A little fact for the perpetually contrary and obviously oblivious...
Thank you for your recent inquiry.
Both acorns and chestnuts are a member of the plant family called Fagaceae. This family is different from those of tree nuts (almond, walnut, hickory, pecan, cashew). The substances that produce allergy in acorns and chestnuts are therefore different than those that produce allergy to the other tree nuts. To my knowledge, there is no risk of a patient with nut allergy having a reaction to contact with acorns or with leaves of any sort. I could not find any evidence for such risk on an Internet search.
The only allergy reaction to acorns that I am aware of occurs in areas of the world where they are eaten, and occurs to the ingestion of the acorn. In this instance the allergy is separate from nut allergy.
Should you wish to read about this in a little more detail, there is an excellent and concise summary written by Lynn Christie, M.S.R.D. for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. It is available free of charge online. You can "Google" a search using Ms. Christie's name, or the website is: http://www.schoolhealthservicesny.com/uploads/Acorns%20Pinecones.pdf.
Thank you again for your inquiry and we hope this response is helpful to you.
Thank
Sincerely,
Phil Lieberman, M.D.
And if you're interested in what Lynn Christie MD has to say on it...
"There is no information in the literature that suggests that individuals with a nut allergy should avoid skin contact with acorns. Acorns are the fruit or nut of the oak tree. Like tree nuts that cause allergic reactions in some individuals, acorns have a hard shell or outer coating and the "meat" of the nut is inside.
Fortunately, we do not use acorns as a part of our diets like the Native Americans did over 400 years ago. The meat of the acorn is very bitter and requires intense labor to make it palatable.
When someone is diagnosed with a tree nut allergy, they may be allergic to one or more types of tree nuts. They are usually counseled to avoid all tree nuts: almond, Brazil nut, cashew, chestnut, filbert/hazelnuts, hickory nuts, macadamia nuts, pecan, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts. This is because of the difficulty in determining if one type of nut is substituted for another in a recipe, cross-contact during processing or shipping, and unlikely potential of cross-reactivity. These situations put one at risk of an accidental ingestion.
If one has skin contact with the "meat" of the specific tree nut to which they are allergic, they may experience hives or contact dermatitis.
This is very individualized. There were no scientific papers or case reports of allergic reactions associated with skin exposure to acorns or pinecones. After consulting with my peers, we comfortably recommend that if one has a nut allergy, they should be able to have contact with acorns or pinecones without risk of an allergic reaction."
Lynn Christie, M.S., is a registered dietitian and clinical coordinator for the Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Division at Arkansas Children's Hospital, University of Arkansas Medical Science, Little Rock, AR. She is also a member of FAAN's Program Committee."
There you go, the facts. I like to know the facts before I'm willing to not jump on the 'bandwagon'. I'm kind of funny that way.
Mrs. Giustizia is a nut. How she managed to get to chair her childs school allergy committee, is probably a better question to be asking.
I have a serious issue with people lobbying about things they obviously have limited to no education in. Especially when they use emotion to do so. Playing the 'bullying' card was a nice emotional touch, although not surprising, since her position has no standing in reality.
