120 yrs of wheat protein
A recent article [1] in J. Agric. Food Chem., reviewed at phys.org, [2] caught my eye because it reports on protein/gluten content of wheat varieties going back to 1891. I thought it might help explain Red Fife's disappointing performance in recent doughs chez nous. But only German varieties were studied. Still interesting, esp. the part about the strong influence of harvest year weather on protein composition. Here's the abstract:
Epidemiologic studies suggest an increasing prevalence of celiac disease and non-celiac gluten/wheat sensitivity. With wheat proteins being the main triggers, changes in wheat protein composition are discussed as a potential cause. The goals of breeding toward increased yield and resistance might have inadvertently contributed to a higher immunostimulatory potential of modern wheat cultivars compared to old wheat cultivars. Therefore, agronomic characteristics, protein content, and gluten composition of 60 German winter wheat cultivars first registered between 1891 and 2010 grown in 3 years were analyzed. While plant height and spike density decreased over time, yield and harvest index increased. The protein and gliadin contents showed a decreasing trend, whereas glutenin contents increased, but there were no changes in albumin/globulin and gluten contents. Overall, the harvest year had a more significant effect on protein composition than the cultivar. At the protein level, we found no evidence to support an increased immunostimulatory potential of modern winter wheat.
Tom