scholarly journals Adverse reactions to food additives

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-23
Author(s):  
Justin Babbel ◽  
Courtney Ramos ◽  
Hannah Wangberg ◽  
Kate Luskin ◽  
Ronald Simon

Food additives are naturally occurring or synthetic substances that are added to food to modify the color, taste, texture, stability, or other characteristics of foods. These additives are ubiquitous in the food that we consume on a daily basis and, therefore, have been the subject of much scrutiny about possible reactions. Despite these concerns, the overall prevalence of food additive reactions is 1‐2%, with a minority of the wide variety of symptoms attributed to food-additive exposure being reproduced by double-blind placebo controlled challenges. Reactions can be broadly classified into either immunoglobulin E (IgE)- and non‐IgE-mediated reactions, with natural additives accounting for most IgE-mediated reactions, and both natural and synthetic additives being implicated in the non‐IgE-mediated reactions. Reactions that include asthma exacerbations, urticaria and/or angioedema, or anaphylaxis with ingestion of a food additive are most deserving of further allergy evaluation. In this article, we discussed the different types of adverse reactions that have been described to various food additives. We also reviewed the specifics of how to evaluate and diagnose a food additive allergy in a clinic setting.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-123
Author(s):  
Amber N. Pepper ◽  
Panida Sriaroon ◽  
Mark C. Glaum

Food additives are natural or synthetic substances added to foods at any stage of production to enhance flavor, texture, appearance, preservation, safety, or other qualities. Common categories include preservatives and antimicrobials, colorings and dyes, flavorings, antioxidants, stabilizers, and emulsifiers. Natural substances rather than synthetics are more likely to cause hypersensitivity. Although rare, food additive hypersensitivity should be suspected in patients with immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated reactions to multiple, unrelated foods, especially if the foods are prepared outside of the home or when using commercial products. A complete and thorough history is vital. Skin prick testing and/or specific IgE blood testing to food additives, if available, additive avoidance diets, and blind oral challenges can help establish the diagnosis. Once an allergy to a food additive is confirmed, management involves avoidance and, if necessary, carrying self-injectable epinephrine.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 380-381
Author(s):  
Betty Miller

Purpose of the Study. This study outlines the significant advances made to our understanding of adverse reactions to foods and food additives in the last decade. The milestones are listed in order of overall importance and are discussed in depth in the review. 1. Establishing double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge (DBPCFC) as the "gold-standard" for defining specific patient population to be used in scientific studies. (VanMetre, May, Bock) 2. Recognition of the key role food allergy plays in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis. (Sampson, May) 3. Identifying the group of foods most likely to be associated with true allergic reactions. Analysis of DBPCFC in children has shown that 93% of allergic reactions occurred to eight foods (in order of frequency): egg, peanut, milk, soy, tree nuts, crustacean-type shellfish, fish, and wheat. Corn and chocolate allergy was rarely found. (Bock, Sampson, Atkins) 4. Food allergy has a natural history. In a prospective study of 501 children, Bock found that, of 15 cases of allergy proven by DBPCFC in the first year of life, none of the 15 cases was reactive beyond 24 months of age. In contrast, long-term follow-up of patients who have experienced peanut anaphylaxis revealed that clinical sensitivity lasts for at least 14 years. (Bock, Atkins) 5. Food allergy cross-sensitivity (clinical reactivity) does not extend equally to all members of a biologic food family. Although immunologic cross-reactivity between peanut, soy, and other peas/beans could be regularly found in allergic patients, clinically important cross-reactions demonstrated by DBPCFC were rare. (Bernhisel -Broadbent, Sampson)


Medicina ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Barni ◽  
Giulia Liccioli ◽  
Lucrezia Sarti ◽  
Mattia Giovannini ◽  
Elio Novembre ◽  
...  

A food allergy is an immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated hypersensitive reaction to food, which consists in the appearance of allergic symptoms; it can vary from common urticaria to even fatal anaphylaxis. The prevalence of food allergies has been increasing in the past twenty years and it represents a major public health problem in industrialized countries. The mechanism that leads to food allergies is the lack of immunologic and clinical tolerance to food allergens. The diagnosis of IgE-mediated food allergies is based on the combined use of a detailed medical history, in-vivo, and in-vitro research of specific IgE, the elimination diet, and the double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge. The only currently available treatment for allergies is the strict elimination diet. This type of attitude, which we could define as “passive”, does not overcome the risk of accidental reactions due to involuntary intake of the culprit food. For food allergy management, an “active” approach is urgently needed, such as specific allergen immunotherapy, which is currently under development and only used for research purposes. This article aims to give an updated review of IgE-mediated food allergies in pediatric populations in terms of epidemiology, pathogenesis, prevention, diagnosis, and management.


2003 ◽  
Vol 58 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 119-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Hippeli ◽  
Kerstin Dornisch ◽  
Martina Brink ◽  
Rudolf Lorenz ◽  
Dieter Jeschke ◽  
...  

