A Determination of the Salicylate Content of Ingredients Commonly Used in Korean foods Suggested for Allergic Patients

Salicylate from plant foods and histamine from animal foods have been suggested to cause various food allergic symptoms. Salicylate regarded as one of the inducing agents f3r chronic urticaria and asthma in allergic patients was studied. There is much interest about the effects of salicylate in food allergy. It it recently suggested that the intake of salicylate from foods may have contributed to chronic urticaria and asthma. The purpose of this study is to analyze the salicylate content in various foods. 153 ingredients commonly used in Korean foods were analyzed by HPLC. Among the vegetables, chard(8.22$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), soybean sprout(5.13$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), perilla lean3.03$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), Chinese cabbage(2.25$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), carrot(2.16$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), and squash(1.33$\mu\textrm{g}$/g) con-rained higher amounts of salicylate as compared to other vegetables. Among fruits, oranges(5.13$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), grapefruits(2.90$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), and plums(1.65$\mu\textrm{g}$/g) contained the most. In animal foods, almost no salicylate was found except in chocolate milk(0.32$\mu\textrm{g}$/g). It was also found in black pepper(8.2$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), coffee(can)(5.00$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), mustard(4.16$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), curry powder(3.24$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), kochujang(2.37$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), cream powder(1.19$\mu\textrm{g}$/g), brown rice(1.04$\mu\textrm{g}$/g) and sesame oil(1.00$\mu\textrm{g}$/g). All information found in this study can be used as nutritional education materials in potentially allergic people for a prudent diet plan and can also provide proper dietary guidelines for these allergic patients. (Korean J Nutrition 31(5) 949-956, 1998)