(Press-News.org) Beer tested in a new study, including some brands labeled "low-gluten," contains levels of hordein, the form of gluten present in barley, that could cause symptoms in patients with celiac disease (CD), the autoimmune condition treated with a life-long gluten-free diet, scientists are reporting. The study, which weighs in on a controversy over the gluten content of beer, appears in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research.
Michelle Colgrave and colleagues explain that celiac disease (CD) affects more than 2 million people worldwide. Gluten, a protein found in foods and beverages made from barley, wheat and rye triggers a reaction in CD patients that affects the small intestine, blocking the absorption of essential nutrients from food. Symptoms vary, but often include diarrhea or constipation, fatigue and abdominal pain. The cause is unknown, and there is no cure. The only treatment is to stay on a life-long gluten-free diet. Barley is used to make beer, but whether the finished product contains gluten is controversial, with some beer companies contending that the brewing process gets rid of gluten or reduces it to very low levels. Existing tests for detecting gluten in malted products are not very accurate. So the scientists developed a highly accurate new test for hordein, the gluten component in barley-based beers.
As expected, their analysis of 60 commercial beers found that eight labeled "gluten-free" did not contain gluten. But many regular, commercial beers had significant levels of gluten. Most surprising, two beers labeled as "low-gluten" had about as much gluten as regular beer.
###The authors acknowledge funding from the Australian Coeliac Research Fund.
The American Chemical Society is a non-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.
Some 'low-gluten' beer contains high levels of gluten
2011-12-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Start the New Year in the Spotlight with a Custom Sign for Your Brand
2011-12-22
Ken Miller, President of Blue Pond Signs, announced today the availability of the 2012 custom signage line for business customers throughout the United States. As many companies seek to refresh their visual identities in the first quarter of the year, Blue Pond Signs streamlines the process of creating customized visual identities, from business signs to logos, in just four weeks.
"Creating a customized corporate visual identity is an important element for companies who seek recognition in today's competitive marketplace" said Miller. "We offer a fast ...
New evidence that bacteria in large intestine have a role in obesity
2011-12-22
Bacteria living in people's large intestine may slow down the activity of the "good" kind of fat tissue, a special fat that quickly burns calories and may help prevent obesity, scientists are reporting in a new study. The discovery, published in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research, could shed light on ways to prevent obesity and promote weight loss, including possible microbial and pharmaceutical approaches, the authors said.
Sandrine P. Claus, Jeremy K. Nicholson and colleagues explain that trillions of bacteria live in the large intestine of healthy people, where they ...
New process could advance use of healthy cells or stem cells to treat disease
2011-12-22
In a discovery that may help speed use of "cell therapy" — with normal cells or stem cells infused into the body to treat disease — scientists are reporting development of a way to deliver therapeutic human cells to diseased areas within the body using a simple magnetic effect. Their report appears in ACS' journal Langmuir.
Rawil Fakhrullin and colleagues explain that cell therapy aims to replace damaged or diseased cells in the human body with normal cells or stem cells. To do so, medical personnel need a way to target these cells to diseased organs or tissues. So-called ...
Home washing machines: Source of potentially harmful ocean 'microplastic' pollution
2011-12-22
WASHINGTON -- The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions" podcast series discusses the discovery that household washing machines seem to be a major source of so-called "microplastic" pollution -- bits of polyester and acrylic smaller than the head of a pin -- that researchers now have detected on ocean shorelines worldwide.
In the podcast, Mark Anthony Browne, Ph.D., explains that the accumulation of microplastic debris in marine environments has raised health and safety concerns. The bits of plastic ...
New method of infant pain assessment from Oxford published in JoVE
2011-12-22
Recently, the accuracy of current methods of pain assessment in babies have been called into question. New research from London-area hospitals and the University of Oxford measures brain activity in infants to better understand their pain response.
As every parent knows, interpreting what a baby is feeling is often incredibly difficult. Currently, pain in infants is assessed using the premature infant pain profile (PIPP), which is based on behavioral and physiological body reactions, such as crying and facial expression. Though this is a useful measure, it is largely ...
NIST sensor improvement brings analysis method into mainstream
2011-12-22
An advance in sensor design* by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Waterloo's Institute of Quantum Computing (IQC) could unshackle a powerful, yet high-maintenance technique for exploring materials. The achievement could expand the technique—called neutron interferometry—from a test of quantum mechanics to a tool for industry as well.
[Watch a short YoutTube video on this work at http://youtu.be/A21iXn2NL-8 ]
Neutron beams can be used in dozens of ways to probe complex molecules and other advanced materials, ...
Positive feedback and tumorigenesis
2011-12-22
Cancer cells are essentially immortal. The acquisition of an unlimited capacity to divide – the process of immortalization - is a central event in the genesis of tumors. Normally, cells are subject to stringent mechanisms which control their proliferation. Together these ensure that pre-malignant cells are induced to enter a senescent, non-dividing state or to undergo apoptosis, i.e. commit suicide. A research team led by Professor Heiko Hermeking and Dr. Antje Menssen from LMU's Institute of Pathology has now discovered how the regulatory protein c-MYC subverts these controls, ...
Prototype NIST device measures absolute optical power in fiber at nanowatt levels
2011-12-22
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a prototype device capable of absolute measurements of optical power delivered through an optical fiber.
The device is the world's first fiber-coupled cryogenic radiometer that links optical fiber power measurements directly to fundamental electrical units and national standards. It uses a microscopic forest of carbon nanotubes—the world's darkest material—to measure values that are about one-thousandth of the levels typically attained with a cryogenic radiometer lacking direct ...
Ellis & Salazar Leads Charitable Effort for a Decade
2011-12-22
December 15, 2011 marked Ellis & Salazar's 10 year anniversary leading an annual charitable effort for Child, Inc.'s Responsible Parenting Initiative. Since the program's inception in 2002, Ellis & Salazar , an Austin area collision repair shop, has individually awarded 15 newly refurbished vehicles and organized other business partners to contribute an overall total to date of 56 vehicles to local families in need.
Maintaining the holiday tradition of giving, Ellis & Salazar and Child Inc surprised another five, low-income Austin families this year with ...
NIST releases first certified reference material for single-wall carbon nanotubes
2011-12-22
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued the world's first reference material for single-wall carbon nanotube soot. Distantly related to the soot in your fireplace or in a candle flame, nanotube-laden soot is the primary industrial source of single-wall carbon nanotubes, perhaps the archetype of all nanoscale materials. The new NIST material offers companies and researchers a badly needed source of uniform and well-characterized carbon nanotube soot for material comparisons, as well as chemical and toxicity analysis.
With walls of carbon only ...