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The potential of orally exposed risk factors and constituents aggravating food allergy: Possible mechanism and target cells
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This review examines how various orally consumed substances, including microplastics, nanoparticles, food additives, and pesticide residues, may worsen food allergies by disrupting the gut's protective lining. Researchers found that these risk factors can damage the intestinal epithelial barrier, allowing allergens to interact more easily with immune cells. The study highlights the need for further research into how everyday environmental and dietary exposures contribute to the rising rates of food allergy.
Food allergy is a significant concern for the health of humans worldwide. In addition to dietary exposure of food allergens, genetic and environmental factors also play an important role in the development of food allergy. However, only the tip of the iceberg of risk factors in food allergy has been identified. The importance of food allergy caused by orally exposed risk factors and constituents, including veterinary drugs, pesticides, processed foods/derivatives, nanoparticles, microplastics, pathogens, toxins, food additives, dietary intake of salt/sugar/total fat, vitamin D, and therapeutic drugs, are highlighted and discussed in this review. Moreover, the epithelial barrier hypothesis, which is closely associated with the occurrence of food allergy, is also introduced. Additionally, several orally exposed risk factors and constituents that have been reported to disrupt the epithelial barrier are elucidated. Finally, the possible mechanisms and key immune cells of orally exposed risk factors and constituents in aggravating food allergy are overviewed. Further work should be conducted to define the specific mechanism by which these risk factors and constituents are driving food allergy, which will be of central importance to the targeted therapy of food allergy.
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