On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of gluten free zucchini muffins page across from the article title. For the food made from gluten, see Seitan.

Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain cereal grains. Gluten can trigger adverse, inflammatory, immunological, and autoimmune reactions in some people. The formation of gluten affects the texture of the baked goods. Gluten’s attainable elasticity is proportional to its content of glutenins with low molecular weights, as this portion contains the preponderance of the sulfur atoms responsible for the cross-linking in the gluten network.

The “chewiness” increases as the dough is kneaded for longer times. The strength and elasticity of gluten in flour is measured in the baking industry using a farinograph. This gives the baker a measurement of quality for different varieties of flours when developing recipes for various baked goods. In industrial production, a slurry of wheat flour is kneaded vigorously by machinery until the gluten agglomerates into a mass. This flour-like powder, when added to ordinary flour dough, may help improve the dough’s ability to increase in volume. The resulting mixture also increases the bread’s structural stability and chewiness.

Gluten is often present in beer and soy sauce, and can be used as a stabilizing agent in more unexpected food products, such as ice cream and ketchup. Gluten is also used in cosmetics, hair products and other dermatological preparations. The gluten peptides are responsible for triggering gluten-related disorders. The toxic peptides are those capable of directly affecting cells and intestinal preparations in vitro, producing cellular damage in vivo and eliciting the innate immune response. The immunogenic peptides are those able to activate T cells in vitro. At least 50 epitopes of gluten may produce cytotoxic, immunomodulatory, and gut-permeating activities. As of 2017, gluten-related disorders were increasing in frequency in different geographic areas.

Medical animation still showing flattened intestinal villi. CD with “classic symptoms”, which include gastrointestinal manifestations such as chronic diarrhea and abdominal distention, malabsorption, loss of appetite, and impaired growth, is currently the least common presentation form of the disease and affects predominantly small children generally younger than two years of age. Nevertheless, these individuals very often develop diseases that can be related with gluten intake. Gluten can be degraded into several morphine-like substances, named gluten exorphins. People can also experience adverse effects of wheat as result of a wheat allergy. As with most allergies, a wheat allergy causes the immune system to respond abnormally to a component of wheat that it treats as a threatening foreign body.

This immune response is often time-limited and does not cause lasting harm to body tissues. Gluten ataxia is an autoimmune disease triggered by the ingestion of gluten. Early diagnosis and treatment with a gluten-free diet can improve ataxia and prevent its progression. The effectiveness of the treatment depends on the elapsed time from the onset of the ataxia until diagnosis, because the death of neurons in the cerebellum as a result of gluten exposure is irreversible. In addition to gluten ataxia, gluten sensitivity can cause a wide spectrum of neurological disorders, which develop with or without the presence of digestive symptoms or intestinal damage. The diagnosis of underlying gluten sensitivity is complicated and delayed when there are no digestive symptoms. People who do experience gastrointestinal problems are more likely to receive a correct diagnosis and treatment.

A strict gluten-free diet is the first-line treatment, which should be started as soon as possible. It is effective in most of these disorders. People with gluten-related disorders have to remove gluten from their diet strictly, so they need clear labeling rules. The term “gluten-free” is generally used to indicate a supposed harmless level of gluten rather than a complete absence. The Codex Alimentarius international standards for food labeling has a standard relating to the labeling of products as “gluten-free”.