Gluten from wheat

General description

Gluten forms the chief storage protein fraction in a mature wheat grain. Gluten proteins can be divided into three main groups: high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS), low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS), and gliadins. Gluten has a great impact on the quality of a whole range of cereal-based foods.

Gluten, a cohesive, visco-elastic proteinaceous material, is produced as a by-product of the isolation of starch from wheat flour. It is generally supplied in a dried state called vital wheat gluten.

Application

Gluten from wheat has been used:

• as a source of the total gluten protein to produce a gluten film to assess its viscoelastic properties at the mesostructure level
• to study its effect on metabolic homeostasis in a murine model of diet-induced obesity
• as a nitrogen source in gluten agar/gliadin agar (Glu-A/Gli-A) medium for gluten and gliadin hydrolysis assays

Biochem/physiol Actions

Gluten exhibits visco-elastic properties, which helps in preparing synthetic cheese with the texture and eating quality of natural cheese. It helps in fortifying low-protein bread flours. Gluten is majorly used in non-bakery foods as a meat replacement in vegetarian foods. It is also used in the production of seafood and crab analogs. Vital wheat gluten has a unique visco-elastic property that enhances dough strength, mixing tolerance, and handling properties.

Quality

Crude, ≥ 75% protein