Monday, 28 June 2010 17:04

Consumption of apples has been linked to reduced incidence of atopic dermatitis and respiratory allergy. To further investigate these findings, scientists from the Allergy Group in the department of nutrition and health at the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland have recently use a mouse model to evaluate the efficacy and mechanisms of a polyphenol-enriched apple extract in reducing symptoms of food allergy. Consumption of the apple extract was found to reduce symptoms of food allergy upon challenge.

The study authors proposed that two distinct mechanisms may be occurring to cause the observed attenuation of food allergy symptoms after consumption of the apple extract.  The apple polyphenols could be reducing the release of an allergic mediator by cells called effector cells, which are white blood cells activated by the presence of an allergen. Alternatively, the apple polyphenols may reduce allergenicity by binding directly to the allergen. 

Further studies have been initiated to determine whether these mechanistic findings also apply to humans.

Reference: Zuercher et al.  2010. Clinical & Experimental Allergy,  Vol 40 (6) pp. 942-950. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2010.03460.x