Food proteins

Food proteins are essential dietary components consisting of amino acid chains that provide the necessary nitrogen and building blocks for human physiological processes. Beyond their nutritional value, specific food proteins can act as antigens that trigger IgE-mediated or non-IgE-mediated immune responses in sensitized individuals, leading to conditions such as food allergy or Celiac disease (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2023). In clinical pharmacology, food proteins are not considered traditional therapeutic targets like receptors or enzymes; instead, they are the exogenous triggers of pathology. However, they are utilized as active pharmaceutical ingredients in oral immunotherapy (OIT) products, such as Palforzia, which aims to desensitize the immune system to specific allergens like peanut proteins (FDA, 2020). Management of food protein-related diseases typically involves avoidance, though emerging therapies focus on modifying the host's immune response to these proteins or using enzymatic degradation to neutralize their allergenic or toxic potential (Burks et al., 2018). Understanding the structural and biochemical properties of these proteins is crucial for developing diagnostic tools and treatments for food-related pathologies.

Other names

Dietary proteinsFood allergensNutritional proteins

Induction of clinical desensitization through oral immunotherapy (OIT) to increase the threshold for allergic reaction (Sampson et al., 2017).