Monday, March 25, 2024
HomeNewsIs Pistachio A Nut Allergy

Is Pistachio A Nut Allergy

Risk Of Being Contaminated By Navel Orangeworm

Cashew OIT for desensitizing cashew-pistachio allergy (NUT CRACKER study)

Pistachios are at risk of being contaminated by Navel Orangeworm , which appears in the pistachio seed or between the seed and shell.

This cream-colored, orange or red worm is about 25 mm long and may damage the nutmeat of pistachios.

Pistachios contaminated by Navel Orangeworm are at a higher risk of being contaminated by Aspergillus Fungi that produce Aflatoxin.

How Do Tree Nuts Differ From Peanuts

Peanuts are actually legumes, not nuts. Theyre in the same plant family as other small beans like soybeans and lima beans. Tree nuts include almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts. An allergy to one tree nut doesnt necessarily mean that the individual is allergic to all types of tree nuts. However, the individual should speak with an allergist before consuming other tree nuts.

Risk Factors Of Tree Nut Allergy

There are quite a few reasons why a person may be more at risk of developing a tree nut allergy.

Exposure to environmental factors like air pollution or chemicals may contribute to the likelihood that you’ll develop a new allergy. Your genes and family history may play a role in tree nut or other allergies.

There also may be links with other medical conditions. One study of 2,215 young adults in Sweden measured participants’ consumption of and sensitivity to tree nuts at ages 12, 16, and 24. It found that 21.2% showed signs of sensitivity to tree nuts overall, with 7.9% experiencing symptoms.

Those who had egg allergies, an eczema skin condition, or asthma at pre-school age were more likely to experience allergic symptoms from tree nuts. By the time they were 24 years old, the presence of a tree nut allergy was associated with both eczema and severe asthma.

Recommended Reading: When Is Allergy Season In New York

What Can You Do If You Have An Allergy To Pistachios

To diagnose a pistachio allergy, you need to ask about symptoms, perform allergy tests, and see whether the symptoms go away when you dont eat tree nuts. If you have a pistachio allergy, there are ways to treat and deal with it. That means not eating them and not coming into contact with them. That may seem obvious, but you should be careful not to consume them by mistake. Even so, if you eat them, you can take appropriate actions to reduce the symptoms.

If you are allergic to pistachios, you should seek medical care immediately. Drink lots of water. That will help to flush the allergen out of your system. Or take an antihistamine to help reduce swelling and itching. In the case of acute symptoms, you have to use an Epinephrine injection.

The best way to determine your allergy is to take allergy tests. If you are allergic to pistachios, you should manage your allergy. Your doctor may prescribe medication to assist in controlling your symptoms and minimize the severity of the reactions.

Tree Nut Allergy Trends

Pistachio Mixed Nuts Dried Fruit Tree Nut Allergy, PNG, 800x800px ...

Tree nut allergies are one of the 8 most common food allergies. When all the different types of tree nut allergies are counted together, tree nut allergies are estimated to affect around 1% of the general population.

According to FARE, the six most common tree nut allergies are allergies to walnut, almond, hazelnut, pecan, cashew and pistachio.

Tree nut allergies are usually lifelong. Most children dont outgrow their tree nut allergy as they get older. FARE reports that only around 9% of children outgrow their tree nut allergy.

Don’t Miss: How To Choose Allergy Medication

Can I Be Allergic To Just One Type Of Tree Nut

Allergy sufferers could be allergic to a single type of tree nut, a small number of nuts that share similar proteins or a wide range of nuts. Unfortunately, many people assume that an allergic reaction to one type of tree nut means all nuts are off-limits, but this is often far from the case.

Nuts play an important role in your dietary intake and are also common ingredients in many recipes. Removing all nuts from your diet is usually unnecessary, but your allergy doctor can offer detailed advice after conducting allergy testing.

Tree Nut Allergy Management

If your child has a tree nut allergy, they’ll need to avoid all foods that contain the tree nut they are allergic to. Eating even a small amount of a tree nut that they are allergic to could cause them to develop an allergic reaction.

Along with peanut allergies, tree nut allergies are one of the food allergy types most likely to cause severe reactions. Since tree nut allergy reactions could become life-threatening, its vital for you and your child to have epinephrine nearby at all times. Epinephrine is the only medicine that can stop anaphylaxis.

