Kiwifruit allergy across Europe

Abstract

Kiwifruit has a high nutritive and health value. Commercial plantings of kiwifruit started a few decades ago and in the last 30 years, it has become a widely consumed fruit. Nowadays, it is one of the most common causes of food allergy. Symptoms vary between mild symptoms in the oral cavity to severe anaphylactic reactions. To date, 13 kiwifruit allergens have been identified and are termed as Act d 1 through Act d 13. The use of kiwifruit components improves the diagnostic performance compared to skin prick-test and immunoCAP with kiwifruit extract. Kiwifruit allergen sensitization patterns differ across Europe with patients from Iceland, mainly sensitized to Act d 1 (actinidin), those from western/central and eastern Europe mainly sensitized to the birch pollen-related Act d 8, and patients from southern Europe mainly sensitized to Act d 9 (profilin) and Act d 10 (nsLTP). Act d 1 and having kiwifruit allergy in Iceland are independent risk factors for a severe kiwifruit allergy. Some kiwifruit cultivars (the common gold kiwifruit Hort16A and the more recently introduced green kiwifruit Summer 3373) may be less allergenic than the common green kiwifruit Hayward and may be a safe alternative for (part of) kiwifruit allergic patients. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.