Reduction of the allergenicity of cow’s milk α-lactalbumin under heat-treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis in Moroccan population

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of heat-treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis on the allergenicity of cow’s milk α-lactalbumin (α-LA) in a Moroccan population. A total of 557 patients were recruited from the University Hospital Complex and the Ibn El Khatib Hospital of Fez city. This population consented to realize a dosage of IgE levels to raw cow milk and then to α-LA native and treated with the studied treatments. The results revealed that 54.4% of the studied subjects presented positive values of serial IgE to raw cow milk. The effect of treatments on the allergenicity of α-LA showed that heat-treatment at 90°C and pepsin hydrolysis at 37°C, for 1 hour each, caused an important decrease in the IgE binding with an average of reduction of 59% and 74%, respectively.