Learn more about tree nut allergy from Food Allergy Research & Education :

Since tree nut allergies are one of the 8 major allergens in the United States, food manufacturers must clearly identify if a food contains tree nuts on the label.

A manufacturer must also point out the specific type of tree nutthat a food containson the label. They’re required to do so under federal law.

For example, if a food contains almonds, almonds must be listed as an ingredient. Its not enough for a label to just say contains tree nuts.

Even so, avoiding tree nuts can still get complicated because many foods contain hidden tree nuts—and because every tree nut is different.

Some foods that may contain hidden tree nuts include:

  • Barbecue sauce and other sauces
  • Baked desserts, including cookies, grain breads, macarons and pie crusts
  • Frozen desserts, such as ice cream
  • Other desserts, like pudding
  • Even artificial nuts sometimes contain tree nuts!

Read Also: Why Does Allergy Medicine Make You Sleepy

Get Treatment For A Food Allergy

If you believe you may have a tree nut allergy, it is important to get tested by a professional allergy doctor. We provide allergy testing and treatment services from our food allergy treatment centers in Alpharetta, Atlanta, Canton, Cumming, Duluth and Johns Creek. For assistance, call or request an appointment online.

Image Credit Real Window Creative/Shutterstock.com

Symptoms Of Nut Allergies

Diagnosing nut allergies: Should all tree nuts be avoided?

Each persons immune system is different and peanut, tree nut and seed allergies can cause diverse signs and symptoms, ranging from mild to severe. Many food allergies do not cause severe symptoms, but they can be life threatening in some people and should be taken seriously.Some people have negative or adverse reactions to food that are not caused by allergies. These can be caused by factors such as food poisoning, toxic reactions or food sensitivities . Although these are not allergic reactions, they are often mistaken for allergies. Mild allergic symptoms that can occur before a severe allergic reaction include:

  • raised red bumps on the skin hives
  • swelling of the lips
  • tingling of the throat and mouth
  • itchy skin and rash
  • tightening of the throat
  • digestive symptoms cramps, stomach pain, nausea or vomiting.

If you, or someone in your care, have experienced any of these symptoms after eating peanuts, tree nuts or seeds, the risk of having a severe reaction after eating that food may be greater than usual. Ask your doctor to refer you to a clinical immunology/allergy specialist.

Don’t Miss: Can Allergies Cause A Sinus Infection

What Else Should I Know

To help reduce contact with nut allergens and the possibility of reactions in someone with a peanut or tree nut allergy:

  • If you keep peanuts and nuts in your home, watch for cross-contamination that can happen with utensils and cookware. For example, make sure the knife you use to make peanut butter sandwiches is not used in preparing food for a child with a nut allergy, and that nut breads are not toasted in the same toaster as other breads.
  • Don’t serve cooked foods you didn’t make yourself, or anything with an unknown list of ingredients.
  • Tell everyone who handles the food your child eats, from waiters and waitresses to the cafeteria staff at school, about the allergy. If the manager or owner of a restaurant is uncomfortable about your request for peanut- or nut-free food preparation, don’t eat there.
  • Consider making your child’s school lunches, as well as snacks and treats to take to parties, play dates, sleepovers, school events, and other outings.
  • Work with the childcare supervisor or school principal to make sure the food allergy emergency action plan provided by your allergist is followed correctly.
  • Keep epinephrine accessible at all times not in the glove compartment of your car, but with you. Seconds count during an anaphylaxis episode.

A little preparation and prevention can help make sure that your child’s allergy doesn’t get in the way of a happy, healthy everyday life.

Can You Be Allergic To Pistachios And Not Cashews

Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts are tree nuts. An allergy to one tree nut does not mean an individual is allergic to other tree nuts, but certain tree nuts are closely related, including almonds. Nut allergies can be caused by a variety of factors, such as genetics, diet and environmental factors.

The most common causes of nut allergies are nut consumption and exposure to nuts in the environment. Exposure to nut allergens can occur through the consumption of nuts or through contact with nuts. For example, nuts may be eaten by people who have a peanut allergy, or by those with a nut allergy who are exposed to peanuts in their daily lives.

