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Yes, we can be allergic to beer

While the list of problems associated with alcohol is already long, there is one that leaves many people skeptical: a beer allergy that many consumers claim to have developed. Researchers confirm that certain ingredients used in the manufacture of beer may be involved.

From the outset, however, it would be a rare allergy: in the United States, 2% to 3% of adults would be affected, according to Healthline, a health information site, which cites a dozen scientific sources on the subject.

This is also what a team of German dermatologists and allergists concluded, among others. who, since 2004, wrote that malt, used in the manufacture of beer, was one of the allergenic ingredients. In fact, industrial malting normally involves grains such as barley, wheat, rye or sorghum, and is part of the alcohol fermentation process. The same researchers were the first to conclude that there was an allergy associated with beer made from wheat grains.

Remember that cereals are at the heart of the beer-making process: they form a wort whose complex sugars ferment into an alcoholic drink.

Suspicion of an allergy factor had also been raised in barley, which causes severe hives, according to research published in 2001 by a Spanish team in biotechnology and allergy. From skin tests, the researchers identified two barley proteins as allergens, involved in the manufacture of beer. Clinical work dating back to 2001 also pointed in the direction of lipid transfer proteins, present in many fruits, vegetables and grains.

In vivo and in vitro tests carried out in 2004 have for their part pointed to barley and hops, which would act in parallel with a hypersensitivity to wheat. A 2016 research reinforces the suspicions around barley fermentation for some beers.

Besides grains, other risks ?

In 2018, the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES), in France, report an “observation of IgE-dependent allergy to yeasts present in beer, wine and cider”, citing a study from 2017. ANSES emphasizes, on the other hand, that such observations are rare and often occur in subjects with multiple sensitization. UK study from 2017 points in this direction, but including other food products that contain the IgE protein, adding that this type of allergy is so rare that it is poorly recognized by medical research.

In the past, some have already blamed sulfites. In information sheet published in 2017, Health Canada indicated that this food additive, used mainly as an antioxidant, did not cause a real allergic reaction. The ministry still classified sulphites in the category of priority food allergens, such as peanuts, tree nuts, sesame seeds, milk, eggs, etc. However, nowadays, most beers do not contain sulphites.

Symptoms

Allergy to beer could cause hives, rash, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramps, and even anaphylactic shock. Despite these risks, until recently, Canadian brewers did not have to to register on their packaging the presence ofpriority allergens.

Some people might confuse beer allergy with alcohol intolerance. The latter is characterized by the absence in the body of a hepatic enzyme (aldehyde dehydrogenase) which metabolizes acetaldehyde, a toxic by-product of alcohol. This intolerance is also called “Asian blush syndrome”, which affects about half of Asians. These would present a genetic variant that makes this enzyme inactive.

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