Question: do all wheat's have gluten? and how can some people who don't eat gluten eat spelt flour? what is spelt flour

Amelia Frizell-Armitage answered on 11 Mar 2014:

Gluten is a protein in wheat that makes bread lighter and fluffier because it helps the dough to rise when you’re making the bread. The modern wheat that we farm today contains a lot of gluten as we have selected varieties that have higher amounts to make our bread better. However, as you say, some people cannot eat gluten.

People that cannot eat any gluten have Celiac’s disease – the gluten irritates their intestines and makes them very ill. ALL types of wheat contain gluten, so someone with the disease cannot eat any type of wheat.

Spelt is a type of wheat, used to make spelt flour. Because spelt is a type of wheat it DOES contain gluten. Therefore people that have Celiac’s disease cannot eat it.

Some people get ill from eating wheat because they are allergic, or a bit intolerant to the wheat, not because they have Celiac’s disease. These people may be able to eat a little bit of gluten without getting ill. Spelt wheat has much lower levels of gluten than modern bread wheat. This means that if someone is just a bit intolerant or allergic to bread wheat, they may be able to eat spelt without getting ill.

There is research going on at the moment to see if we are able to genetically modify wheat to remove the gluten gene but still make good bread. This will mean that everyone, including those with Celiac’s disease, will be able to eat it.