New treatment may cure food allergies

A team of scientists from across Europe are embarking on new research to develop a treatment for food allergy.

"Food allergy affects around 10 million EU citizens and there is no cure," says Dr Clare Mills of the Institute of Food Research, a lead partner in the Food Allergy Specific Therapy (FAST) research project.

"All people with food allergy can do is avoid the foods to which they are allergic. The threat of severe anaphylaxis has a great impact on their quality of life."

Attempted treatment with allergen-specific immunotherapy, where a patient received monthly injections with an allergen extract for three to five years, failed because it could cause anaphylaxis as a side effect.

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction involving the whole body, often within minutes of exposure to the allergen. Peanut allergy is the most widely known cause, but other causes of anaphylaxis include other foods, insect stings, latex and drugs. If untreated in time it can be fatal.

In the FAST project, scientists will use modified variants of allergic proteins that are hypoallergenic and therefore safer. The proteins will be purified making them more effective and making it easier to control the dose.

Ninety percent of all food allergies are caused by about 10 foods. Allergies to fish and fruit are among the most common in Europe. In fish allergy the protein responsible is parvalbumin and in fruit it is lipid transfer protein (LTP). Modified hypo-allergenic versions of these proteins will be produced at tested as potential treatments.

"We are hoping for a cure that will allow people to eat fish or fruit again," says Dr Ronald van Ree from the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam. "But a significant reduction of sensitivity would already be a great step forwards.

"The risk of unintentional exposure due to cross-contamination of foods, or while eating in restaurants or at parties, will decrease. This will take away lot of the anxiety that has a negative impact on the quality of life of food allergy sufferers."


(Editor compiled and published New treatment may cure food allergies at HealthNewsTrack on December 3, 2008 sourced from Norwich BioScience Institutes - http://www.nbi.bbsrc.ac.uk/)

Food Allergy - recent articles and current news stories:

- US food allergy guidelines recommend uniform standards for treating food allergy
- New blood test to detect food allergies
- New approaches developed to treat food allergy sufferers
- Food allergy cases increased by 18% in last 10 years

Food Allergy article/news source:

Read more health articles from Norwich BioScience Institutes and health articles from UK.

Food Allergy - search related terms:

Allergen, Allergies, Allergy, Anaphylaxis, Fish allergy, Food allergy, Fruit allergy, Immunotherapy, Peanut allergy,
Food Allergy books,

Searched keywords: cure food allergies (13), Curing food allergies (7), curing fish allergies (5),

Subscribe to Health News by Email

List health news, Health organizations, Health news world, Glossary, Best health articles, Featured     Go to top

The information provided on Health Newstrack is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her physician. We comply with the HONcode principles for trustworthy health information, and Health News Track is hon code accredited, verify here.
About us, Site map Privacy policy, Disclaimer
© 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 HealthNewsTrack.com
4.36