The rates of sensitization and allergy to four birch pollen related plant foods were investigated in a group of 167 patients who were sensitive to at least one kind of pollen and one particular food. Sensitivity was concluded from a positive skin prick test or the determination of specific IgE, whereas allergy was based on anamnestic data. The positivity rates for sensitization and allergy, respectively, were: apple, 93 and 84%; hazelnut, 90 and 78%; celery, 70 and 14%; carrot, 60 and 37%. Comparative testing by skin prick test and enzyme allergosorbent test (EAST) with extract from native and microwaved (750 W, 30 min, 100^oC) celery root was performed on 46 of these patients. At least one positive test result (either prick test or EAST) was obtained for native celery in 36/46 (78%) and for heated celery in 20/46 (43%) of these patients. Although the concordance between the EAST and the skin test was very low, extended control experiments of both test procedures revealed no evidence for nonspecificity. Immunoblot analyses of extract from native celery and sera of 60 patients with a positive EAST (class ≥ 2, ≥ 0.7 U/ml) for celery resulted in the following rates of IgE binding to known cross-reactive celery allergens: Api g 1:33%, celery profilin: 17%; multiple bands most probably due to carbohydrate epitopes: 32%. The rate of binding to other allergens was below 10%. Since these three important structures are also present in birch pollen, no allergen could be identified as a candidate to mediate an exclusive celery/mugwort association. Investigation of extract from native and heated celery by immunoblotting pointed to a high lability of Api g 1, whereas profilin and carbohydrate epitopes appeared to be more resistant to heat. It has been concluded that sensitization to celery in German patients is without clinical significance in the majority of cases, in contrast to other birch-pollen-related plant foods such as apple and hazelnut. For the particular kind of extract used, neither the EAST nor the skin test alone represents an appropriate diagnostic method for testing sensitization to celery.

Celery roots were processed by microwave heating, cooking, drying, γ‐irradiation, ultra high pressure treatment and high voltage impulse treatment. The immunochemical stabilities of the three known allergenic structures of celery were tested with sera from patients who were sensitised to celery. In addition, rabbit antisera were used to detect the allergens profilin and Api g 1 on celery immunoblots. The specificity and reactivity of IgE from the patients' sera were investigated by immunoblotting, by an enzyme allergosorbent test (EAST) and by dose‐related IgE inhibition experiments. The results of all three methods agreed closely and indicated high antigenic and allergenic activity in native celery which was reduced by thermal processing. The heat‐stability of the known celery allergens decreased in the following order: carbohydrate epitopes> profilin>Api g 1. In contrast, the allergenicity was only mildly reduced by non‐thermal processing. The results obtained with human IgE were confirmed by an in vitro mediator‐release assay that is based on rat basophil leukemia cells (RBL cells) which were passively sensitised with celery‐specific murine IgE. With sera from mice that had been immunised with native celery, the native sample and non‐thermal celery preparations elicited the strongest mediator release, whereas a weak response was obtained with samples from heat‐processed celery. These results agreed closely with the data obtained in allergic patients whose IgE antibodies were directed against the major protein allergen Api g 1. Our results may be helpful in risk assessment and in selecting food preparations which can be consumed without symptoms by a subgroup of celery‐allergic patients with a known sensitisation pattern. ©1997 SCI

This article describes the conception and structure of the German Food Code and Nutrient Data Base (BLS). The data bank contains approx. 12,000 coded foods, menus and menu components in different stages of processing with up to 158 nutritional data for each product. Since comparatively few analytical data on the composition of foods are available, the majority of the data in the BLS are based on nutritional data calculated from recipes. Thus, a standard instrument for an uninterrupted (no missing values) evaluation of consumption surveys is made available.

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