Today, beer is the second most popular beverage in the world, after tea. Since the primary raw material for beer is barley – a food that contains gluten, the question arises about the content of this molecule in beer. Although it is a common belief that beer is rich in gluten, research conducted in Croatia has shown quite the opposite results.
To measure the level of gluten in the most commonly consumed commercial types of beer produced exclusively from barley malt in Croatia, a team of experts led by Dr. Lee Pollak and Dr. Darija Vranešić Beder conducted an analysis of 27 different commercial beers available on the Croatian market, of which 5 were radler beers and 2 were dark beers.
The results of the research presented and published this year at the 51st Croatian and 11th International Symposium of Agronomists held in Opatija reveal that the amount of gluten in most of the tested beers (92.6%) is acceptable and low, not exceeding the legislative provisions that stipulate that food with a gluten content not exceeding 20 mg/kg can be labeled as ‘gluten-free’. This confirms the results of a previous study in the geographically close area of the Republic of Croatia, which showed that 84% of samples meet the conditions of up to 20 mg of gluten per kg of product, thereby debunking the myth of beer as a high gluten food.
