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Scientist creating "gluten-friendly wheat;" says it will be revolutionary.

photo credit: pri (dot) org

A scientist in Italy is creating gluten-friendly wheat by lowering the amount of gluten protein in pasta and bread.
Carmen Lamacchia wets the wheat grains with water, puts the grains in the microwave, which lowers the amount of ppm in wheat. After years of research, she has been able to lower the amount of gluten to 80ppm, which is 10 times less than normal wheat. (Us Celiacs can only tolerate 20ppm or lower)

We all know the drill about gluten. It is that protein that creates the soft and chewy texture of bread and other kinds of dough.
In recent years, we've been hearing how unhealthy gluten in, and Lamacchia is stating that the news is false.

Lamacchia does have a concern about us Celiacs. She understands how bad gluten is for our intestines and immune system, but her discoveries will change all of that.
She states that the toxic part of gluten will be hidden. The enzyme in our intestine won't recognize the gluten protein and will not cause us harm. She has patented her discovery as "gluten friendly."

A Celiac researcher in MA is impressed with the findings, but he is not convinced that the 80ppm will fly with Celiacs.
"They want zero. I mean, zero is something not attainable in biology. We had to really fight and fight hard with the celiac community here in the United States — and it took nine years of debates — to convince the celiac community in the United States that 20 parts per million, it’s OK, because the immune system doesn’t see it.”

Lamacchia stands behind her research. She said that the immune system in Celiacs will not recognize the gluten protein. She states that 20 or 80ppms will not matter if the quality of gluten has changed, and she believes it has:
“We did [an] experiment on t-cells [white cells from the immune system] coming from the intestine of celiac patients. And on those cells, we tested extract from the modified flour. These cells didn’t produce the inflammatory cytokine."

In layman's terms: the immune system did not respond to the gluten.

My opinion:
While her research is impressive in theory, I find it to be an oxymoron. Gluten-friendly wheat? I mean, wheat is our kryptonite. You can't make it safe, no matter how hard you try. Also, any experiment has its risks. If she has successfully modified the gluten, what are the drawbacks? What will happen to our system when we consume the modified gluten? Will it increase our chances for cancer, or auto-immune diseases connected to Celiac Disease?

I do appreciate Lamacchia's hard work. However, I worry about potential risks. I would definitely like to know more about her research. As someone who has Celiac Disease, I don't trust anything unless I do research and have hard evidence that it is safe. I'm like that in every aspect of my life. I need concrete evidence that something works or doesn't work.

I agree with Lamacchia's stance of gluten not being unhealthy. It isn't unhealthy, unless you have Celiac Disease or a gluten/wheat allergy/intolerance.
Gluten is perfectly fine and healthy for the general population.

Celiacs: What do you think about this revolutionary research? If she has been able to modify the amount of gluten in wheat, would you try it?
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