Antigen Made From:
Milk Chocolate [Ingredients: Cocoa butter, Whole milk powder, Chocolate liquor, Emulsifier, Soya lecithin, Natural vanilla flavoring, Cocoa solids: 34% minimum, Milk solids: 20.5% minimum. May contain gluten and nuts.]
Associated With:
- Allergy
- Celiac disease
Known Cross-Reactions:
Tobacco leaves, cigarette smoke condensate, ragweed leaves, ground coffee
Clinical Significance:
The presence of antibodies to Milk Chocolate is an indication of food immune reactivity. The offending food and its known cross-reactive foods should be eliminated from the diet. Dark chocolate, in moderation, has many health benefits. It is filled with antioxidants, improves endothelial function, improves gut microbiota, exhibits chemopreventive effects, and activates Factor XII. Pure cacao, dark chocolate and milk chocolate are known to elicit adverse reactions in the form of IgE allergy and delayed intolerance.
Note: Array 4 assesses antibodies to Milk Chocolate antigen, which is shown to be cross-reactive to gliadin, while Dark Chocolate + Cocoa (Array 10) does not cross-react with gliadin.
References:
1. Kim et al. Allergy/intolerance to buckwheat and other food products among Swedish subjects with celiac disease. Advances in
Buckwheat Research, 2004; 704-709.
2. Orhan et al. Prevalence of immunoglobulin E-mediated food allergy in 6-9-year-old urban schoolchildren in the eastern Black Sea
region of Turkey. Clin Exp Allergy, 2009; 39:1027-1035.
3. Becker et al. Tobacco, cocoa, coffee, and ragweed: cross-reacting allergens that activate factor-XII-dependent pathways. Blood,
1981; 58(5):861-867.
4. Weisburger. Chemopreventive effects of cocoa polyphenols on chronic diseases. Exp Biol Med, 2001; 226(10):891-897.
5. Engler et al. Flavonoid-rich dark chocolate improves endothelial function and increases plasma epicatechin concentrations in
healthy adults. J Am Col Nutr, 2004; 23(3):197-204.
6. Martin et al. Metabolic effects of dark chocolate consumption on energy, gut microbiota, and stress-related metabolism in
free-living subjects. J Proteome Res, 2009; 8:5568-5579.
7. Vojdani and Tarash. Cross-reaction between gliadin and different food and tissue antigens, Food Nutri Sci, 2013; 4:20-32.
Milk Chocolate
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