This report describes an intervention study with healthy volunteers (20 smokers, 28 nonsmokers) taking a food additive mainly containing vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E (α- tocopherol), ubiquinone (Q10), vitamin A and zinkoxide for four weeks in a double blind, randomized and placebo controlled manner. Before and after the intervention blood was withdrawn and general blood parameters were analyzed. In addition, lipid soluble antioxidants were analyzed in blood plasma by HPLC and the water soluble antioxidative properties were testet with the enzymic xanthin/xanthinoxidase-reaction. In summary the results show that the smoker-verum group exhibit a significant down regulation of the leukocyte counts. The test for antioxidants show the following significant differences after intervention: Smokers exhibit an increase of both vitamin E and coenzyme Q10 and an attenuation of their (before intervention) clearly increased water soluble - antioxidative potential, nonsmokers showed only an increase of vitamin E and trends of an increase of Q10 and water soluble-antioxidative potential. These results may contribute to the discussion of the intrinsic deficiency brought about by smoking and the possible attenuation of part of these deficiency by increasing the intake of certain vitamins or food additives


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-6
Author(s):  
Amanda L. Cox ◽  
Scott H. Sicherer

Foods can induce adverse reactions by a variety of mechanisms. An understanding of the characteristic signs and symptoms and the related mechanisms of adverse food reactions allows the clinician to efficiently diagnose and treat patients. Adverse reactions to foods can be classified based on whether there is a nonimmunologic or immunologic basis for symptoms. Food intolerance, or a nonimmunologic reaction, includes a range of responses to foods that result primarily from an individual’s intrinsic inability to metabolize a component of the food, e.g., lactose sugar in dairy products. Other nonimmunologic adverse reactions may be attributed to food toxins or pharmacologic properties pharmacologic properties of foods themselves. Immunologic adverse reactions, in contrast, involve immune responses to food and are termed food allergy. Food allergy may further be categorized based on the underlying immunopathophysiology as immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated, non‐IgE mediated, or cell mediated. Some chronic allergic responses involve a combination of immune mechanisms. This review provides a general classification system for adverse food reactions and describes specific conditions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 239784731772357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Pressman ◽  
Roger Clemens ◽  
Wally Hayes ◽  
Chada Reddy

Food is a very common source of toxicant exposure to humans. An unknown number of naturally occurring contaminants find their way into food. The most ominous are products of mold growth called mycotoxins, which include the carcinogenic aflatoxins. On the other hand, more than 2500 chemical substances are added to foods to modify or impart flavor, color, stability, and texture, to fortify or enrich nutritive value, or to reduce cost. In addition, an estimated 12,000 substances are used in such a way that they may unintentionally enter the food supply. The term “food additive” is a regulatory term that encompasses any functional substance that is normally neither consumed as a food itself, but is intentionally added to food (usually in small quantities) to augment its processing or to improve aroma, color, consistency, taste, texture, or shelf life. Additives are not considered “nutritional” even if they possess nutritive value. The purpose of the present review is to give an overview of the approaches to, and procedures involved in ensuring the safety of the US food supply in the context of food additives, with particular reference to the existing and emerging scientific and regulatory landscape and consumer perceptions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 1059-1061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heung-Woo Park ◽  
Chang-Han Park ◽  
Su-Hwa Park ◽  
Jun Young Park ◽  
Hyun Sun Park ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Thao A. Nguyen

It is well known that the large deviations from stoichiometry in iron sulfide compounds, Fe1-xS (0≤x≤0.125), are accommodated by iron vacancies which order and form superstructures at low temperatures. Although the ordering of the iron vacancies has been well established, the modes of vacancy ordering, hence superstructures, as a function of composition and temperature are still the subject of much controversy. This investigation gives direct evidence from many-beam lattice images of Fe1-xS that the 4C superstructure transforms into the 3C superstructure (Fig. 1) rather than the MC phase as previously suggested. Also observed are an intrinsic stacking fault in the sulfur sublattice and two different types of vacancy-ordering antiphase boundaries. Evidence from selective area optical diffractograms suggests that these planar defects complicate the diffraction pattern greatly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1387-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karishma Biswas ◽  
Humaira Ilyas ◽  
Aritreyee Datta ◽  
Anirban Bhunia

Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs), within their realm incorporate a diverse group of structurally and functionally varied peptides, playing crucial roles in innate immunity. Over the last few decades, the field of AMP has seen a huge upsurge, mainly owing to the generation of the so-called drug resistant ‘superbugs’ as well as limitations associated with the existing antimicrobial agents. Due to their resilient biological properties, AMPs can very well form the sustainable alternative for nextgeneration therapeutic agents. Certain drawbacks associated with existing AMPs are, however, issues of major concern, circumventing which are imperative. These limitations mainly include proteolytic cleavage and hence poor stability inside the biological systems, reduced activity due to inadequate interaction with the microbial membrane, and ineffectiveness because of inappropriate delivery among others. In this context, the application of naturally occurring AMPs as an efficient prototype for generating various synthetic and designed counterparts has evolved as a new avenue in peptide-based therapy. Such designing approaches help to overcome the drawbacks of the parent AMPs while retaining the inherent activity. In this review, we summarize some of the basic NMR structure based approaches and techniques which aid in improving the activity of AMPs, using the example of a 16-residue dengue virus fusion protein derived peptide, VG16KRKP. Using first principle based designing technique and high resolution NMR-based structure characterization we validate different types of modifications of VG16KRKP, highlighting key motifs, which optimize its activity. The approaches and designing techniques presented can support our peers in their drug development work.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 2019-2035
Author(s):  
Esmaeil Sheikh Ahmadi ◽  
Amir Tajbakhsh ◽  
Milad Iranshahy ◽  
Javad Asili ◽  
Nadine Kretschmer ◽  
...  

Naturally occurring naphthoquinones (NQs) comprising highly reactive small molecules are the subject of increasing attention due to their promising biological activities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, apoptosis-inducing activities, and especially anticancer activity. Lapachol, lapachone, and napabucasin belong to the NQs and are in phase II clinical trials for the treatment of many cancers. This review aims to provide a comprehensive and updated overview on the biological activities of several new NQs isolated from different species of plants reported from January 2013 to January 2020, their potential therapeutic applications and their clinical significance.


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