Could Global Intensification of Nitrogen Fertilisation Increase Immunogenic Proteins and Favour the Spread of Coeliac Pathology?
Fertilisation of cereal crops with nitrogen (N) has increased in the last five decades. In particular, the fertilisation of wheat crops increased by nearly one order of magnitude from 1961 to 2010, from 9.84 to 93.8 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup> y<sup>−1</sup>. We hypothesized that th...
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Foods |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/11/1602 |
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| author | Josep Penuelas Albert Gargallo-Garriga Ivan A. Janssens Philippe Ciais Michael Obersteiner Karel Klem Otmar Urban Yong-Guan Zhu Jordi Sardans |
| author_facet | Josep Penuelas Albert Gargallo-Garriga Ivan A. Janssens Philippe Ciais Michael Obersteiner Karel Klem Otmar Urban Yong-Guan Zhu Jordi Sardans |
| author_sort | Josep Penuelas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fertilisation of cereal crops with nitrogen (N) has increased in the last five decades. In particular, the fertilisation of wheat crops increased by nearly one order of magnitude from 1961 to 2010, from 9.84 to 93.8 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup> y<sup>−1</sup>. We hypothesized that this intensification of N fertilisation would increase the content of allergenic proteins in wheat which could likely be associated with the increased pathology of coeliac disease in human populations. An increase in the per capita intake of gliadin proteins, the group of gluten proteins principally responsible for the development of coeliac disease, would be the responsible factor. We conducted a global meta-analysis of available reports that supported our hypothesis: wheat plants growing in soils receiving higher doses of N fertilizer have higher total gluten, total gliadin, α/β-gliadin, γ-gliadin and ω-gliadin contents and higher gliadin transcription in their grain. We thereafter calculated the per capita annual average intake of gliadins from wheat and derived foods and found that it increased from 1961 to 2010 from approximately 2.4 to 3.8 kg y<sup>−1</sup> per capita (+1.4 ± 0.18 kg y<sup>−1</sup> per capita, mean ± SE), i.e., increased by 58 ± 7.5%. Finally, we found that this increase was positively correlated with the increase in the rates of coeliac disease in all the available studies with temporal series of coeliac disease. The impacts and damage of over-fertilisation have been observed at an environmental scale (e.g., eutrophication and acid rain), but a potential direct effect of over-fertilisation is thus also possible on human health (coeliac disease). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T15:06:05Z |
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| id | doaj.art-69ca8ef5c01f4b32ad8629392cbc4418 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2304-8158 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T15:06:05Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foods |
| spelling | doaj.art-69ca8ef5c01f4b32ad8629392cbc44182023-11-20T19:44:10ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582020-11-01911160210.3390/foods9111602Could Global Intensification of Nitrogen Fertilisation Increase Immunogenic Proteins and Favour the Spread of Coeliac Pathology?Josep Penuelas0Albert Gargallo-Garriga1Ivan A. Janssens2Philippe Ciais3Michael Obersteiner4Karel Klem5Otmar Urban6Yong-Guan Zhu7Jordi Sardans8CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Catalonia, SpainCSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Catalonia, SpainResearch Group Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, B-2610 Wilrijk, BelgiumLaboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences, Institute Pierre Simon Laplace (PSL), 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceEcosystems Services and Management, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), A-2361 Laxenburg, AustriaGlobal Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-60300 Brno, Czech RepublicGlobal Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-60300 Brno, Czech RepublicKey Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, ChinaCSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Catalonia, SpainFertilisation of cereal crops with nitrogen (N) has increased in the last five decades. In particular, the fertilisation of wheat crops increased by nearly one order of magnitude from 1961 to 2010, from 9.84 to 93.8 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup> y<sup>−1</sup>. We hypothesized that this intensification of N fertilisation would increase the content of allergenic proteins in wheat which could likely be associated with the increased pathology of coeliac disease in human populations. An increase in the per capita intake of gliadin proteins, the group of gluten proteins principally responsible for the development of coeliac disease, would be the responsible factor. We conducted a global meta-analysis of available reports that supported our hypothesis: wheat plants growing in soils receiving higher doses of N fertilizer have higher total gluten, total gliadin, α/β-gliadin, γ-gliadin and ω-gliadin contents and higher gliadin transcription in their grain. We thereafter calculated the per capita annual average intake of gliadins from wheat and derived foods and found that it increased from 1961 to 2010 from approximately 2.4 to 3.8 kg y<sup>−1</sup> per capita (+1.4 ± 0.18 kg y<sup>−1</sup> per capita, mean ± SE), i.e., increased by 58 ± 7.5%. Finally, we found that this increase was positively correlated with the increase in the rates of coeliac disease in all the available studies with temporal series of coeliac disease. The impacts and damage of over-fertilisation have been observed at an environmental scale (e.g., eutrophication and acid rain), but a potential direct effect of over-fertilisation is thus also possible on human health (coeliac disease).https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/11/1602global intensification of N fertilisationwheatallergenic proteinsgluten proteinscoeliac pathology |
| spellingShingle | Josep Penuelas Albert Gargallo-Garriga Ivan A. Janssens Philippe Ciais Michael Obersteiner Karel Klem Otmar Urban Yong-Guan Zhu Jordi Sardans Could Global Intensification of Nitrogen Fertilisation Increase Immunogenic Proteins and Favour the Spread of Coeliac Pathology? Foods global intensification of N fertilisation wheat allergenic proteins gluten proteins coeliac pathology |
| title | Could Global Intensification of Nitrogen Fertilisation Increase Immunogenic Proteins and Favour the Spread of Coeliac Pathology? |
| title_full | Could Global Intensification of Nitrogen Fertilisation Increase Immunogenic Proteins and Favour the Spread of Coeliac Pathology? |
| title_fullStr | Could Global Intensification of Nitrogen Fertilisation Increase Immunogenic Proteins and Favour the Spread of Coeliac Pathology? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Could Global Intensification of Nitrogen Fertilisation Increase Immunogenic Proteins and Favour the Spread of Coeliac Pathology? |
| title_short | Could Global Intensification of Nitrogen Fertilisation Increase Immunogenic Proteins and Favour the Spread of Coeliac Pathology? |
| title_sort | could global intensification of nitrogen fertilisation increase immunogenic proteins and favour the spread of coeliac pathology |
| topic | global intensification of N fertilisation wheat allergenic proteins gluten proteins coeliac pathology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/9/11/1602 |
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