Read Also: When To Skip Allergy Shot

What Happens With A Tree Nut Or Peanut Allergy

When someone has a nut allergy, the body’s immune system, which normally fights infections, overreacts to proteins in the nut. If the person eats something that contains the nut, the body thinks these proteins are harmful invaders and responds by working very hard to fight off the invader. This causes an allergic reaction.

Even a small amount of peanut or tree nut protein can set off a reaction. But allergic reactions from breathing in small particles of nuts or peanuts are rare. That’s because the food usually needs to be eaten to cause a reaction. Most foods with peanuts in them don’t allow enough of the protein to escape into the air to cause a reaction. And just the smell of foods containing peanuts won’t cause one because the scent doesn’t contain the protein.

Can Pistachios Be Toxic

Are Pistachios Actually Good for You?

Pistachios and pistachios shells are not generally toxic. However, pistachios may develop aflatoxins if they are not properly harvested and stored.

Aflatoxins are carcinogenic and may have a deadly effect on consumption. To stay safe, eat pistachios that are harvested and stored properly.

Avoid pistachios that may have gone rancid and have a bad odor or bad taste.

You May Like: Do You Get A Sore Throat With Allergies

What Is The Most Common Tree Nut Allergy

  • Related Resources – What Is the Most Common Tree Nut Allergy?
  • Tree nut allergies are some of the most common food allergies, affecting nearly 0.5%-1% of people in the U.S. Examples of tree nuts include:

    The most common nut allergies are cashew, walnut, hazelnut and pistachio. In the U.S. the most common nut allergy is cashew, followed by walnut. In the U.K. the most common nut allergy is hazelnut. Even in smaller quantities, cashew and pistachio allergies can cause severe reactions as compared to other tree nuts.

    Surprised that peanuts arent mentioned in the list? True, peanut allergy is more common. But peanuts are legumes, not tree nuts. If you have a peanut allergy, however, its likely that you may have a tree nut allergy as well, since peanuts and tree nuts share some structural proteins. In fact, 25%-40% of people with peanut allergies are allergic to one or more tree nuts.

    Avoiding All Nuts Simply Because You’re Allergic To One Might Be Well Nutty

    The conventional wisdom has been that if youre allergic to one nut, you should assume you’re allergic to them all, even ones youve never tried.

    Thats because routine allergy tests, skin prick or blood tests that check for antibodies to specific foods could be positive for a variety of nuts in people whove had an allergic reaction to only one type.

    But new research suggests that avoiding all nuts is overkill. Most people with a peanut allergy arent allergic to tree nutsalmonds, cashews, walnuts and the likewhile most people who are allergic to a particular tree nut can safely eat others, scientists have found.

    This has been an area where theres been no clarity for a long time, Dr. Matthew Greenhawt, coauthor of a study about nut allergies published online Monday, told me. The dirty secret of allergy tests is that theyre very, very accurate when theyre negative, and theyre very difficult to interpret when theyre positive under certain circumstancesnamely, when the patient has never exhibited any allergy symptoms to the food in question or even ever eaten it.

    Shutterstock

    Oral food challenges are recommended in order to avoid unnecessary avoidance of pistachio nut in cashew nut-allergic patients, the scientists concluded.

    Tree nut allergies are common. They’re thought to affect an estimated 1% of U.S. children, according to Greenhawt and his coauthors. And as with the more common peanut allergy, most children with a tree nut allergy don’t outgrow it.

    Read Also: How Is Latex Allergy Diagnosed

    If My Child Is Allergic To Tree Nuts Do They Also Need To Avoid Seeds

    If your child is allergic to tree nuts, they usually dont need to avoid seeds. Seeds like sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, mustard seeds and poppyseeds are not tree nuts.

    Allergies to these seeds arent considered tree nut allergies. If your child does have an allergy to one of these seeds , that allergy is different from a tree nut allergy.

    Do Pistachios Reduce Belly Fat

    Food Allergy Minute | Tree Nuts

    Pistachios may promote weight loss as they contain dietary fibers and omega fatty acids. These compounds provide stomach satiety and control overeating, a major cause of obesity.

    As per a 2020 study, a daily serving of 1.5 ounces of pistachios helps reduce body mass index and waist circumference in males and females with obesity.

