According to a scientific study, the origin of the proteins in the Netherlands is decisive.
People who eat less meat or do without it altogether and instead consume substitutes made from legumes that are enriched with protein, vitamins and fiber risk diseases, some of which are serious. They can develop allergies, for example if they are sensitive to soy or peanuts, which are often ingredients in meat substitutes, says allergist Mark Smits of Utrecht University Hospital.
Mistakenly a threat
“Substitutes can cause allergic symptoms in patients who are already allergic to legumes, so we investigated the frequency of sensitization and allergy to different legumes in these patients,” says Smith. People develop allergies when their immune systems mistake dietary proteins for a threat and produce immunoglobulin E antibodies. Sensitized individuals may develop allergy symptoms upon repeated exposure to the same food. Patients who react to one food may also react to another. This is called co-allergy.
Smits and colleagues recruited legume-allergic patients from Utrecht University Hospital and matched them with allergies to peanuts, soybeans, green peas, lupins, lentils and beans. Almost all subjects in the bean allergy group also had an allergic reaction to other legumes. Many patients allergic to green peas, lupins or lentils also had problems with other legumes. Patients with diagnosed allergies to peanuts or soybeans, on the other hand, were not affected by other allergy-triggering proteins, the scientists say.
Attractive, but not without
“Pulses are an attractive sustainable source of protein, but allergic reactions in the already legume-allergic population cannot be ruled out, since antibodies in the blood of legume-allergic patients often react to different pulses. However, this reaction does not always result in a clinically relevant food allergy. The launch of novel foods should be accompanied by an appropriate assessment of the risk of developing allergies,” concluded the demand.
