Read labels of all the foods that your child eats, and all foods in your house. The only “cure” currently for the tree nut allergy is to stay away from all nuts and nut products. Read all labels to ensure no consumption of Tree nuts! While we no longer offer these posters for sale, you can find many others with a Google image search online. Here he is with a group of friends in 5th grade enjoying the “Nut Free Zone” in his school lunch cafeteria. The “No Peanuts & No Nuts” firey man poster was great for his Middle School years. We used posters throughout our son, Morgan’s, elementary school years. We still aren’t willing to assume this risk, and therefore have removed all nuts from our son’s diet. Eating a safe nut in its raw state would have less chance of cross contamination. The chance that one nut could be substituted for another nut in the manufacturing process makes eating nuts in this fashion more risky. 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. To read more about Morgan’s journey with food allergies, please click here. We decided that with the possibility of cross-contamination, we would opt for no nuts in Morgan’s diet. Morgan tested a 4+ on cashews, and had no allergy to pecans. The second allergy test included a retest for the peanut allergy, along with a test of each tree nut separately. We waited for another two years after the initial peanut allergy diagnoses before redoing an allergy skin prick test. She said that many children do have reactions to all of these foods. When my son, Morgan, was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy at 18 months old, our allergist suggested that we keep him away from all tree nuts and shellfish. They would be considered a nut, and we stay away from them. The trees grow in Africa and provide income for women in the region who pound the nuts. The nuts of Shea tree yield a vegetable fat known as shea butter. I have heard of children being allergic to them, so in the allergy world, anything is possible. 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, according to our allergist. Yet coconut has been determined to be a tree nut by the FDA for purposes of labeling – very confusing! Food that includes coconut will likely have a label stating that the product includes Tree Nuts. Our son tolerates coconut without a problem. 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. Many people wonder if coconut, nutmeg, water chestnuts and shea nuts are nuts. The pecan is in the walnut botanical family along with the butternut, hickory nut and black and English walnut. Only an allergy testing interpreted by a Board Certified Allergist can determine all of this however! It’s also possible to be allergic to all of these foods. It is definitely possible to be allergic to almond, yet be able to tolerate peaches or the other foods in the botanical family. In his toddler years, we found out about his allergy to cashews! Coincidence? I don’t know!Īn 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. Interestingly, I had a terrible case of poison ivy when I was pregnant with my son. The cashew is in the cashew botanical family along with mango and pistachio. “Chad” helps children learn about nut allergies and how to recognize an allergic reaction. Your child will need to be tested in order to determine the exact nature of their allergy.Ĭheck out “Chad the Allergic Chipmunk: A Children’s Story of Nut Allergies”, a children’s book that tells a heartwarming story of a young chipmunk learning to live with nut allergies. 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. There is a 30 to 60% chance of a child with a peanut allergy to develop a tree nut allergy according to research by Scott H. However, some children do have an allergy to both peanuts and tree nuts. The tree nut includes nuts such as cashews, almonds, pecans and walnuts among others.
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