6 juin, 2005 10:01
Process may cut peanut products' allergy potential
Mon Jun 6, 2005 2:44 PM ET
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A special fermentation process may significantly reduce the potential for allergic reaction to peanut products, scientists said Monday.
Fermentation is a biochemical process in which microorganisms break down a substance into simpler ones, such as when yeast is used to form alcohol from sugar. Many foods, from beer and wine to yogurt and soy sauce, are fermented.
Now researchers have discovered that a special fermentation process can cut levels of major allergy-triggering proteins in peanut flour by up to 70 percent. The hope is to refine the processing method to the point where it can render the culprit proteins completely non-allergenic, according to Dr. Jianmei Yu, one of the researchers on the study.
She and her colleagues at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro reported their findings Monday in Atlanta at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
Peanuts are one of the main causes of food allergies, in which the immune system reacts to particular proteins in a food. This reaction triggers the release of histamine and other chemicals, leading to symptoms such as tingling and swelling in the mouth and throat, breathing difficulty, hives, nausea and diarrhea. At their most severe, food allergies can cause a life-threatening reaction called anaphylactic shock.
Research in recent years has suggested that peanut allergies are on the rise among U.S. children younger than 5 years old. Right now, the only way for food allergy sufferers to prevent an attack is to completely avoid the problem food.
If the new processing method pans out, though, it could allow for allergy-free peanut butter, cookies and other peanut products.
Fermentation works by degrading the allergy-triggering peanut proteins, Yu told Reuters Health. In their work with roasted peanut flour and isolated peanut protein, she and her colleagues found that their fermentation process substantially reduced the concentration of two major allergenic proteins, Ara h1 and Ara h2.
The assumption, Yu said, is that fermentation will not alter the flavor of peanut products. But, she pointed out, the research is not yet up to the taste-testing stage.
