Genetically Modified Foods and Allergies
Food crops are being genetically modified usually to come up with more robust -and therefore more productive and profitable- varieties or to improve its nutritional content. Take for example my previous post on tomatoes with enhanced flavonol content.
Those who oppose the use of genetically modified crops, however, are concerned that such food may cause food allergic reactions as they are made to produce snippets of “foreign protein” (GeneticsandHealth has several entries discussing the nitty-gritty of genetically modified food here, here, and here).
As I’ve written in the Allergizer, the Michigan State University has received a $447,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to validate a procedure using animal models to test for the allergenic potentials of genetically engineered crops.
Should this test prove successful, this could be a step in increasing the public acceptance of genetically modified foods.
Anyone got any ideas what it could be in raw nuts and potatoes that I could be allergic to? I can eat cooked potatoes fine, no problem. I think I can eat cashews with no problem, maybe peanuts. But everything else makes my throat constrict and hard to swallow.