The publication of papers on the topic of gluten related disorders has substantially increased over the last few years. This has motivated healthcare professionals to pay attention not only to celiac disease and wheat allergy but also to a condition termed nonceliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). Until now this condition has been diagnosed clinically on the basis of exclusion criteria and clinical response to gluten withdrawal. In addition, recent research in this field has shown that other food components distinct from gluten are implicated in NCGS cases, thereby changing our general understanding of NCGS diagnosis in either individuals on gluten containing diets or those already following a gluten-free diet with no proper diagnostic work-up of celiac disease. With this in mind, the assessment of NCGS will require extensive knowledge of celiac disease manifestations and the laboratory tests commonly performed during diagnosis of celiac disease.

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is a syndrome characterized by gastrointestinal and extraintestinal manifestations triggered after gluten ingestion in the absence of celiac disease and wheat allergy. Because of the lack of biomarkers for NCGS diagnosis, the cornerstone for its assessment is a single- or double-blind placebo-controlled (DBPC) gluten challenge. However, there are some non-standardized points in the diagnostic approach proposed by the experts. This complicate comparisons among the results published by different research groups. The gluten vehicle and placebo must be indistinguishable from each other, which entails sensory and technological evaluations of the designed gluten vehicle and placebo products. At the moment, there is no standardized method for the preparation of the gluten vehicle and placebo for carrying out DBPC gluten challenges for NCGS assessment. This review focuses on the challenges that researchers have to face, either for the development of an accepted gluten vehicle and placebo or for identifying NCGS cases on the basis of DBPC gluten challenges.

Many food-derived peptides with antihypertensive activity have been reported. However, a reduced number of studies have been conducted to prove in vivo the efficacy of most of the currently reported antihypertensive peptides. Thus, just a few of these bioactive peptides are utilized as supplements or ingredients for functional foods production. In addition to in vivo evaluations, another challenging task is the delivery of bioactive peptides in physiological conditions, but studies about this topic are scarce. Notably, some proteins are able to form gels that have different characteristics related to the pH of the environment. Bioactive peptides can be entrapped into such gels structure and be released in different physiological environments (e. g. low pH in the stomach and neutral in the intestine). Thus, the selection of macronutrients could play a critical role in the design of food matrices intended to be used as containers and releasers of antihypertensive peptides.

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