Foods causing anaphylaxis in Italy

Monday, 05 October 2009 10:04

A recently published study has aimed to determine which foods are responsible for the majority of anaphylactic reactions in Italy. The study included 1,110 adult patients with food allergy (as diagnosed by common criteria) at 19 allergy centres scattered throughout Italy, from 1 January to 31 December 2007. 

Fifty-eight of 1,110 (5%) food-allergic patients had experienced at least 1 episode of anaphylaxis in their lives. The majority of anaphylactic episodes occurred in 19 patients sensitized to lipid transfer protein (LTP, a protein found in many plants), followed by shrimp (n = 10), tree nuts (n = 9), legumes other than peanut (n = 4), and seeds (n = 2). Single patients had experienced anaphylactic reactions to peanut, spinach, celery, buckwheat, wheat, avocado, tomato, fish and meat.

Among LTP-hypersensitive patients, peach caused thirteen of the nineteen anaphylactic episodes. The frequency of anaphylaxis among patients sensitised to LTP, shrimp or tree nuts did not differ between northern and central/southern Italy.

In conclusion, the authors maintain LTP is the most important allergen causing food-induced anaphylaxis in Italy, peach being the most frequently offending food. Peanut-induced anaphylaxis seems very uncommon.

Reference: Asero et al. 2009. International archives of Allergy and Immunology Vol. 150(3) pp. 271-277.