Peanut Allergy: Characteristics and Approaches for Mitigation

Authors: SHAH, FAISAL - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; SHI, AIMIN - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; ASHLEY, JON - Food Safety Professional; KRONFEL, CHRISTINA - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE); WANG, QUIANG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences; Maleki, Soheila; ADHIKARI, BENU - Hermitage Research Station; ZHANG, JINCHUANG - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences

Submitted to: Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/22/2019
Publication Date: 6/25/2019
Citation: Shah, F., Shi, A., Ashley, J., Kronfel, C., Wang, Q., Maleki, S.J., Adhikari, B., Zhang, J. 2019. Peanut Allergy: Characteristics and Approaches for Mitigation. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. 0:2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12472.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12472

Interpretive Summary: Peanut allergy has garnered significant attention because of the high sensitization rate, increase in allergy and severity of the reaction. Sufficiently reliable therapies and efficient mitigating techniques to combat peanut allergy are still lacking. Current management relies on avoiding peanuts and nuts and seeds with homologous proteins although adverse events mostly occur with accidental ingestion. There is a need for hypoallergenic peanut products to to protect sensitized individuals and perhaps serve as immunotherapeutic products. , Alongside traditional practices of thermal treatment and chemical treatment, novel processing approaches such as high-pressure processing, pulsed ultraviolet light, high-intensity ultrasound, irradiation, and pulsed electric field have been performed towards reducing the immunoreactivity of peanut. Covalent and non-covalent chemical modifications to proteins also have the tendency to alter peanut allergenicity. Enzymatic hydrolysis seems to be the most advantageous technique in diminishing allergenic poteincial of peanut. Furthermore, the combined processing approach (hurdle technologies) such as enzymatic hydrolysis followed by roasting, high pressure and heat, ultrasound with enzymatic treatment or germination have shown a significant reduction of peanut immunoreactivity and may emerge as useful techniques in reducing allergenicity of peanut and other foods. This study represents our current knowledge about the reduction of peanut allergenicity via different processing mechanisms as well as evaluating its future potential, geographical based data on increasing sensitization, clinical relevance, eliciting dose and current management of peanut allergy. Furthermore, the molecular characteristics and clinical relevance of peanut allergens have been discussed.

Technical Abstract: Peanut allergy has garnered significant attention because of the high sensitization rate, increase in allergy and severity of the reaction. Sufficiently reliable therapies and efficient mitigating techniques to combat peanut allergy are still lacking. Current management relies on avoiding peanuts and nuts and seeds with homologous proteins although adverse events mostly occur with accidental ingestion. There is a need for hypoallergenic peanut products to to protect sensitized individuals and perhaps serve as immunotherapeutic products. , Alongside traditional practices of thermal treatment and chemical treatment, novel processing approaches such as high-pressure processing, pulsed ultraviolet light, high-intensity ultrasound, irradiation, and pulsed electric field have been performed towards reducing the immunoreactivity of peanut. Covalent and non-covalent chemical modifications to proteins also have the tendency to alter peanut allergenicity. Enzymatic hydrolysis seems to be the most advantageous technique in diminishing allergenic poteincial of peanut. Furthermore, the combined processing approach (hurdle technologies) such as enzymatic hydrolysis followed by roasting, high pressure and heat, ultrasound with enzymatic treatment or germination have shown a significant reduction of peanut immunoreactivity and may emerge as useful techniques in reducing allergenicity of peanut and other foods. This study represents our current knowledge about the reduction of peanut allergenicity via different processing mechanisms as well as evaluating its future potential, geographical based data on increasing sensitization, clinical relevance, eliciting dose and current management of peanut allergy. Furthermore, the molecular characteristics and clinical relevance of peanut allergens have been discussed.