A Peanut That Won't Cause an Allergic Reaction: Scientists Remove 80 Percent of Allergens

Peanuts can cause severe allergic reactions in some individuals, but could we be close to creating an allergen-free peanut? Scientists have moved closer to this goal by removing 80 percent of allergens in whole peanuts.

In order for peanuts to be safe to eat, scientists need to eliminate peanut allergens below a certain threshold. In this case, the researchers are aiming to eventually eliminate 99.9 percent of peanut allergens from whole nuts. Yet if scientists can cut the allergens from 150 milligrams of protein per peanut to below 1.5 milligrams, 95 percent of those with peanut allergies would be safe.

About 1.9 million people, or .06 percent of U.S. residents, are allergic to peanuts. Reactions can range from skin rashes to anaphylaxis, which can be fatal. Currently, the best way to stay safe is to avoid eating peanuts if you're allergic. Yet peanuts wind up in a wide range of foods, which makes it difficult for those who have this allergy.

In order to make sure a peanut is mostly allergen-free, the researchers first need to see if the allergic antibody in the serum of peanut allergy patients will still bind with the residual allergy protein from the refined peanut products. Then, the scientists need to see if the refined peanut extract elicits skin-test reactions in peanut allergy patients. Finally, the researchers will need to conduct a double blind, placebo-controlled test to see if patients develop allergy symptoms after eating these peanut products.

In this latest study, the researchers applied pulsed ultraviolet light technology to whole peanuts. Pulsed light can inactivate peanut allergenic proteins, so the scientists wanted to see if the same could be said about whole peanuts. The scientists used a pulsating light system-two lamps filled with xenon, two cooling blowers, one treatment chamber with a conveyor belt and control module-to direct concentrated bursts of light to modify the peanut allergenic proteins. In the end, the researchers found that the pulsing light reduced the allergenic potential of the major peanut proteins Ara h1-h3.

"The latest study moves one step closer to the actual production," said Wade Yang, the lead researcher, in a news release.

The findings are published in the journal Food and Bioprocess Technology.