Nut and Peanut Allergy Information

NUT-FREE DIET

Reaction to nuts can be swift and lethal. They're one of the foods most closely associated with anaphylaxis. In milder cases, nuts can cause skin rashes and gastric distress.

If you're peanut-allergic, you probably know that this harmless-looking snack is responsible for more food fatalities than any other allergen. You also know that peanuts lurk in strange and unexpected places and that reactions can increase in severity.

A 1999 Swedish study found that children and adults with peanut allergies are also susceptible to reactions from soy— which is showing up in small amounts in more and more processed "health" foods.

Chances are you'll never have a life-threatening reaction, but why take the risk?—especially if you've ever had a breath­ing problem or a generalized reaction to peanuts. Wear some form of medical identification and carry an EpiPen (with emer­gency epinephrine) wherever you go.

Peanuts, strictly speaking, are a legume related to beans, black-eyed peas, garbanzos, lentils, peas, and soybeans, and are not a member of the nut family. They're such a potent allergen, however, and so commonly thought to be a nut, they're in­cluded here.

Excluding such obvious sources as almond paste, nut oils, and nut butters, foods that usually contain nuts are:

•     Cakes, cookies, all bakery desserts

•     Candies, granola, high-energy bars

•     Cereals

•     Chinese, Korean, Thai restaurant foods

•     Grain breads

•     Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) in foods from Europe

•     Ice creams, frozen desserts

•     Salad dressings

HINT: Keep your eyes open. The world is full of nuts.