Non-GMO solution to seafood allergies

Li Zhenxing led the research at the Ocean University of China. The team revealed that treating prawns with a combination of heat and irradiation significantly reduced the level of reactive proteins called allergens. They took blood from patients with shrimp allergies, added samples of treated and untreated prawn, and measured how antibodies in the blood reacted. They found that levels of ‘Pen a 1’, one of the major allergens, decreased 20-fold after treatment (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture DOI 10.1002/jsfa.2746).

Zhenxing’s team suggests that irradiation damages the proteins, revealing hidden reactive amino acid residues. Subsequent heating then destroys the exposed residues. “Radiation and heat seems to be a promising method for reducing the immunoreactivity” say the researchers.

Samuel Lehrer of Tulane University in New Orleans, USA, is already working on removing allergens from prawns using genetic techniques. But Zhenxing’s method could be preferable for people wary of eating genetically modified foods.

Media Contact

SCI Press Office alfa

More Information:

http://www.chemind.org

All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry

Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.

Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors