Formulation of Gluten-Free Cookies with Enhanced Quality and Nutritional Value

Celiac disase (CD) also called gluten enteropathy (GE) affects approximately 1% of the general population (Vici et al., 2016). CD is an inflammatory condition of the small intestine induced by an environmental precipitant, gluten, to people who are genetically susceptible (Grace-Farfaglia, 2015). GE can manifest at any age and it is characterized by the presence of typical autoantibodies to human tissue transglutaminase (TTG) and histologic alterations of the small bowel mucosa (Ivanova et al., 2017). In Romania, the incidence of celiac disease among patients with diabetes is 3.9% based on data from a recent study, published by World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO, 2016). CD may have many symptoms like diarrhea, abdominal pain, steatorrhea, bloating, weight loss, flatulence (typical gastrointestinal symptoms) and abnormal liver function tests, bone disease, iron deficiency anemia, skin disorders etc. (non-gastrointestinal abnormalities) (Rubio-Tapia et al., 2013). According to a study that collected data from 48 people regarding their daily nutrient intake, only one consumed a sufficient amount of dietary fibre. The participants also consumed significantly lower amounts Abstract Gluten-free (GF) products are indispensable for people with celiac disease because till date the only treatment is to follow a GF diet. Besides this, nowadays, people are more interested in following a healthy diet, so they are looking for nutritious food. Nine gluten-free formulations were developed: control (C1-100% rice flour and C2100% quinoa flour) and samples with quinoa flour (87%) and with the addition of pea protein powder, pumpkin seed protein powder, coconut flour, aronia powder, carrot powder, tomatoes powder and ginger powder with a concentration of 13%, respectively, to show that quinoa flour is nutritionally richer than rice flour. Quinoa flour had a higher content of protein (12.23%), fiber (6.80%), ash (1.66%) compared to rice flour, which had 7.20% protein, 2.20% fiber and 0.60% ash. All supplemented cookies had higher levels of protein, fat and ash. The sensorial analysis showed that the best acceptance besides C1 was for S3_coconut, S4_aronia and S6_tomatoes cookies. Aronia cookie was the darkest and hardest sample. Besides C1 and C2, the softest sample was S6_tomatoes, while S3_coconut was the lightest.