Different thermal processing effects on peanut allergenicity

Peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies worldwide. Studies have shown that the incidence of peanut allergies in Western-born Asians is higher than that in Asia-born Asians. Notably, Europeans and Americans mostly eat roasted peanuts, whereas Asians mostly eat boiled or fried peanuts.

BALB/c mice were sensitized using purified protein from raw, roasted or boiled peanuts, then fed the same by oral gavage. The relevant allergic reactions were studied using BALB/c mice model, including a rat basophilic leukemia (RBL) cell model, simulated gastric fluid experiments, and ultraviolet (UV) and circular dichroism (CD) spectral analysis. Serological studies showed increased levels of immunoglobulin E, interleukin-4 and interleukin-5, and pathological studies showed mast cell degranulation and inflammatory changes in jejunal tissues, with an increase in thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) gene expression in all treatment groups compared with the control group (phosphate-buffered saline). Compared with the raw peanut group, sera from the roasted peanut group produced a significant increase in RBL β-hexosaminidase A release in vitro, and roasted peanuts showed increased resistance to digestion in simulated gastric fluid experiments. Ultraviolet and CD spectral analyses showed that the roasting and boiling processes altered the structure of the major peanut allergens, which may have contributed to the differences observed in peanut allergenicity.

Our findings indicate that peanut allergies are related to peanut thermal processing methods. In our mouse model, the raw, roasted and boiled peanuts elicited different degrees of allergic response. Compared with raw peanut, roasted peanuts show a higher allergenicity, whereas the boiled peanuts show a lower allergenicity. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.