Alpha-gal Syndrome

Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) (also called alpha-gal allergy, red meat allergy, or tick bite meat allergy) is a serious, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. It is a reaction to the carbohydrate galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose ("alpha-gal"), whereby the body is overloaded with immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies on contact with the carbohydrate.

Most patients that become allergic to alpha-gal have tolerated red meat for years before being sensitized by a tick bite. In the United States, the condition usually begins with the bite of the Lone Star tick. The bite transfers a sugar molecule called alpha-gal into the body. In some people, this triggers a reaction from the body's defenses, also called the immune system.

Alpha-gal patients often to have digestive symptoms, such as rash, hives, nausea or vomiting, difficulty breathing, drop in blood pressure, dizziness or faintness and severe stomach pain. Unlike most food allergies, these symptoms typically occur 3-6 hours after eating red meat or dairy products.

Most food allergies are directed against a protein molecule, but alpha-gal is unusual because it is a carbohydrate, and a delay in its absorption may explain the delay in symptoms.

Foods or food ingredients may contain alpha-gal:

*Mammalian meat (such as beef, pork, lamb, venison, rabbit, etc.) can contain high amounts of alpha-gal. Certain cuts of meat may contain more alpha-gal than others.

*Food products that contain milk and milk products typically contain alpha-gal. Many patients with AGS can tolerate milk products. Cow’s milk is the only alpha-gal containing ingredient classified as a major food allergen.

*Other foods that cause allergic reactions in people are egg, fish, wheat, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, and soybeans.
Alpha-gal Syndrome

Foods associated with Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacteriosis is the leading cause of diarrhoea in the developed world, who the number of cases exceeding those salmonellosis and shigellosis. Campylobacter jejune is a harmless inhabitant of the gastrointestinal tract of a variety of wild and domestic animals. Studies have revealed that as many as 30-100% of poultry 40-60% of cattle, and 60-80% of swine carry the organism in there intestinal tracts.

For this reason, the organisms principally associated with foods of animal origin. A comprehension survey of US retail fresh red meat and poultry 4-5% of pork, 3.5%of beef and 8 % of lamb contained C. jejuni and/or C.coli.

C. jejune frequently contaminates raw chicken. Surveys show that 20 to 100% of retail chickens are contaminated. This is not overly surprising since many healthy chickens carry these bacteria in there intestinal tract.

Raw milk is also source of infections. The bacterial are often carried by healthy cattle and by flies on farms. Non-chlorinated water may also be a source of infections. However, properly cooking chicken, pasteurising milk, and chlorinating drinking water will kill the bacteria.
Foods associated with Campylobacter jejuni