Discarded cross‐allergy between miracle berry (Synsepalum dulcificum) and peanut

Abstract

SummaryPeanut allergies are one of the food allergies with the highest prevalence and mortality due to anaphylaxis, drastically reducing the quality of life of people who suffer from it. In the case of Novel Foods, such as the miracle berry from Synsepalum dulcificum, there is insufficient evidence regarding their allergenic potential. An exhaustive analysis was carried out to study potential cross‐allergy effects between miracle berries and peanuts. First, both an in silico allergenicity prediction model based on sequence homology and an in silico structure homology test were designed to evaluate miraculin cross‐reactivity against Ara h allergens. Second, an in vitro ELISA assay using blood sera from peanut‐allergic patients was executed to discard the possibility of cross‐reaction with total protein content from the berry. The obtained results ruled out the presence of cross‐allergy, leading to the conclusion that consumption of this berry presents no risk for patients with this allergy.