In recent times, there had been an increase in the consumption of food products made from cereals other than wheat flour. This is partly due to the surge or rise in wheat importation thereby led to a high foreign exchange spending for countries with comparative disadvantage in the cultivation and production of wheat grain. Aside from this, there had been a major concern on the health challenges emanating as a result of the consumption of food made from wheat flour. This health challenge is called celiac disease; an immune-mediated disease arising from the inability of the consumer to ingest gluten-containing products. This book chapter intends to write on the management of celiac disease using gluten-free diets.
Part of the book: Celiac Disease
The increasing population of the world, emergence, and prominence of diseases coupled with side effects of drugs has led to the search of non-toxic, healthy foods products. Cereal grains are a stable food consumed by a large population of the world, containing an array of nutritional and bioactive compounds such as dietary fiber, protein, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, β-glucan, lignans, phytosterol, phenolics among others. These compounds proffer beyond basic nutritional needs as they also provide health benefits on consumption such asantioxidants, antidiabetics, antihypertension, antihyperlipidemic/anti-cholesterol, antimicrobial and anticancer with no side effects. Cereal grains canbe processed into divers of food products, singly or as multigrain food products in other to increases the bioavailability of its nutrients or bioactive compounds. Its by-products can further be used to enriched human diets or serve as animal feeds. Hence, this review addresses the needs for more processing, value additions and consumption of cereal grain as a vehicle to improved healthy livings.
Part of the book: Cereal Grains