What is Gluten?
First things first…Many people are unsure as to what gluten truly is. Gluten is not harmful or "bad" if you are not allergic or intolerant to it. Gluten is simply a protein. It is the elasticy substance that develops in dough when wheat’s two proteins (glutenin and gliadin) come into contact with liquid. The more kneading that is done to the dough, the more gluten that is developed.
There are two reasons a gluten free diet is needed; If an individual has Celiac Disease or if they have a gluten intolerance.
For one of my internship projects, I did a Celiac Disease/Intolerance awareness day…Below is a poster I created with some interesting statistics.
