Abstract:

Social Responsibility (SR) is a transversal competence for undergraduates and graduates that has been insufficiently and irregularly addressed in the curricula in most of the Degrees and Masters. Likewise, research teams must put into practice this competence and reflect about the SR they belong to. The Laboratory for the Analysis of Gluten (LAG) works in the detection of gluten in foods and the assessment of nutritional status and dietary balance of celiac population. The LAG incorporated a new working line about Nutritional Education that aims to increase the knowledge of the disorder, as well as of the balanced and sustainable feeding of celiac people, but also of the general society.

As a result of this line of work, and keeping celiac and gluten as a common thread, the LAG has designed material for two target populations: families with children and schools. For the elaboration of this material, students developing their Final Master Dissertation (FMD) joined the team in order to work this competence during their training.

Here we describe the family-oriented activity: a gluten-free cooking workshop about celiac for children (from 6 to 12 years) accompanied by an adult. The session includes designing an appropriate shopping list, doing the shopping, cooking a gluten-free recipe and tasting it. Printed material and audiovisual aid are used to assist the activity. Workshop has been designed to be carried out during 150 minutes, in a market equipped with a kitchen.

The workshop starts with a short presentation to introduce the next concepts: celiac disease and gluten. Ideally, participants include both celiac and non-celiac children, giving to celiac ones an active role transmitting information about what happens to them. Participants learn “where is gluten” classifying gluten-containing cereals, naturally gluten-free food and product with gluten contamination-risk. Then, they design a gluten-free shopping list and go to the supermarket to do the shopping. Gluten-free product labelling concept is explained on site in the market. Afterwards, children and adult pairs cook a gluten-free recipe in the kitchen. They work with the aid of a professional chef learning about food processing and good cooking practices and emphasizing how to avoid cross contamination. The recipe they cook contains gluten-free natural cereals, legumes, fruit and vegetables and has been chosen in order to develop balanced diet idea. Moreover, it is based in a previous study of our research group about dietary habits of a celiac cohort in which we detected some mistakes we are attempting to improve. After tasting the recipe, the workshop finishes with a participative talk about gluten-free balanced diet (giving some menu examples) and celiac people day-to-day.

The results of the surveys confirmed the success of the designed cooking workshop. Families learned about celiac disease and gluten-free diet in a practical and cooperative way and they enjoyed the activity.

We believe that enhancing the knowledge and sensitivity of children about celiac would influence in the integration and quality of life of this collective. Thus, it is important to make efforts in order to spread scientific work to general population.

Besides, the fact that this project was carried out by students in their FMD is an important added value, as it allows students to embrace the concept of professional ethics and responsibility.

Keywords:

Nutrition Education, Celiac Disease, Gluten, Social Responsibility.