Acta Chimica Slovaca (ACS) publishes papers on fundamental and applied aspects of chemistry, biochemistry, chemical technology, chemical engineering and process control, biotechnology and food technology. Welcome are also topics which include chemical aspects of materials, physical chemistry and chemical physics, analytical chemistry, macromolecular chemistry and biomedical engineering.

Food allergy and intolerance

Monika Petruláková *, Ľubomír Valík

Department of Food Nutrition and Assessment, Institute of Biochemistry, Nutrition and Health Protection, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: * monika.petrulakova@stuba.sk

Abstract: Allergic reactions to foods represent severe actual problems for mankind having increased global character. Adverse food reactions are divided to food allergy, an immunological response to food, and food intolerance, a non-immune reaction with allergy-like symptoms. It is estimated that 6–8 % of children and 1–2 % of adults suffer from food allergy. The prevalence of food intolerance in adults is no more than 5–6 %, however in infants and young children, it is varied from 0.3 % to 20 %. Allergy is caused by different food allergens (milk proteins, cereals, nuts, fruits and vegetables), while there is frequent cross-allergy among them. Food intolerance is adverse reaction resulting from enzyme deficiencies, pharmacological reactions, and response to toxic or irritant components of food. Focusing on dairy products and cereals, the impact of fermentation in reducing food intolerance or allergenicity is reviewed in this paper.

Keywords: food allergy, food intolerance, allergens, lactic acid bacteria, fermentation

Full paper in Portable Document Format: acs_0207.pdf

Acta Chimica Slovaca, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2015, pp. 44—51, DOI: 10.1515/acs-2015-0009