NUTRITIONAL VALUES OF PSEUDOCEREALS FLOUR MIXTURES USED IN GLUTEN-FREE SWEET BAKERY PRODUCTS

Abstract

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder caused by a reaction of the body’s immune system to prolamins found in wheat (gliadin), rye (secalin), barley (hordein) and their crossbreeds. At present, the only effective treatment for coeliac people is a lifelong gluten-free diet, but it is difficult to follow such a diet, due to the many gluten containing products excluded. Starting from these considerations, this study aimed to investigate some nutritional parameters, in order to support the use of pseudocereal gluten-free flour mixtures (amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa, respectively) along with rice flour, for obtaining gluten-free sweet bakery products, with a high nutritional value and acceptability. Thus, each sort of flour was used in various amounts of 10%, 20% and 30%, respectively, along with rice flour, in order to obtain the best gluten-free sweet products (muffins), regarding its nutritional value and acceptability score. Gluten-free sweet products were prepared by the same recipe, in three trials each, in which rice flour and amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa flour, respectively, varied: T1-RF:AF(90:10), T2-RF:AF(80:20), T3-RF:AF(70:30), T4-RF:BWF(90:10), T5-RF:BWF(80:20), T6-RF:BWF(70:30), T7-RF:QF(90:10), T8-RF:QF(80:20), T9-RF:QF(70:30). A blank sample of the sweet gluten-free bakery product was prepared by using rice flour only, as basis.