A third had a mild reaction to touch including redness, itching or rash in a small area, but these were not serious, and no medication was needed. One small study showed that when 30 children with serious peanut allergy had contact with peanut butter through touch or smell, none of them experienced anaphylaxis and none reacted to smell. People with peanut and allergy often worry that touching or smelling nuts could cause a serious reaction, but research suggests this is not common. About 1 in 50 children and 1 in 200 adults in the UK have a nut allergy. Peanut and tree nut allergies are common – they are the most commonly known foods to cause anaphylaxis. For example, it’s quite common for people with cashew nut allergy to be allergic to pistachios, and for people with walnut allergy to be allergic to pecans. Many people who are allergic to tree nuts are only allergic to one type of tree nut, but some are allergic to more. As the plant families are different, many people only react to peanuts but not to any tree nuts, and vice versa. Tree nuts are in different plant families and include almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashew nuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios and macadamia nuts. The peanut is a legume and is in the same plant family as peas, beans and lentils. It is the release of these chemicals that causes the allergic symptoms When this happens, the body releases chemicals, such as histamine, in response to exposure to the food. Food allergy occurs when the body’s immune system wrongly identifies a food as a threat. Mitchell JC, Rook A, 1979, Botanical Dermatology, Plants and Plant products injurious to the skin, Greengrass, Vancouver.Peanut and tree nut allergies are types of food allergy.Lovell CR.1993, Plants and the Skin, Blackwell, Oxford.Marks JG Jr, DeMelfi T, McCarthy MA, Witte EJ, Castagnoli N, Epstein WL, Aber RC.Allergy to pistachio: crossreactivity between pistachio nut and other Anacardiaceae. Fernandez C, Fiandor A, Martinez-Garate A, Martinez Quesada J.Contact dermatitis among cashew nut workers. Diogenes MJ, de Morais SM, Carvalho FF.Cohort study of peanut and tree nut sensitisation by age of 4 years. Tariq SM, Stevens M, Matthews S, Ridout S, Twiselton R, Hide DW.Systemic contact dermatitis to raw cashew nuts in a pesto sauce. J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 2000 May-Jun 10(3):173–7. Allergy to Anacardiaceae: description of cashew and pistachio nut allergens. Garcia F, Moneo I, Fernandez B, Garcia-Menaya JM, Blanco J, Juste S, Gonzalo.These cross react to other members of the Anarcardaciae family including poison ivy, Toxicodendron succedaneum (Rhus tree) and mango. Fortunately allergy to cashew nut appears to be much less common than to other tree nuts. This appears to cross react with pistachio nuts. This potentially life-threatening condition is due to an allergic reaction to a very small molecular weight component of the kernel itself. This is quite different to the IgE-mediated immediate anaphylaxis to cashew nut. Most reactions appear to have only been dermatitis (although most needed treatment with high doses of oral steroids). There are a number of reports of allergic contact dermatitis following ingestion of cashew nut butter, a cashew nut pesto, and cashew nuts contaminated with cashew nut shell oil. Problem arise when children play with the raw shells, if improperly shelled cashew nuts are sold, or roasting is incomplete. Roasting the shell of the nut liberates irritating vapours, but if roasting is complete, all the allergens should be inactivated. There are two problems with cashew nuts, allergy to cashew nut shell oil and allergy to the nut itself. The cashew shell nut contains a brown oily juice, full of very potent allergens including cardanol, cardol and anacardic acid. Modified cashew shell nut oil has a number of industrial uses including an ingredient in ink, as an adhesive and in the manufacture of resin.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |