Active polysaccharides: a new roadmap for the prevention and treatment of food allergy

Abstract

Active polysaccharides are extensively utilized in the fields of food and medicine because of their rich functional properties and structural plasticity. However, there are still few systematic studies and reviews on active polysaccharides for allergy. Allergy, especially food allergy, occurs frequently around the world and is related to a variety of factors such as age, genetics and dietary habits. Currently in medicine, avoiding allergens and desensitizing can effectively relieve allergy symptoms, but these are difficult to maintain over the long term and come with risks. Based on the supplementation of dietary nutrition to these two treatments, it has been discovered in recent years that the use of active ingredients from natural substances can effectively intervene in allergies. Considering the potential of active polysaccharides in this regard, we systematically characterize the latent patterns of polysaccharides in allergic symptoms and pathogenesis, including the aspects of gut, immunomodulatory, oxidative stress and signaling pathways, as well as the application prospect of them in allergy. It can be found that active polysaccharides have excellent anti-allergic potential, especially from the ocean. We believe that the active polysaccharides are associated with the treatment of allergic diseases, which may provide the benefits to allergy sufferers in the future.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Active polysaccharides
• food allergy
• nutritional intervention
• intestinal regulation
• immunomodulatory

Author contributions

Hongge Yu and Tian Yu: Conceptualization, Visualization and Writing - original draft. Xin Li, Ping Tong, Jinyan Gao, Xuanyi Meng, Juanli Yuan, Zhihua Wu, Anshu Yang and Xueling Jin: Writing - review & editing. Yong Wu and Hongbing Chen: Writing - review & editing and Funding acquisition.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

No data was used for the research described in the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 32260631]; the Jiangxi Province Funding Program [No. 20212BAB205034]; and the Central Government Guide Local Special Fund Project for Scientific and Technological Development of Jiangxi Province [No. 20221ZDD02001].