For many people, ingesting gluten can cause gastrointestinal issues due to Celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or other conditions. For those with these conditions, more traditional wheat flour can lead to stomach pain, nausea, and in some cases intestinal damage.
There have been many mass-market products that use gluten-free flours in order to offer dietary options to those with gluten allergies. Gluten-free flour substitutes include banana peels, almonds, and other grains. However, many of these gluten-free options lack extra nutrients and therefore not the healthiest options.
New research published in ACS Food Science and Technology recently reported a newcomer to gluten-free flours: orange sweet potato flour. Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous root that is native to the Americas. In terms of its nutrients, a 100-gram baked sweet potato offers vitamins A, C, B6, manganese, and potassium, among other nutrients. As such, it has a higher nutrient density than other similar foods. Economically, sweet potatoes are the most efficient staple food to grow when it comes to farmland.
While it has been common knowledge among food scientists that sweet potato flour may serve as a good alternative to wheat flour, best practices for flour preparation needed to be established. As such, lead study author Maria Francelila Moreno-Ochoa from Departamento de Investigación y Posgrado en Ciencias de los Alimentos, Universidad de Sonora in Mexico and colleagues investigated how two different drying and grinding processes affected the properties in sweet potato flour.
The team dried orange sweet potatoes at either 122 or 176F and then ground them once or twice. When ground once (regardless of drying temperature), the flours were suitable for gluten-free breads. When ground twice, the flour worked well for producing thickening agents for sauces or porridges. When the flour was baked into a loaf of bread, it had a higher antioxidant property than wheat flours, thereby making orange sweet potato flours a healthier and more nutritious alternative.
The team—and those who have a gluten-free diet—are hopeful that gluten-free flours can work as an alternative to wheat flours, offering a tasty and healthy variety on the market.
Sources: Phys.org, ACS Food Science and Technology
