Another Reason to Avoid Diluted BSO...Sesame Allergies on the Rise in the US!

Here’s another reason to avoid cheap black seed oils diluted with additives like sesame and mustard oils….This is a very serious matter, as severe allergies can be FATAL....

According to this article on webmd.com, “Sesame allergies have probably increased more than any other type of food allergy over the past 10 to 20 years,” says Robert Wood, MD, director of the division of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

“They’re now clearly one of the six or seven most common food allergens in the U.S.,” he tells WebMD…

To find out more about sesame allergy, Alexis and colleagues mined the medical records of patients with a food allergy seen at their clinic between 2005 and 2008. They identified 17 patients with sesame allergy, ranging in age from 8 months to 44 years.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Asthma and Immunology.

Their most common symptom was hives, in 41% of patients, followed by eczema in 29%. Twenty-three percent developed a dangerous swelling of the face and of the throat that blocks airways, referred to as angioedema. Stomach upset and wheezing or other breathing problems were also common, affecting 23% and 12% of patients, respectively.

All but one patient had a strong family history of allergies. And 70% of the patients were also allergic to tree nuts, while 65% were allergic to peanuts.

In a separate study, Boston researchers found that kids who have had allergic reactions to tree nuts are nearly three times more likely to have allergic reactions to sesame seeds. The relationship between peanut and sesame allergies was less clear, says researcher Lisa Stutius, MD, of Children’s Hospital Boston.

The findings suggest that tree nut-allergic children with unexplained hives, eczema, or other allergy symptoms might want to visit their allergist to determine if they’re allergic to sesame as well, the doctors say.

But a third study showed that standard skin and blood testing for food allergies “doesn’t predict whether a child has true sesame allergy,” says Permaul Perdita, MD, also of Children’s Hospital Boston.

“The only way to really tell is to give them sesame seeds and see if they have a reaction,” she says.

Such testing needs to be performed under medical supervision because there is a chance that the patient could have a potentially life-threatening anaphylactic reaction, Perdita tells WebMD. “What we really need is a better blood or skin test.”

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/news/20090316/sesame-allergies-on-the-rise-in-us