A recent clinical study shows children with a fish allergy may be able to eat gummy shark, which is commonly sold as flake and often the fish in your fish and chips. It is one of a very few shark species globally that comes from sustainable fisheries.
Dr Thimo Ruethers, who is based at James Cook University's Tropical Future Institute in Singapore and serves as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Townsville, was a co-investigator of the study conducted at Epworth Hospital in Melbourne.
He said fish allergy affects approximately 1% of the general population.
"If you have an allergy, your immune system overreacts by presenting human Immunoglobulin E antibodies on cells that, upon recognising a generally harmless allergen, release chemicals, causing an allergic reaction," said Dr Ruethers.
He said fish allergy is associated with a higher probability of anaphylactic shock than many other food allergies. To the extent even skin contact with fish or accidentally inhaling fish fumes can trigger a life-threatening allergic reaction.
"The prevalence of fish allergy can be as high as 6% among children in countries that frequently consume seafood, and seafood is one of the most common causes of death from food allergy," said co-author Professor Andreas Lopata, Head of the Molecular Allergy Research Laboratory at JCU's College of Science & Engineering.
He said there is currently no effective treatment, with the management of fish allergy relying on the complete avoidance of all fish in the diet of allergic people.
"It's not an ideal situation from a nutrition point of view, and as there had been some indication that meat from cartilaginous fish such as sharks would not trigger an allergic reaction in some cases, we decided to investigate further," said Prof. Lopata.
Gummy shark was fed to 21 children with a median age of five years who had a history of allergy to bony fish.
"We demonstrated that all 21 bony fish allergic children were able to tolerate eating gummy shark, even though 33% had a positive skin prick test result to the shark," said Dr Ruethers.
He said work would now be done to discover the reason for this and map the precise molecular pathways that allowed the children to eat the shark safely. Blood samples are currently being analysed to identify a biomarker for gummy shark tolerance to enable safe dietary suggestions by simply examining a drop of blood.
PAPER
Dawes K, Smart J, Ruethers T, Lopata AL, Alhucema P, Campbell DE, Ainsworth J, Simpson B, Baldwin S, Mahoney G, Baumgratner J. Gummy shark is tolerated by children with IgE-mediated fish allergy. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2025.05.011.
To be presented as a Hot Publication at upcoming Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) conference in Brisbane (2-5 Sep).
Learn more about allergy diagnosis, fish product labelling and management challenges, allergens in fish, canned fish, crocodile meat allergy, safe alternatives to fish, and evaluating food safety in sustainable alternative food sources.
