Effect of food processing on the immunoreactivity of gliadin

Abstract

SummaryWheat is the most important crop in the world mainly because of the feature of its storage protein, gluten, such as stretching and extending, that can hold the produced gas. However, some people have immunoreactivity against wheat gluten, which is generally called gluten disorder. Coeliac disease (CD) and non‐coeliac gluten sensitivity are types of gluten disorders. Several food processing techniques have been used to reduce gliadin immunoreactivity such as using thermal processing, fermentation, high‐pressure processing and pulsed light with different wheat products such as wheat flour, flatbread and gluten suspension. CD is the most known gluten disorder; therefore, this review will focus on the reduction effect of food processing on it. Gluten consists of gliadins and glutenin; the allergic effect of gliadins is well known, and several epitopes were identified, which are usually used to follow gluten immunoreactivity. Till now, consuming a gluten‐free diet is the only way for people who are suffering from gluten disorder. Up to now, all the attempts to reduce the immunoreactivity of gliadin (IRG) by food processing have not fully succeeded. The main techniques used to follow the target epitopes are enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western blot, LC–MS/MS, etc. The fermentation process and adding enzymes are the most promising food processing in terms of reducing IRG. Worth mentioning that using different techniques gave different gliadin reductions; beyond that, using different ELISA kits gave different reductions. Combining different techniques is recommended to monitor the IRG reduction by using the most effective method till now.