De gusto e Benessere - Cross-reactivity of food and grasses: a tangle of allergies
Food allergies are a growing public health concern. Allergy sufferers (e.g. pollen, birch, grass) often develop reactions to apparently unrelated foods. This phenomenon is known as cross-food reactivity. Cross-reactivity occurs when the immune system recognizes similar proteins in different substances (e.g., pollen and food) for structural similarity and triggers an allergic reaction. In the case of food allergies, the immune system has a reactivity towards dietary proteins that are recognised as foreign when they reach the intestine or cross the intestinal barrier. Food allergy can therefore be seen as an error of our immune system that recognizes as a foreign agent (antigen)[Segue]