Executive Summary
If you suffer from sensitivity to gluten or wheat, you should avoid all wheat products, including asafoetida powder prepared with it.
Choose asafoetida made with rice flour, which may be mentioned as an ingredient on the container label. Typically, asafoetida powder produced in South India uses rice flour.
Asafoetida (Hing in Hindi) does not contain gluten or other wheat proteins. However, consuming its powder in food can cause gluten or wheat-related intolerance or allergy reactions, because of the way it is manufactured.
Gluten and Wheat Proteins
Gluten is a protein found in grains like wheat, barley and rye. It acts as a glue helping food retain its shape. Here is the science behind how gluten increases the stretchability of dough.
Wheat has four proteins: Albumin, globulin, glutenin and gliadin. Gluten is formed almost immediately when the latter two proteins are mixed in the presence of water.
Some people have mild or severe reactions to gluten; they are affected by consuming any grain that contains gluten. Some others are not allergic to gluten but get mild or severe reactions to other proteins in wheat. They can safely consume barley or rye, but get digestive and other medical problems when exposed to wheat or wheat flour.
Typical mild symptoms are abdominal pain, bloating, headache and brain fog, constipation or diarrhoea, skin rash, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. Severe reactions include facial swelling, swollen lips and tongue, hives, shortness of breath, asthma attacks and even life-threatening responses like anaphylactic shock.
The conditions that cause mild symptoms are called intolerance or sensitivity and they develop over some time. The severe reactions, on the other hand, happen immediately and are allergies.
- Gluten Intolerance or Sensitivity: This is a mild reaction to the presence of gluten in food.
- Celiac Disease: This is a severe reaction to gluten and is an autoimmune condition mostly caused by genetic factors.
- Wheat Sensitivity: In this condition, wheat consumption causes a mild reaction.
- Wheat Allergy: This is a strong reaction to wheat proteins.
The only preventive solution for the first two is avoiding foods containing gluten. Similarly, the latter two require eliminating all wheat products from the diet.
Asafoetida
Asafoetida is a dried gum resin extracted from an herb called Ferula asafoetida. It has many medicinal benefits for the digestive system, heart, brain, liver and lungs.
It is commonly used in Indian, Pakistani, and Middle Eastern cuisines. Its sulphurous compounds add a fuller flavour to the savoury dishes by mimicking garlic, onions and eggs.
Asafoetida Production
A milky sap is extracted from the roots of the asafoetida plant. The dried lumps of this sap are available in some markets as pure asafoetida.
The lumps are difficult to grate into a powder form, which is desirable for cooking use. So pure asafoetida is mixed with rice flour or wheat flour and then ground to a fine powder, which has 40 per cent asafoetida. This is the powder you get in the retail stores.
How To Select Asafoetida
If you suffer from any of the four conditions mentioned above, consuming asafoetida blended with wheat flour will cause digestive and other medical problems. So you must choose asafoetida powder made with rice flour.
As a rule of thumb, asafoetida manufactured in North India uses wheat flour, while the South Indian version involves rice flour. Choose the South Indian variety if you have an option at your retail store. Check the label on the container and ensure that it mentions rice flour as an ingredient.
Finally, if you are facing any of the above problems despite eliminating all gluten or wheat products from your diet, pay attention to the asafoetida used in your food.
Some information in this article is taken from my book Superfoods, Super Life published by Pan Macmillan India Publishers. The book covers twenty superfoods: Tomatoes, coconut, capsicum, drumsticks, amla, jamun, turmeric, aloe vera, papaya, garlic, ginger, pineapple, carrots, spinach, beets, green tea, cinnamon, flax seeds, asafoetida (hing), and sabja (sweet basil seeds). The book gives their nutrients, health benefits, recommended amounts and excess levels. It explains how to select, prepare and store them and who should avoid them.
Paperback and Kindle versions are available on Amazon India on this link and Amazon USA on this link.
To Read More
- Cleveland Clinic: Gluten Intolerance
- Harvard Medical School: Gluten: A Benefit or Harm to the Body?
- Research Paper (2019): Biological activities and medicinal properties of Asafoetida: A review
- MedicineNet: What Is Asafetida? Benefits, Side Effects, and Uses
- National Library of Medicine: Gluten-Associated Medical Problems
- Gluten Intolerance Group: Celiac Disease, Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity or Wheat Allergy: What is the Difference?
- Peninsula Integrative Medicine: Understanding Food Allergy and Food Sensitivity (IgA vs IgG vs IgE reactions)
- On this Website: How Asafoetida Helps Relieve Flatulence
First Published on: 17th February 2024
Image Credit: master1305 on Freepik
Last Updated on: 18th February 2024