    Read Also: Can Seasonal Allergies Cause Cough

    May Cause Aflatoxin Allergy

    Pistachios are likely to be contaminated by Aflatoxin, a carcinogen produced by Fungus Aspergillus flavus during the growth and storage of pistachios in the moist and warm environment.

    Long-term consumption of pistachios contaminated by aflatoxin may increase the risk of liver cancer and hepatitis B.

    Roasting pistachios may significantly reduce the risk of aflatoxin.

    Can Eating Too Many Pistachios Make You Constipated

    Dietary fibers in pistachios absorb excess water from our intestines and stimulate bowel movement. However, overconsuming pistachios without drinking plenty of water may absorb too much water from the intestines, making it difficult for the stool to pass. This may harden our stool and increase constipation risk.

    Disclaimer

    The information contained in the post is for general purpose only and shouldnt be considered as medical advice or as an alternative to medical advice. Although Ive tried my best to keep the information contained in this post as accurate and updated as possible, I make no guarantee of the accurateness of the same.

    P.S- Consider sharing this post, if you find it useful and/or interesting.

    Don’t Miss: What To Do When You Have Severe Allergies

    Ige Sensitisation Profiles Of Patient Sera

    Fifty-six children with a suspected cashew nut allergy and members of the tree nut family using dot blot immunoassays to evaluate sensitisation profiles. When comparing both types of sIgE binding measurements for the Anacardiaceae species, high correlations between dot blot and IMMULITE sIgE were seen for both cashew nut and pistachio but not for mango . In contrast, no significant correlation was observed between dot blot sIgE and positive SPT results .

    Fig. 2.

    Correlations between dot blot sIgE measurements and clinical sIgE and SPT measurements for cashew, pistachio, and mango in all patients. Clinical sIgE/sSPT data are displayed as relative IgE/SPT on the y axis. Relative dot blot sIgE is displayed on the x axis. The correlation coefficient R, the degree of linear correlation between the two variables X and Y, is indicated for each plot.

    Fig. 3.
    Table 2.

    Characteristics of patients classified into groups IIV according to dot blot

    Based on the results above, we hypothesise that cashew nut allergic individuals might have a high chance of being co-sensitised to other nuts, seeds, or fruits and that differences in sensitisation profiles can be visualised by dot blot immunoassays.

    Which Nut Isnt Really A Nut

    Pistachio Day in 2021

    Pistachios. The desert plant called pistachio is part of the cashew nut family, and as mentioned before, cashews are not tree nuts. The food we think of as a pistachio is actually the seed of the pistachio tree, pictured here.

    Read Also: Is It Allergy Season In Arizona

    Unproven Methods To Test For Allergies

    A number of methods claim to test for allergies but have not been medically or scientifically proven. They can be costly and could lead to dangerous avoidance of certain foods. The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy recommends that you do not use non evidence-based methods to have potential allergies tested. These methods include:

    • cytotoxic food testing

    Always speak with your doctor if you are thinking of using a complementary medicine or therapy for allergies.

    Tree Nuts And Food Labeling Laws

    The Food Allergy Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 was proposed and passed by the United States Congress because of the prominence of food allergies in the United States and the need for consumers to be able to reliably identify foods that they need to avoid.

    It requires manufacturers to label packaged food products containing tree nutsand to note what specific nuts they containwhen they are sold in the U.S. The law also applies to other key food allergens, such as milk, wheat, and soy. FALCPA is enforced by the FDA.

    The law does not require that the labeling language be the same on every product, or that the messaging be placed in a specific location on the label. So, while you may find a prominent “tree nut-free” icon on the front of one product, another may have a simple line of text somewhere under the nutritional facts.

    Although FALCPA also does not require manufacturers to report if a food is made on a production line that also processes tree nuts or products that contain them, many companies do voluntarily.

    Whether the law will be amended to address these things is to be seen. However, it’s possible that manufacturers may not wait given the strong and growing consumer demand for clearer, more consistent food allergen labeling.

    If you or your child have a tree nut allergy, be sure that you know how to read product labels well. You’ll also want to know the symptoms of severe food allergies and how they are treated.

    Don’t Miss: Will Allergy Medicine Help A Sore Throat

    RELATED ARTICLES

    Most Popular