Aflatoxin contamination in nuts marketed in Italy: preliminary results.
BACKGROUND: Aflatoxins (AFs) are one of the main groups of mycotoxins produced by molds. Nuts, although recognized as a food with health benefits, are frequently contaminated by AFs. STUDY DESIGN: In this preliminary study we evaluated the contamination by total AFs and AFB1 in different types of nuts from different countries marketed in Apulia. METHODS: […]
Quantitative Risk Reduction Through Peanut Immunotherapy: Safety Benefits of an Increased Threshold in Europe.
BACKGROUND: The clinical relevance of increasing an allergic individual's peanut sensitivity threshold by immunotherapy, i.e., eliciting dose (ED) to 300 or 1000 mg peanut protein, has not been previously characterized in a European population. In this study, we quantify the clinical benefits of an increased threshold of reaction following immunotherapy for the peanut-allergic individual. METHODS: […]
Development and Evaluation of a Real-Time PCR Multiplex Assay for the Detection of Allergenic Peanut Using Chloroplast DNA Markers.
Peanut is one of the most commonly consumed allergy-causing foods in the United States. Prevention of accidental consumption by allergic individuals is assisted by methods that effectively identify the presence of peanut in food, even at trace levels. This study presents a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay that uses chloroplast markers (matK, rpl16, and trnH-psbA) to […]
Dietary Supplementation with Non‐Digestible Oligosaccharides Reduces Allergic Symptoms and Supports Low Dose Oral Immunotherapy in a Peanut Allergy Mouse Model.
SCOPE: A major downside of oral immunotherapy (OIT) for food allergy is the risk of severe side-effects. Non-digestible short- and long-chain fructo-oligosaccharides (scFOS/lcFOS), reduced allergy development in murine models. We therefor hypothesized that scFOS/lcFOS can also support the efficacy of OIT in a peanut allergy model. METHODS AND RESULTS: After sensitization to peanut extract (PE) […]
Allergy and Asthma: Food Allergies.
Food allergies are immune-mediated allergic adverse reactions that occur after exposure to specific foods. The most commonly recognized food allergies are immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated reactions (eg, urticaria, angioedema, anaphylaxis) that result from exposure to milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, wheat, or soy. However, other foods can cause food allergies. Oral allergy syndrome is a common […]
Jug r 6 is the allergenic vicilin present in walnut responsible for IgE cross-reactivities to other tree nuts and seeds.
Walnuts are ranked high in the list of the culprit foods inducing severe allergic reactions. Jug r 2 has been identified as a major allergen in common walnut by cDNA cloning from a somatic cell line. So far, studies were performed on the allergenic activity of recombinant Jug r 2, yet there is still no […]
Simultaneous detection of eight species of tree nut in foods using two tetraplex polymerase chain reaction assays.
Tree nuts comprise a category of food allergens that must be included in the food labels in several countries. We developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method using eight specific primer pairs to detect eight representative tree nuts (almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia nut, pecan, pistachio, and walnut) under the same experimental conditions. The […]
Dietary carbohydrate intake and mortality: a prospective cohort study and meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND: Low carbohydrate diets, which restrict carbohydrate in favour of increased protein or fat intake, or both, are a popular weight-loss strategy. However, the long-term effect of carbohydrate restriction on mortality is controversial and could depend on whether dietary carbohydrate is replaced by plant-based or animal-based fat and protein. We aimed to investigate the association […]
Walnut Supplementation in the Diet Reduces Oxidative Damage and Improves Antioxidant Status in Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Our previous study has shown beneficial effects of walnuts on memory and learning skills in transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD-tg). To understand underlying mechanism, we studied here whether walnuts can reduce oxidative stress in AD. From 4 months of age, experimental AD-tg mice were fed diets containing 6% (T6) or 9% walnuts (T9) […]
The impact of nuts consumption on glucose/insulin homeostasis and inflammation markers mediated by adiposity factors among American adults.
BACKGROUND: Inconclusive results have been published regarding the impact of nut consumption on glucose/insulin homeostasis and inflammatory factors. Furthermore, it remains unanswered whether adiposity factors could mediate the association between nut consumption, glucose/insulin homeostasis and inflammatory markers; this is what the current study aims to investigate. RESULTS: From a total of 16,784 individuals, 48.2% participants […]