A bowl of rice against allergic reactions?

A team of Japanese researchers has found that eating a bowl of rice could prevent the symptoms of hay fever and other allergic reactions.

During the course of study, the researchers genetically modified rice so that it produced molecules found in Japanese cedar pollen - a plant which commonly causes hay fever. According to New Scientist, for four weeks, the rice was fed to a group of mice that were allergic to cedar pollen. When they were subsequently exposed to the pollen, the mice had fewer allergic reactions, produced fewer allergen-specific antibodies, and sneezed less than mice fed on unmodified rice or no rice.

The researchers said that the method could lead to allergy vaccines for humans that are easier and less painful to receive than the current injected treatments. The new vaccine is plant-based and can be stored as seeds at room temperature for long periods, said Fumio Takaiwa at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Japan. The method employs a technique called peptide immunotherapy which only uses specific parts of the allergen protein to produce a vaccine and so carries a smaller risk of anaphylactic shock.

Source: RefillPill.com Editors' Choice