Written by Catherine Saxelby
on Tuesday, 11 June 2013.
Tagged: additives, carbohydrates, food labels, gluten, gluten-free, health, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, nutrition, special diets
A. Yes. It may contain small fragments of protein particles related to gluten. Maltodextrin is a starch which is used as a thickener or texture modifying agent in foods such as pasta sauces, soups, instant gravy, stocks, flavoured milk drinks, instant pudding desserts and cake mixes.
It looks like a white flour and is produced by the partial hydrolysis (break down) of the starch into shorter molecules based on glucose.
Maltodextrin can be derived from either wheat or maize (corn) or tapioca and the distinction is important. Maize maltodextrin or tapioca maltodextrin is gluten-free, but wheat is not.
The label should tell you which one is present by listing "From maize" or "From wheat" on the list of ingredients. Most do!
Until a few years ago, wheat starch and maltodextrin were permitted on gluten-free diets for coeliacs. However some coeliacs noticed that they developed symptoms of diarrhoea or bloating every time they ate it.
It seems that even such tiny amounts (less than 0.02 per cent) are enough to cause problems for some super-sensitive people. Others report no effect but they too should be wary of consuming any from packet foods.
Catherine Saxelby has the answers! She is an accredited nutritionist, blogger and award-winning author. Her award-winning book My Nutritionary will help you cut through the jargon. Do you know your MCTs from your LCTs? How about sterols from stanols? What’s the difference between glucose and dextrose? Or probiotics and prebiotics? What additive is number 330? How safe is acesulfame K? If you find yourself confused by food labels, grab your copy of Catherine Saxelby’s comprehensive guide My Nutritionary NOW!
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