Homemade Gluten-Free Pasta is as well or better digested than Gluten-containing Pasta.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Gluten-Intolerant individuals have difficulty in adjusting to a pasta free diet. This restriction is a serious problem for many adults with celiac disease, much more so than refraining from eating bread or biscuits. We devised a recipe for homemade gluten-free pasta and compared gastric emptying , residual hydrogen production and glycemic response after a meal of gluten-free versus ordinary gluten-containing pasta we also evaluated its palatability in 20 healthy volunteers. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty health medical students less than 30 years of age, BMI less than 25 kg/m2, after 15-hrs fasting ate 100 g (dry weight) of homemade gluten-free tagliatelle or ordinary gluten-containing tagliatelle made with the best Italian durum wheat, at an interval of 1 week, in a blind random fashion. Blood samples were collected to measure glucose, triglicerides and plasma insulin before and 1,2,3,4 hours after each meal. Antral volume was measured by echography at fasting and every 30 min after the end of the meal until the volume of the antrun returned to fasting values. Hydrogen production in the expired air was detected at fasting and 2,4 and 6 hours and hourly up to 13 hrs, andwas measured using gas chromatographic method. CONCLUSION: Gluten-free pasta is palatable, inexpensive and nutritionally as valid or better than gluten containing pasta. With gluten-free pasta, the sense of fullness is reduced, and the amount of colonic fermentation decreased. The sense of satiety (gastric distension and later glycemic response) observed for traditional pasta could be considered an advantage, but the reduced sense of fullness, an earlier glycemic response an a minor amount of undigested carbohydrate indicate better nutritional efficiency of the alternative product.