The Antoni Caparrós Award recognizes the development of a new product for the complementary treatment of histamine intolerance
The University of Barcelona has awarded the Antoni Caparrós Award to Dra. Carmen Vidal Carou, professor of Nutrition and Bromatology at the UB and head of the Food Amines and Polyamines Bioactive Research Group, for having developed an innovative plant-based product for the complementary treatment of histamine intolerance, a disorder that it is estimated that it affects around 1% of the population in all parts of the world. The prize is awarded by the Social Council of the UB and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation.
Intolerance to histamine – a molecule found naturally in the body – is a pathology caused above all by a deficit in the activity of diamino oxidase (DAO), an enzyme responsible for degrading histamine in the intestines . If this process does not work correctly, a wide range of symptoms develop which can be gastrointestinal or constipation, tachycardia, rhinitis or skin redness.
The main strategy to avoid the appearance of these symptoms is to follow a diet low in histamine, but for years an exogenous DAO enzyme has also been used as a complementary treatment to enhance the intestinal capacity to degrade histamine. In the award-winning project, UB researchers have developed a new ingredient derived from legume sprouts – specifically, freeze-dried pea sprouts – capable of degrading histamine. This product is as effective or more effective than the treatment based on the protein extract of porcine kidney that is currently used.
A more efficient and sustainable alternative
The new product makes it possible to offer a plant-based alternative for people with histamine intolerance, which expands the dietary options available, especially for vegetarians, vegans or people with religious restrictions regarding the consumption of food derived from pork.
In addition, obtaining this vegetable enzyme is more sustainable and productively efficient compared to that of the enzyme from pig kidney, which contributes to the reduction of costs and environmental sustainability of the new product.
A product already on the market
The technology has already been transferred to the company DR Healthcare España, SLU (subsidiary company of the multinational AB Foods Ingredients), which has marketed it as a food supplement. Despite this success, the impact of the project does not end here, since the company is studying the possibility of installing a new R+D+i plant in the Campus de la Alimentación de Torribera of the UB, specifically focused on this active ingredient . This will generate new jobs and encourage not only the development of new scientific-technological projects, but also local economic growth.
For now, and through a collaborative project with the company, the researchers are validating the clinical efficacy of this ingredient through a prospective, unicentric, double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled intervention study, carried out in collaboration with a research group of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona led by Dr. Ramon Estruch and Dr. Rosa Casas.