Old crop is new thing for Coeliacs.

A person with Coeliacs Disease has an immune reaction to gluten and has potentially major issues with their lower gut. These issues can be as simple as flatulence or as significant as removal of parts of the bowel and potentially even death.

Unfortunately there is no cure for this disease. The person must simply avoid all foods containing gluten.

Gluten is a protein found only in some specific grains. Wheat is the main gluten containing crop and as it is the second most consumed crop in the world, this is a problem for those suffering from Coeliacs Disease.

Gluten is also found in rye, barley and, it is also believed, in oats.

Those foods that are now available labelled gluten free are made using non gluten crops like rice and soy. Unfortunately these foods do not always taste, or have a texture, like those foods that originally contained gluten.

There has been a search undergoing through many of the other grain crops to try to find a material which has similar properties to flour but without the gluten.

Sorghum has been grown for many years in western countries as an animal feed crop, although in Africa and India it is eaten by humans.

Research just published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that bio-chemically sorghum is a grain that is safe for consumption by Coeliacs.

Farmers in the US have bred a new version of sorghum that is white. It does not take much to see that in the very near future, this white version will be used by manufacturers to replace wheat flour in gluten free foods.

This article has been written by Rachelle Williams – The Green Food Safety Coach.