Eating meat may be a much more common trigger for anaphylaxis --

[FarCenter]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eating meat may be a much more common trigger for anaphylaxis -- a severe and potentially deadly allergic reaction -- than previously thought, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

Health

A study of 60 patients who had unexplained severe allergic reactions suggests that a compound in meat known as alpha-galactose may be the culprit, according to research presented at a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in New Orleans.

They found immune system proteins called IgE antibodies in 25 out of 60 patients who had unexplained allergic reactions.

"We believe that the presence of IgE antibody to this sugar is wider spread in the human population as a whole than we had initially expected," Dr. Scott Commins of the University of Virginia, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.

"What we're finding is that this traditional notion of allergy to meat being very rare may, in fact, not be true," Commins added.

Alpha-galactose is produced in most mammals but humans and great apes make an antibody to the sugar, Commins said.

"So the problem becomes when people make IgE antibody to this sugar and then they eat meat or dairy products that contain the sugar then they get a delayed reaction," Commins said.

The anaphylaxis may seem to appear out of the blue because the meat or dairy may have been eaten four to six hours earlier, Commins said.

<SNIP>http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61R0MW20100228

[BrklynLiberal]

1. but...but...but..aren't people natural born meat eaters...don't they have to eat

meat to survive??????????

:sarcasm:

[drm604]

7. Some people have allergies to certain fruits, vegetables, and grains.

Should we make sarcastic remarks about people eating vegetables?

[midnight]

2. I hope they can make a test to check for this rare reaction....

[kestrel91316]

3. Why bother? Just ban meat eating.

[FarCenter]

4. You also have to ban dairy products

Add meat and dairy products to the long list of foods that kids can't take to school in their lunches.

[kestrel91316]

5. Yep. Oh well, too bad. Gotta put the allegy-phobic first.

[Lyric]

6. I'm pretty sure alpha-galactose is common in certain vegetables and beans, too.

The active ingredient in Beano is alpha-galactosidase, which is the enzyme that helps you digest cruciferous veggies and beans. Coincidentally, alpha-galactosidase is also the enzyme that specifically fits with (and helps break down) the sugar, alpha-galactose. All enzymes work that way--they are like little keys that can only work with their specific counter--for example, lactase goes with lactose, sucrase with sucrose, etc. Anyway, it seems pretty logical that certain veggies and beans must contain a significant amount of this sugar--otherwise, why would the enzyme to digest said sugar be the main active ingredient in digestion aids like Beano, which are specifically meant for veggies and beans?

And if there's alpha-galactose in veggies and beans as well as meat, why doesn't the article mention it? If this is some newly-identified allergen that we need to be seriously concerned about, then I think the responsible thing to do is to make sure we have information about ALL the potential avenues of exposure.

:shrug:

[valerief]

8. Hmm, I fart when I eat beans. If I take Beano, I don't fart. That must mean I don't

have enough alpha-galactosidase in me--or not enough in my veggies? I know some people don't fart when they eat beans. Does that mean they have enough alpha-galactosidase in their systems or they eat beans with more alpha-galactosidase in them than I do?

:shrug:

[MineralMan]

9. Yah, meat-eaters are just dropping like flies.

You see it all the time in restaurants. People toppling off their chairs, tongues swollen, gasping for breath.

Wait...what?

Everyone stop eating meat right now. You just never know when your next burger will kill you.

Sensationalism sells papers, but is stupid.