Chemical, nutritional and technological characteristics of buckwheat and non-prolamine buckwheat flours in comparison of wheat flour.

Chemical, nutritional, and technological characteristics of buckwheat and non-prolamine buckwheat flours in comparison to wheat for celiac patients use have been studied. The results suggested the following conclusions: the 56.5% extraction value for flour obtention is considered good; the buckwheat flour presents methionine and cystine as first limiting amino acids followed by threonine as the second limiting amino acid; the buckwheat flour presents higher content of lysine amino acids than the wheat flour; the buckwheat flour is superior to the wheat flour regarding iron, copper, and magnesium minerals; the buckwheat flour does not present haemagglutinin activity and the tannin content is negligible. Rheological assays indicate that the buckwheat flour does not contain gluten.

[Electrophoretic analysis of buckwheat flour compared with regular wheat flour]. / Análise eletroforética da farinha de trigo sarraceno em comparação com a farinha de trigo suave.

The composition of the alcohol soluble proteins (prolamins) obtained from buckwheat meal and common wheat flour by two procedures were analysed by electrophoresis at pH 3.1 and, after dissociation, in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate at pH 8. The profiles obtained from the prolamin fraction of buckwheat were very different, qualitatively and quantitatively, from those of the prolamin of common wheat. It is probable therefore that the adverse effects associated with the presence of wheat gliadin in diets of patients with celiac disease would be reduced and possibly avoided if wheat flour were replaced by flour from buckwheat.

Immunological analysis of serum for buckwheat fed celiac patients.

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum, Moench), a herbaceous plant of the Polygonaceae family, does not have any affinity for the Gramineae family. It is commercially rated as a cereal, which has led to some misunderstanding concerning its use in gluten induced enteropathy or celiac disease. The effect of buckwheat flour ingestion by celiac patients was evaluated through the indirect immunofluorescence technique. Samples of serum were collected 30 days after the flour ingestion. Cryostat performed cuts of wheat and buckwheat grains were accomplished in order to compare the reactivity of their proteins and serum of celiac and normal patients. The assay revealed that the buckwheat flour presents no toxicity for the celiac patient and no anti-protein antibodies formation in the grain was observed for serum dilutions of 1:2 up to 1:32 with 0.15 M NaCl solution in 0.01 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.2 throughout the 30 day assay period. The results of the immunological assays showed that the buckwheat flour does not present toxic prolamines to celiac disease patients.