Toxicologic evaluation of potassium polyaspartate (A-5D K/SD): Genotoxicity and subchronic toxicity.

Potassium polyaspartate (A-5D K/SD) is proposed for use as a stabiliser in wine, with a maximum use level of 300 mg/L and typical levels in the range of 100-200 mg/L. Potassium polyaspartate (A-5D K/SD) tested negative in a bacterial reverse mutation assay performed in accordance with OECD TG 471 and in an in vitro mammalian cell micronucleus test performed in accordance with OECD TG 487. From a 90-day oral toxicity study in male and female Wistar rats performed in accordance with OECD TG 408, a no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) was set at 1000 mg/kg bw per day, the highest dose tested. In its opinion adopted on 9 March 2016, the EFSA-ANS Panel (European Food Safety Authority - Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food), considering these data, concluded that "there was no safety concern from the proposed use and use levels of potassium polyaspartate (A-5D K/SD)".

ePlantLIBRA: A composition and biological activity database for bioactive compounds in plant food supplements.

The newly developed ePlantLIBRA database is a comprehensive and searchable database, with up-to-date coherent and validated scientific information on plant food supplement (PFS) bioactive compounds, with putative health benefits as well as adverse effects, and contaminants and residues. It is the only web-based database available compiling peer reviewed publications and case studies on PFS. A user-friendly, efficient and flexible interface has been developed for searching, extracting, and exporting the data, including links to the original references. Data from over 570 publications have been quality evaluated and entered covering 70 PFS or their botanical ingredients.

The effect of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion on the anti-inflammatory activity of Vitis vinifera L. leaves.

Botanicals are widely consumed all over the world for health purposes, with increased usage in the general population, in many different types of products, including foods and plant food supplements. Several reports support for the beneficial effects of botanicals against gastrointestinal inflammation. However, no studies regarding the anti-inflammatory activity in the gastrointestinal tract of red vine leaves have been reported so far. The present work investigates the biological activity of Vitis vinifera L. water extract (VVWE) from dried leaves in two in vitro models of gastric and intestinal inflammation. The extract was characterized by a validated HPLC-DAD method, and tested on human epithelial gastric (AGS) and intestinal (Caco-2) cells with the aim to investigate the inhibitory effect on IL-8 secretion and promoter activity, before and after in vitro gastric or gastrointestinal digestion. Our results show that the water extract from red vine leaves inhibits TNFα-induced IL-8 secretion and expression in human gastric epithelial cells; the effect should be maintained, although to a lesser extent, after gastric digestion. In contrast, the effect after intestinal digestion is dramatically decreased since degradation of the active components in the gut does not allow the extract to efficiently counteract TNFα or IL-1ß induced IL-8 expression and the NF-κB pathway. The main molecular target of VVWE at the gastric level includes TNFα-induced activation of NF-κB and occurs at concentrations easily reachable after PFS consumption based on red vine leaf water extract as the ingredient. Our findings suggest that PFS containing water extracts from Vitis vinifera L. leaves could be useful to inhibit/attenuate gastric inflammation inhibiting IL-8 secretion and expression through impairment of the NF-κB pathway.

Allergy to all mammalian Bovidae proteins but cow's milk in a child

No disponible

Severe anaphylaxis to sheep's milk cheese in a child desensitized to cow's milk through specific oral tolerance induction.

Specific oral tolerance induction to food (SOTI) is a new promising treatmentfor persistent IgE-mediatedfood allergy. Our paper reports a case of a 5-year-old girl with cow's milk allergy, who developed severe anaphylaxis after the ingestion of a croissant containing sheep's milk ricotta cheese, even though she had been previously desensitized to cow's milk through SOTI. The sheep's milk specific allergen causing the severe allergic reaction (a derivative of alpha-casein of 54,1kDa) was identified by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting. We conclude that SOTI is a species-specific procedure and the induced tolerance to cow's milk doesn't necessarily provide protection against milk of other mammals. Therefore, children desensitized to cow's milk through SOTI should strictly avoid the intake of milk of other mammals, until tolerance to those kinds of milk is documented by an oral food challenge.

Goat milk allergenicity as a function of αs1-casein genetic polymorphism.

Cow milk allergy is the most frequent allergy in the first years of life. Milk from other mammalian species has been suggested as a possible nutritional alternative to cow milk, but in several cases, the clinical studies showed a high risk of cross-reactivity with cow milk. In the goat species, αS1-casein (αS1-CN), coded by the CSN1S1 gene, is characterized by extensive qualitative and quantitative polymorphisms. Some alleles are associated with null (i.e., CSN1S1 0(1)) or reduced (i.e., CSN1S1 F) expression of the specific protein. The aim of this work was to obtain new information on goat milk and to evaluate its suitability for allergic subjects, depending on the genetic variation at αs1-CN. Individual milk samples from 25 goats with different CSN1S1 genotypes were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate PAGE and immunoblotting, using monoclonal antibodies specific for bovine α-CN and sera from children allergic to cow milk. A lower reaction was observed to 2 goat milk samples characterized by the CSN1S1 0(1)0(1) and 0(1)F genotypes. Moreover, a fresh food skin prick test, carried out on 6 allergic children, showed the lack of positive reaction to the 0(1)0(1) milk sample and only one weak reactivity to the 0(1)F sample. The risk of cross-reactivity between cow and goat milk proteins suggests the need for caution before using goat milk for infant formulas. However, we hypothesize that it can be used successfully in the preparation of modified formulas for selected groups of allergic patients. The importance of taking the individual goat CN genetic variation into account in further experimental studies is evident from the results of the present work.

