The importance of amaranth products in the diet of children with gluten intolerance

Abstract

The study of gluten intolerance is a modern area of medical science. With the advent of new diagnostic capabilities and data on the forms of the disease, wide opportunities have opened up in optimizing the timing and invasiveness reducing of intervention during diagnosis and further monitoring of the child's health. However, despite all efforts, the basic method of treating all forms of gluten intolerance remains strict adherence to a gluten-free diet (GFD). It is known that GFD itself, as well as low adherence to its observance can lead to nutritional disorders. Therefore, the expansion of the diet at the expense of foods with high nutritional value will greatly contribute to the optimization of diet therapy and compensation for food restrictions. The purpose of the review was to evaluate the possibility of using amaranth products in a GFD to fill the need for nutrients in children with gluten intolerance. Material and methods. The search for literature data was carried out using PubMed, eLIBRARY, scholar.google platforms mainly over the last 5 years, using the keywords: gluten intolerance, children, amaranth, gluten-free diet. Results. An analysis of modern literary sources has shown that amaranth is a product of choice in diet therapy when following a GFD, since it is a pseudo-grain crop. The article presents data confirming the high nutritional value of amaranth due to the protein component and the features of the lipid fraction. The features of the amino acid composition and squalene content in comparison with other plant crops are discussed. The article contains information on the preservation of the beneficial properties of amaranth in finished foods, in particular, the addition of amaranth flour instead of corn starch increases the protein content by 32% and fiber by 152% in gluten-free bread without affecting the taste. The advantages of the chemical composition of amaranth are shown in comparison with other pseudo-cereals. The research results prove the effectiveness of using amaranth products in GFD to eliminate deficiency states in patients, normalize physical development in children with gluten intolerance, and increase patient adherence to the diet. Conclusion. The composition of amaranth and the available studies on the effectiveness of amaranth products consumption convincingly prove the advisability of using it in nutrition, especially under dietary restrictions or increased need for nutrients in childhood.