Study of quantitative changes of cereal allergenic proteins after food processing

Common Post-translational Modifications (PTMs) of Proteins: Analysis by Up-to-Date Analytical Techniques with an Emphasis on Barley

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of biomacromolecules can be useful for understanding the processes by which a relatively small number of individual genes in a particular genome can generate enormous biological complexity in different organisms. The proteomes of barley and the brewing process were investigated by different techniques. However, their diverse and complex PTMs remain understudied. As standard analytical approaches have limitations, innovative analytical approaches need to be developed and applied in PTM studies. To make further progress in this field, it is necessary to specify the sites of modification, as well as to characterize individual isoforms with increased selectivity and sensitivity. This review summarizes advances in the PTM analysis of barley proteins, particularly those involving mass spectrometric detection. Our focus is on monitoring phosphorylation, glycation, and glycosylation, which critically influence functional behavior in metabolism and regulation in organisms.

Are current analytical methods suitable to verify VITAL® 2.0/3.0 allergen reference doses for EU allergens in foods?

Food allergy affects up to 6% of Europeans. Allergen identification is important for the risk assessment and management of the inadvertent presence of allergens in foods. The VITAL® initiative for voluntary incidental trace allergen labeling suggests protein reference doses, based on clinical reactivity in food challenge studies, at or below which voluntary labelling is unnecessary. Here, we investigated if current analytical methodology could verify the published VITAL® 2.0 doses, that were available during this analysis, in serving sizes between 5 and 500 g. Available data on published and commercial ELISA, PCR and mass spectrometry methods, especially for the detection of peanuts, soy, hazelnut, wheat, cow's milk and hen's egg were reviewed in detail. Limit of detection, quantitative capability, matrix compatibility, and specificity were assessed. Implications by the recently published VITAL® 3.0 doses were also considered. We conclude that available analytical methods are capable of reasonably robust detection of peanut, soy, hazelnut and wheat allergens for levels at or below the VITAL® 2.0 and also 3.0 doses, with some methods even capable of achieving this in a large 500 g serving size. Cow's milk and hen's egg are more problematic, largely due to matrix/processing incompatibility. An unmet need remains for harmonized reporting units, available reference materials, and method ring-trials to enable validation and the provision of comparable measurement results.

Bread and Other Edible Agents of Mental Disease

Perhaps because gastroenterology, immunology, toxicology, and the nutrition and agricultural sciences are outside of their competence and responsibility, psychologists and psychiatrists typically fail to appreciate the impact that food can have on their patients' condition. Here we attempt to help correct this situation by reviewing, in non-technical, plain English, how cereal grains-the world's most abundant food source-can affect human behavior and mental health. We present the implications for the psychological sciences of the findings that, in all of us, bread (1) makes the gut more permeable and can thus encourage the migration of food particles to sites where they are not expected, prompting the immune system to attack both these particles and brain-relevant substances that resemble them, and (2) releases opioid-like compounds, capable of causing mental derangement if they make it to the brain. A grain-free diet, although difficult to maintain (especially for those that need it the most), could improve the mental health of many and be a complete cure for others.

IgG Expression upon Oral Sensitization in Association with Maternal Exposure to Ovalbumin

The role of maternal allergen exposure in the allergenicity of the offspring remains controversial. Some studies have shown that maternal exposure is a risk factor for allergy in the offspring, whereas other studies have shown that maternal exposure induces immune tolerance and protects offspring from allergy disease. Therefore, we utilized maternal rat allergen exposure model to evaluate the offspring immune reactions to ovalbumin protein and to determine whether the Brown Norway (BN) rat model is a suitable animal model for studying the allergenicity of food proteins. For three generations, rats received an allergens or non-allergens by gavage during the pregnancy and lactation periods. After weaning, the offspring rats were used for oral sensitization experiment. In the sensitization experiment, the control rat, which had maternal exposure to phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), exhibited full response of IgG to oral exposure to OVA. The IgG level was significantly lower in F1 rats that were sensitized by maternal exposure to ovalbumin(OVA). Moreover, the lowest IgG level was found for the F3b sensitized by maternal rats exposed to OVA allergen for three continuous generations. Compared with maternal OVA exposure prior to postnatal sensitization, the sensitization via maternal PBS led to a higher serum level of OVA-specific IgG. However, the OVA-specific IgG levels for the two generations of maternal PBS exposure prior to postnatal sensitization was not higher than that for the one generation of maternal rats exposed to PBS prior to postnatal sensitization. Our studies demonstrate that maternal OVA exposure during the pregnancy and lactation can affect the results of oral sensitization studies using ovalbumin protein. BN rats must be bred in non-allergen conditions for at least one generation to avoid problems in rat models for studying the allergenicity of food proteins.