An allergy to tree nuts is one of the most common food allergies, according to an article at the Food Allergy Initiative website. Symptoms are usually discovered at about 36 months of age and can be quite serious, including death from anaphylaxis, a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction. If your child is allergic to tree nuts, it's essential that he avoid all exposure to them. Luckily, package labels can help you learn if tree nuts are included in processed foods or, in some cases, if the food is even manufactured in a plant that also manufactures food with tree nuts.
Identification
Tree nuts include the following nuts: almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, filberts, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts. Check labels for nut oils, such as walnut oil, for instance, and substances that contain tree nuts such as marzipan, which is almond paste, and nougat, which can contain several different tree nuts.
Unexpected Sources
Tree nuts are used in many products to add to flavor and texture reports the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. Make sure to ask if the food you're eating has been sauteed in walnut oil, or if it contains real almond extract. FAAN reports unexpected sources of tree nuts include breading for poultry, meat-free burgers, pasta, salad dressing, pie crusts and barbecue sauce. Coconuts may be safe, but check with your allergist before consuming them, as some people with tree nut allergies are also sensitive to coconut.
Reading Labels
The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act requires that any product containing tree nuts be labeled accordingly. Check labels carefully and consistently as sometimes companies can change the way foods are made or manufactured. Many foods in restaurants are not labeled, so you'll need to discuss the menu with the waiter or the chef, asking about the possibility of cross-contamination in addition to food ingredients. If you have a life-threatening tree nut allergy, you may want to avoid ethnic food that is high tree nuts, suggests experts at the Food Allergy Initiative.
Warning
Avoid all tree nuts, if you are allergic to even one, as health care providers report that an allergy to a single tree nut is rare. Additionally, it is rare for a child to outgrow a tree nut allergy -- although 9 percent do, according to the Food Allergy Initiative -- so don't attempt to reexpose your child without the consent of his health care provider.
