Families With Food Allergies

When my son, Morgan, was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy, our allergist suggested that we keep him away from all tree nuts and shellfish.
She said that many children do have reactions to all of these foods. We waited for another two years after the initial peanut allergy diagnoses before redoing an allergy skin prick test. The second allergy test included a retest for the peanut allergy, along with a test of each tree nut separately. Morgan tested a 4+ on cashews, and had no allergy to pecans. We decided that with the possibility of cross-contamination, we would opt for no nuts in Morgan's diet because it is safest to avoid all kinds of nuts even if your child is allergic to just one. The processing of nuts in foods lends itself to cross-contamination easily and isn't worth the risk.

Yet some allergists will suggest that if your child is not allergic to pecans, for example, that it would be safe to eat these in their raw form only. The chance that one nut could be substituted for another nut in the manufacturing process makes eating nuts in this fashion more risky. Eating a safe nut in its raw state would have less chance of cross contamination. We still aren't willing to assume this risk.

With this in mind, any product that says 'nuts' must be avoided. These would include macadamia nuts to name just one. There are many kinds of nuts, so read labels carefully. Remember pistachios are a nut!

Many people wonder if coconut, nutmeg, water chestnuts and shea nuts are nuts. The coconut is in the palm family, and while it is possible to be allergic to coconut, it doesn't cross react with tree nuts. Our son tolerates coconut without a problem. Nutmeg and water chestnuts are not considered nuts either, and there's no need to stay away from them if you have a nut allergy. The nuts of Shea tree yield a vegetable fat known as shea butter.
The trees grow in Africa and provide income for women in the region who pound the nuts. They would be considered a nut, and we stay away from them.

An almond is actually in the plum family along with apricot, cherry, nectarine, peach, plum and the prune plum, yet it is considered a tree nut by most allergists. It is definitely possible to be allergic to almonds, yet be able to tolerate peaches or the other foods in the botanical family. My son fits into this category.

Additionally, it is important to stay away from all your 'standard' tree nuts.The tree nut includes nuts such as cashews, almonds, pecans and walnuts among others.The pecan is in the walnut botanical family along with the butternut, hickory nut and black and English walnut. The peanut is actually a legume. However, some children do have an allergy to both peanuts and tree nuts. There is a 30 to 60% chance of a child with a peanut allergy to develop a tree nut allergy according to recent research by Scott H. Sicherer, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and a researcher in the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute. Your child will need to be tested in order to determine the exact nature of their allergy.

The only "cure" currently for the tree nut allergy is to stay away from all nuts and nut products. Read labels of all the foods that your child eats, and all foods in your house including pesto sauce, which usually includes pine nuts - be careful of homemade recipes where nuts can be used and yet not recognized in sauces, etc.

The cashew is in the cashew botanical family along with mango and pistachio.Sometimes cashews are used to make butter (cashew butter), oils or pastes. Stay away from all of these. There has been some research to show a relationship between a cashew allergy and a severe reaction to poison ivy. In fact, a teenage friend of ours was told to be mindful of a potential cashew allergy when he went to the ER with a horrible reaction to poison ivy.

Tree nuts can also show up in products that aren't ingested, but used in lotions and shampoos. Read the labels on these products. Contact allergies can cause severe reactions also.

 

 
The Food Allergy Labeling Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) was passed in 2004, requiring labels to be marked such that a 7 year old could read and understand the ingredients, all allergens are declared even if they are in the spices or flavorings, and curtail the current widespread use of the 'may contain statements.' This act went into effect January 1, 2006.
Your allergist should be able to provide you with a complete listing of ingredients that may indicate nut protein. There are always new products being created with newly processed ingredient names. If you don't know the exact nature of the ingredient, don't eat it!