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Food allergens
Department
of Reviews and Abstracts Selected Abstracts
Food Allergens.
Vaughan,
W. ‘I’. : Jour. Immunol.
20: 313, 1931.
Sensitization tests are discussed in considerable detail. Attention is then turned t,o those cases where the suspected allergenic food cannot be identified by skin test,. In such instances it seems apparent that elimination diets should be tried. Various diet lists have been proposed by different authors based on the principles of t,he use of t’he less usual foods and foods to which people usually are found to be nonsensitive. Foods to which an individual has been found sensitive by skin test are, of course, omitted. At the same time, the diets must be adequate as maint,enance diets. In the opinion of the author the procedure for the selection of trial diets must be radically altered and should be based more upon a genetic classification of foods in which foodstuf% presumably derived from a common ancestor, or closely related ancestors, are grouped together. By experience,
it was found:
(a) If one is sensit,ive by test to one member of a food group and this member is found on trial t,o be allergenic, other members, of the same group may produce symptoms, even though their skin reactions are negative. (b) One may give a positive reaction to one member of a group which, on trial, is found to produce no symptoms, while other members of the same group, reacting negatively, do produce symptoms when eat.en. (c) One may manifest negative skin reactions to all the individual members of a8 food group but give a positive reaction to the group mixture. In this case, certain individual members, even though reacting negatively, may be responsible for symptoms. In illustration of the trial diet based on genetic classification, the case is given of a patient sensitive to green peas. If he is thus sensitive, it is maintained that he should watch or avoid the various beans, lentil and peanut. To recommend lentil simply because it is a less usual food mould be a faulty procedure. Various other illustrations are given. 293
of Reviews and Abstracts Selected Abstracts
Food Allergens.
Vaughan,
W. ‘I’. : Jour. Immunol.
20: 313, 1931.
Sensitization tests are discussed in considerable detail. Attention is then turned t,o those cases where the suspected allergenic food cannot be identified by skin test,. In such instances it seems apparent that elimination diets should be tried. Various diet lists have been proposed by different authors based on the principles of t,he use of t’he less usual foods and foods to which people usually are found to be nonsensitive. Foods to which an individual has been found sensitive by skin test are, of course, omitted. At the same time, the diets must be adequate as maint,enance diets. In the opinion of the author the procedure for the selection of trial diets must be radically altered and should be based more upon a genetic classification of foods in which foodstuf% presumably derived from a common ancestor, or closely related ancestors, are grouped together. By experience,
it was found:
(a) If one is sensit,ive by test to one member of a food group and this member is found on trial t,o be allergenic, other members, of the same group may produce symptoms, even though their skin reactions are negative. (b) One may give a positive reaction to one member of a group which, on trial, is found to produce no symptoms, while other members of the same group, reacting negatively, do produce symptoms when eat.en. (c) One may manifest negative skin reactions to all the individual members of a8 food group but give a positive reaction to the group mixture. In this case, certain individual members, even though reacting negatively, may be responsible for symptoms. In illustration of the trial diet based on genetic classification, the case is given of a patient sensitive to green peas. If he is thus sensitive, it is maintained that he should watch or avoid the various beans, lentil and peanut. To recommend lentil simply because it is a less usual food mould be a faulty procedure. Various other illustrations are given. 293