aimed to define the ideal proportions of pseudocereal flours (PF) in sensory-accepted gluten-free bread (GFB) formulations. The characteristics of GFB developed with PF (amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa) were verified through a mixture design and response surface methodology. Three simplex-centroid designs were studied to analyze the effects of each PF and their interactions with potato starch (PS), and rice flour (RF) on GFB’s physical and sensory characteristics, each design producing three single, three binary and six ternary GFB formulations. Results showed that using PF alone resulted in unacceptable GFB. However, the interactions between PF and RF improved the loaf specific volume and the crumb softness and also enhanced appearance, color, odor, texture, flavor, and overall liking. Moreover, the composite formulations prepared with 50% PF and 50% RF (flour basis) presented physical properties and acceptability scores like those of white GFB, prepared with 100% RF or a 50% RF + 50% PS blend (flour basis). Maximum proportions of PF to obtain well-accepted GFB (scores ≥7 for all evaluated attributes on a 10-cm hybrid hedonic scale) were defined at 60% for amaranth flour (AF), 85% for buckwheat flour (BF), and 82% for quinoa flour (QF) in blends with RF.

Influence of pseudocereals on gluten-free bread quality: A study integrating dough rheology, bread physical properties and acceptability

This study describes the use of the Mixture Design for simultaneals to improve the physical properties and acceptability of gluten-free bread (GFB) based on whole pseudocereals flour, as well as to define dough and bread instrumental predictors of the sensory quality of GFB. Three simplex-centroid designs were used to study the effects of each pseudocereal flour (amaranth - AF, buckwheat - BF, and quinoa - QF) blended with rice flour (RF) and potato starch (PS) on dough and bread properties. A total of 30 GFB formulations were produced and evaluated. Results reveal relationships between dough Mixolab parameters, such as C3 and C4, related to gelatinization and starch stability, with crumb moisture and firmness of GFB formulation, in which higher values of these parameters related to higher acceptability scores (>7 on a 10 cm hydroid hedonic scale). However, higher values of the secondary parameter C3-C4 was related to lower loaf-specific volume, impairing appearance and texture acceptability, as well as overall liking. The interaction effects between pseudocereal flour and RF increases dough consistency, bread volume, softness, and acceptability. Blends of 50% AF, BF, or QF with 50% RF results in GFB with high acceptability (overall liking of 8). The maximum pseudocereal proportions to obtain acceptable GFB (scores ≥ 7 for appearance, color, odor, texture, flavor acceptability and overall liking) were 60% AF, 85% BF, and 82% QF blended with RF. The combination of instrumental and sensory methods was useful to identify parameters capable of predicting the GFB quality, which may be useful for food scientists and producers to face the challenges regarding the development of healthier and better quality GFB to meet consumer needs.