The majority of children and 50% of adults who are allergic to peanuts are allergic to other nuts, like walnuts, cashews or brazil nuts. A significant number of people have multiple allergies and could be allergic to other nuts like hazelnuts, pine nuts and pistachio nuts.
Doctors admit that the ubiquity of these foods in the diet makes avoidance difficult and accidental ingestions, with reactions, common. Many of these foods are also popular with children, making it difficult to prevent contact or ingestion. Good substitutes are available, however, for foods such as peanut butter.
Be sure to avoid foods that contain any of the following ingredients:
- cold pressed, expressed, or expelled peanut oil
- ground nuts
- mixed nuts
- Nu-Nuts® artificial nuts
- peanuts
- peanut butter
- peanut flour
Foods that may indicate the presence of peanut protein include:
- African, Chinese, Thai, and other ethnic dishes
- baked goods
- candy
- cereals
- chili, spaghetti sauce
- chocolate (candy, candy bars)
- crackers
- egg rolls
- hydrolyzed plant protein
- hydrolyzed vegetable protein
- ice creams, frozen yogurts, tofutti
- marzipan
- nougat
Coconut, the seed of a drupaceous fruit, has typically not been restricted in the diets of people with tree nut allergy. However, in October of 2006, the FDA began identifying coconut as a tree nut. The available medical literature contains documentation of a small number of allergic reactions to coconut; most occurred in people who were not allergic to other tree nuts. Ask your doctor if you need to avoid coconut.
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