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Judy wrote:

>I have been given an extract from Farmers Weekly, a UK magazine aimed at the
>farming community, issued on 2 August 1996. The article is about heat damage
>to wheat, I quote
>"Over-drying will effectively destroy gluten and the end-result is a loaf
>that does not rise."
>
>The author was concerned about the general market, but if the statement is
>correct, then would wheat, and other cereals become safe for coeliacs if the
>grains were subjected to a high temperature?

A while back mention was made of the effect of heat on gluten.
Unfortunately what was perhaps one of the most intriguing threads I have
seen on the list was met with little attention save for one mild flame,
pardon the pun if you will.

It's common knowledge that heat will denature proteins rendering them less
allergenic. For example well-cooked eggs are much less allergenic than raw
or lightly cooked eggs. It's known that heat denatures proteins and at some
point the proteins will break down to where they bear no resemblance to
their original form.

So what's the point?  I for one would love to know how much heat exposure is
enough to totally destroy the immunogenicity of gluten.  For instance,  do I
really need to have two toasters in my home or would simply running the
toaster once on "dark" while empty reduce any residue on the supports to a
harmless ash?  Of course I would still be ill advised to disturb the crumbs
on the bottom but I really doubt that in the absence of visible pieces left
on the supports that there would be a problem.  I continue to use a second
toaster in the absence of good evidence one way or the other.

Similarly,  I wonder about pizza pans, loaf pans, etc.  For the most part I
keep a second set of  these and line the others with foil when I need to
borrow.  I simply don't trust the residues that don't wash out easily.
Again it begs the question as to whether or not leaving those small amounts
to char in the oven at say 500 degrees for a half hour would be a safe
alternative to lining them with foil.  A fry pan or pot might be subjected
to a similar fate on a burner and then used with more confidence.  With five
sons who are fine with gluten having these options to "recycle" contaminated
articles would be useful.  The list goes on for practical applications to a
little knowledge.

So if you know of someone looking for a research project in immunology, I
for one would like to know if charred remnants of glutinous cooking are
immunoreactive and would find the results most useful.  I for one would use
such methods if I knew that traces of gluten could no longer be detected
after such treatments.

So thanks to Judy for raising our awareness of how we could potentially
avoid gluten by knowing better how to destroy it.

Kurt Andre
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