Respiratory allergy induced by exclusive polysensitization to serum albumins of furry animals.

In this report we describe un unusual case of exclusive allergic sensitization to furry animals, as a possible study model to speculate about different modalities ofsensitization to allergens of common and less common mammalian species. A 27-year-old woman referred in our Allergological Centre for the occurrence of conjunctival and severe respiratory symptoms after contact with several animals such as cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, cows etc. Patient underwent clinical and anamnestic evaluation including a detailed information on the modality of exposure to different furry animals. Skin-prick-test (SPT) was performed with our routine panel of commercial standardized extracts (Lofarma Laboratories, Milan, Italy). Some animal allergenic extracts (rabbit, horse, rat, mouse, cavia, cow and hamster) have been tested by SPT one week after the routine SPT A blood sample was taken for measurement of total IgE and specific IgE (CAP System, Phadia, Uppsala, Sweden) as well as Immunoblotting procedures. The results of in vivo and in vitro procedures revealed allergic sensitization only to animal-derived allergens. Total IgE were 59.3 kU/L. Immunoblotting showed a specific IgE-mediated sensitization of the patient to cow's, rabbit's and horse's serum albumins (SA). In conclusion, our case report confirms the role of SA as cross-reacting agent in allergic sensitization to furry animals. This finding suggests to perform SPTs to several furry animal allergens in all individuals with high level of allergic sensitization to common pets (cats and/or dogs) in order to identify allergy to other animals and consequently to avoid future exposures at risk.

Predicting the outcome of oral food challenges with hen's egg through skin test end-point titration.

BACKGROUND: Oral food challenge (OFC) is the diagnostic 'gold standard' of food allergies but it is laborious and time consuming. Attempts to predict a positive OFC through specific IgE assays or conventional skin tests so far gave suboptimal results. OBJECTIVE: To test whether skin test with titration curves predict with enough confidence the outcome of an oral food challenge. METHODS: Children (n=47; mean age 6.2 +/- 4.2 years) with suspected and diagnosed allergic reactions to hen's egg (HE) were examined through clinical history, physical examination, oral food challenge, conventional and end-point titrated skin tests with HE white extract and determination of serum specific IgE against HE white. Predictive decision points for a positive outcome of food challenges were calculated through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for HE white using IgE concentration, weal size and end-point titration (EPT). RESULTS: OFC was positive (Sampson's score >or=3) in 20/47 children (42.5%). The area under the ROC curve obtained with the EPT method was significantly bigger than the one obtained by measuring IgE-specific antibodies (0.99 vs. 0.83, P<0.05) and weal size (0.99 vs. 0.88, P<0.05). The extract's dilution that successfully discriminated a positive from a negative OFC (sensitivity 95%, specificity 100%) was 1 : 256, corresponding to a concentration of 5.9 microg/mL of ovotransferrin, 22.2 microg/mL of ovalbumin, and 1.4 microg/mL of lysozyme. CONCLUSION: EPT is a promising approach to optimize the use of skin prick tests and to predict the outcome of OFC with HE in children. Further studies are needed to test whether this encouraging finding can be extended to other populations and food allergens.

Assessment of the tolerance to lupine-enriched pasta in peanut-allergic children.

BACKGROUND: Reports of allergy to lupine derivatives (as de novo sensitization or cross-reactivity in subjects allergic to peanut) are increasing as their use in food products increases. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess: (1) lupine tolerance in a group of children allergic to peanut, using lupine enriched-pasta instead of raw flour as has been done in previous clinical studies; (2) whether technological treatments of lupine modify its cross-reactivity or co-sensitization with peanut; (3) the role of lupine seed proteins in sensitization, and (4) to identify the eliciting doses (EDs) by using double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenges (DBPCFC). METHODS: Twelve patients with a history of clinical allergic reactions to peanut were evaluated by skin prick tests (SPTs), the ImmunoCAP test, immunoblotting, and DBPCFC. The 12 selected subjects were included in a trial where lupine-enriched pasta and placebo pasta were administered in a DBPCFC protocol. RESULTS: Positive clinical reactions were observed in two children, the EDs being 0.2 and 6.4 g of pasta, corresponding to 50 mg and 1.6 g of lupine proteins, respectively. Beta-conglutin was the protein most involved in SPT positivity. CONCLUSION: Lupine-enriched pasta can be tolerated by most subjects suffering from peanut allergy, but a sizeable minority (2/12 of them in this case) can develop potentially dangerous clinical reactions. Information about possible reactions to lupine derivatives by those allergic to peanuts must be included in the labelling of lupine-enriched products to protect consumers at risk.