[Allergenicity of lupin flour]

Abstract

Lupin flour is used in human food for its high quality nutritional and functional qualities. The frequency of crossed allergy between lupin flour and peanuts, both members of the family of Leguminosae, is strong, since 68% of patients who are allergic to peanut have shown positive reactions to lupin flour when tested by TPO-DA. Cases of isolated allergy to lupin flour without pre-existence of peanut allergy as well as workplace asthma by inhalation are also rarely seen. The specific allergens of lupin and those that participate in crosses with peanut have been studied by SDS-PAGE and immunoblot. The diversity of allergens contained in different lupin flour has also been studied. Further, the detection of lupin flour in a "pizza" flour which induced a strong allergic reaction exposed its eventual implication as a masked allergen.