On Wed, 15 Jul 1998 Jennie Brand Miller
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I don't have the expertise to
> comment on the allergy paper but I'm not sure if allergy tests to whole
> insects are appropriate when the proteins are digested to amino acids
> before absorption.  Loren Cordain could comment here but he is out of email
> contact as present.

But allergies to foods develop mostly as antigens to the proteins in
foods.  Allergy tests for people with, for example, eczema, are conducted
on whole foods and seem to successfully identify the foods which are
causing the allergic reaction.  Antigenic reactions need not only be to
proteins, but could arise from peptide fragments, and other complex
molecules including secondary metabolites, which can be absorbed..
However the whole food approach to identifying allergens is likely to give
some false positive results because, as Jenny says, many components of
food will be digested and unavailable to become antigens, and these may
include substances which mimic antigens from other sources.

Andrew

 =========================================================================
 Dr. Andrew Millard                              [log in to unmask]
 Department of Archaeology, University of Durham,   Tel: +44 191 374 4757
 South Road, Durham. DH1 3LE. United Kingdom.       Fax: +44 191 374 3619
                      http://www.dur.ac.uk/~drk0arm/
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