Creating hypo‐/nonallergenic wheat products using processing methods: Fact or fiction?

Abstract

Wheat allergy is a potentiallylife-threatening disease that affects millions of people around the world. Food processing has been shown to influence the allergenicity of wheat and other major foods. However, a comprehensive review evaluating whether or not food processing can be used to develop hypo-/nonallergenic wheat products is unavailable. There were three objectives for this study: (1) to critically evaluate the evidence on the effect of fermentation, thermal processing, and enzyme or acid hydrolysis on wheat allergenicity so as to identify the potential for and challenges of using these methods to produce hypo-/nonallergenic wheat products; (2) to identify the molecular effects of food processing needed to create such products; and (3) to map the concept questions for future research and development to produce hypo-/nonallergenic wheat products. We performed literature research using PubMed and Google Scholar databases with various combinations of keywords to generate the data to accomplish these objectives. We found that: (1) food processing significantly modulates wheat allergenicity; while some methods can reduce or even abolish the allergenicity, others can create mega allergens; and (2) fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis hold the most potential to create novel hypo-/nonallergenic wheat products; however, preclinical validation and human clinical trials are currently lacking. We also identify five specific research concepts to advance the research to enable the creation of hypo-/nonallergenic wheat products for application in food, medical, and cosmetic industries.

A Mouse-Based Method to Monitor Wheat Allergens in Novel Wheat Lines and Varieties Created by Crossbreeding: Proof-of-Concept Using Durum and A. tauschii Wheats

“…The second phase of development of a wheat allergy is characterized by disease elicitation upon re-exposure to wheat allergens. Re-exposure to wheat allergens in sensitized individuals results in the binding of allergens to the IgE now present on the mast cells and basophils that trigger release of histamine and other mediators causing disease symptoms including life-threatening anaphylaxis [ 11 , 22 , 26 , 28 ]. Therefore, it is possible to identify wheat allergens that cause allergic reactions based on their ability to bind to IgE antibodies obtained from wheat-allergic humans and animal models such as mice.…”

“…Commonly consumed wheats can be classified into three distinct genotypes, namely, AA, AABB, and AABBDD [ 21 , 28 ]. The ancient A. tauschii wheat of the DD genotype is not commercially available.…”

“…The ancient A. tauschii wheat of the DD genotype is not commercially available. The commonly consumed wheats produce wheat products meant for human and animal usage [ 28 ]. Using conventional cross-hybridization, and back-crossing, wheat breeders have produced thousands of wheat varieties and wheat lines primarily to enhance agronomical phenotypes and for enhancing profitability [ 33 , 34 ].…”

“…Currently, methods used to identify potential wheat allergens include using IgE from human allergic subjects and using database approaches by sequence comparisons. Use of appropriate animal models for pre-clinical assessment of novel foods has been suggested [ 28 ]. However, a fully validated animal model is not yet available although efforts are underway in that direction.…”

“…There are many animal models of wheat allergenicity including dogs, rats, and mice that have been valuable for studying mechanisms of wheat allergenicity [ 22 , 28 , 40 ]. Among these models, mice are most widely studied because of their short generation time, availability of gene knockout mice and reagents, and for economic reasons [ 41 ].…”