Chestnuts Roasting On A Deadly Food Allergy

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As the Autumn brings with it cooler temperatures and a sense of nostalgia, the season of family get-togethers comes upon us in a flash. But a recent study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology suggests that you may want to steer clear from the familiar party snacks.

"Our results in mice suggest that dry roasted peanuts may be more likely to lead to peanut allergy than raw peanuts" co-author of the study, Dr. Amin Moghaddam says. "The dry roasting causes a chemical modification of peanut proteins that appears to activate the immune system against future exposure to peanuts."

 It turns out that if you've got a food allergy you may want to pass on the roasted nuts at the next get-together. The study conducted at Oxford University proved that the high temperature exposure necessary for the process of dry roasting nuts causes distinct chemical changes that are significantly recognizable by the body's immune system. A problem that they say is "priming" your body to set off an allergic reaction the next time you encounter any nuts.

After purifying identical proteins from dry roasted nuts and raw nuts, the researchers introduced the proteins into mice in three different ways. And what they saw were symptomatic responses characteristic of allergic reactions in varying degrees.

"This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a potential trigger for peanut allergy has been directly shown" lead researcher of the study at the Dunn School of Pathology, Quentin Sattentau says.

While past studies have proven that intensity of heat may alter the quaternary structure of a protein, making it more easily accessible by cells of the immune system, this is the first of its kind to indicate that roasted peanuts may in fact trigger a chronic immunological reponse by activating an entirely new food allergy.

So even though you may have had a medical history clear of any problems, popping some roasted peanuts in your mouth at the next party you attend may have irreversible consequences you're likely to regret!