Gluten content in food

Gluten Content in Foods

Last week I received an interesting question – Annika wanted to know if wheat flour or spelt flour contains more gluten. As a "celiac," I naturally try to avoid gluten altogether, so I hadn't considered this question before, as both are on my red list.
However, for those of you who "only" suffer from gluten sensitivity, the topic of gluten content in foods is certainly of great interest. So I hope to give you a good overview here, not just about wheat and spelt ;)

Flours
First, the surprising answer to your question, Annika: Spelt flour (type 630) actually contains about 10,300 mg of gluten, which is approximately 1,700 mg more per 100g than commercially available wheat flour (type 405), which contains just under 8,600 mg of gluten per 100g. Rye flour performs best in direct comparison among gluten-containing flours with only about 1/3 of the gluten content of spelt, i.e., 3,100 mg per 100g. However, flours from gluten-containing grains generally contain a lot of gluten and should therefore be used sparingly even by people with gluten sensitivity. If you don't want to give up your usual flours due to taste or baking properties, you can simply mix them with other gluten-free alternatives to reduce the gluten load. All major supermarket chains in Germany already carry gluten-free flours, such as almond, coconut, buckwheat, or chickpea flour in their range.

Beverages
Most beverages are naturally gluten-free, but there are some exceptions such as beer. Wheat beer has the highest gluten content at 274 mg per 100g. Since it is also often offered in half-liter glasses, many of you might reach or exceed your tolerance level with about 1,370 mg per 0.5 liters. Therefore, my recommendation here would be a Pilsner lager with only 1.2 mg of gluten per 100g (6 mg per 0.5 liters) and thus a really good low-gluten alternative. Even if you drink more than one glass.

Classification of Gluten Content
Here's some basic knowledge for you to better assess foods and their gluten content. According to the so-called Food Information Regulation, all ingredients that can trigger allergies or intolerances must be labeled. This includes gluten-containing cereals, namely wheat (such as spelt and Khorasan wheat), rye, barley, oats or their hybrid strains, as well as products made from them. In addition, food manufacturers can voluntarily provide additional information about the absence of "gluten-free" or the reduced presence of "very low gluten content" of gluten in foods. In Germany, there used to be only two classifications for declaring gluten content in foods:

"very low": 21 - 100 mg gluten / kg food or 21 - 100 ppm

"gluten-free": 0 - 20 mg gluten / kg food or 0 – 20 ppm

It is very important to me to make you all aware that even products labeled "gluten-free" may have a residual gluten content of up to 2 mg per 100g of food, and this can accumulate. Therefore, even for those of you who try to eat a completely gluten-free diet, always pay attention to the ingredients and remember that the healthiest food groups like fruits and vegetables are also completely gluten-free.

The Competence Center for Nutrition (KErn) has compiled a detailed list of gluten content at:

https://www.kern.bayern.de/mam/cms03/themen/bilder/flyer_gluten.pdf

If you want to know more about gluten labeling on food, simply visit the following link:

https://www.gluteostop.com/#tipps

If you have any questions about this or other topics related to gluten-free nutrition, please feel free to send me an email at info@gluteostop.com with "Ask Lisa" in the subject line. I will try to answer your questions promptly and comprehensively and always welcome lively discussion!

Best regards,

Your Lisa

TO THE PRODUCT