Food Allergens: When Friends Become Foes—Caveats and Opportunities for Oral Immunotherapy Based on Deactivation Methods

Gil, Victoria M.; Fernández-Rivera, Nuria; Pastor Vargas, Carlos; Cintas, Pedro

Food Allergens: When Friends Become Foes—Caveats and Opportunities for Oral Immunotherapy Based on Deactivation Methods

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Food Allergens.pdf (6.96 MB)

Official URL

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15163650

Publication date

2023

Authors

Gil, Victoria M.

Fernández-Rivera, Nuria

Pastor Vargas, Carlos

Cintas, Pedro

Publisher

MDPI

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URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/103651

Citation

Gil, M. V., Fernández-Rivera, N., Pastor-Vargas, C., & Cintas, P. (2023). Food Allergens: When Friends Become Foes-Caveats and Opportunities for Oral Immunotherapy Based on Deactivation Methods. Nutrients, 15(16), 3650. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15163650

Abstract

Food allergies represent a serious health concern and, since the 1990s, they have risen gradually in high-income countries. Unfortunately, the problem is complex because genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors may be collectively involved. Prevention and diagnoses have not yet evolved into efficacious therapies. Identification and control of allergens present in edible substances hold promise for multi-purpose biomedical approaches, including oral immunotherapy. This review highlights recent studies and methods to modify the otherwise innocuous native proteins in most subjects, and how oral treatments targeting immune responses could help cancel out the potential risks in hypersensitive individuals, especially children. We have focused on some physical methods that can easily be conducted, along with chemo-enzymatic modifications of allergens by means of peptides and phytochemicals in particular. The latter, accessible from naturally-occurring substances, provide an added value to hypoallergenic matrices employing vegetal wastes, a point where food chemistry meets sustainable goals as well.