Allspice could also be a tasty ingredient in Jamaican meals, fragrant desserts and fruity cocktails, however researchers at Albert Einstein Faculty of Medication have reported what they imagine to be the primary case of an allspice allergy.
Prudhvi Regula, MD, an allergy and immunology fellow at Albert Einstein Faculty of Medication and Montefiore Medical Middle, and colleagues described the case in a report revealed in Annals of Allergy, Bronchial asthma & Immunology.
“I personally don’t discover allergic reactions to spices shocking. Many spices are carefully associated to pollen and may trigger allergic reactions due to cross-reactivity,” Regula informed Healio.
For instance, sufferers with allergy symptoms to mugwort pollen might develop mugwort-spice syndrome and react to parsley, caraway, fennel and aniseed, Regula mentioned. These reactions often are delicate, he continued, however some sufferers can develop extreme anaphylaxis.
Prudhvi Regula
“Allspice allergy is shocking, as this has not been described within the literature earlier than,” Regula mentioned, including that it might be underrecognized in contrast with many different spice allergy symptoms.
Prognosis could also be missed due to a lack of information about spice allergy and a scarcity of business testing for lots of spices, he continued. Additionally, spices will be hidden meals allergens as producers might not listing particular person components in spice mixes or different ready meals, he mentioned.
The affected person on this case, a lady aged 41 years with power seasonal allergic rhinitis, reported 4 episodes of extreme allergic reactions together with lip swelling, generalized hives, vomiting and problem respiration within the earlier 12 months.
Every incident resolved after self-administration of diphenhydramine. Though she reported power seasonal allergic rhinitis, the affected person had no prior history of known food allergies.
The primary incident adopted dancing and peach schnapps. The second adopted dancing and sangria with peaches. The third adopted a pumpkin spice latte whereas at relaxation. The fourth got here after consuming Thai meals and ingesting mango juice.
Docs carried out pores and skin testing for environmental allergens with constructive outcomes for ragweed, mud mite, weed combine, mugwort and histamine as a constructive management, with detrimental outcomes for regular saline as a detrimental management.
An oral meals problem for contemporary peach was detrimental. However pores and skin prick testing for ginger, nutmeg and allspice, that are components of pumpkin spice latte, produced a constructive response to allspice. Two wholesome volunteers didn’t have any response to related SPT.
After an oral meals problem to a minimal quantity of allspice positioned on the oral mucosa of the affected person’s inside lip, she developed lip angioedema, generalized urticaria, sneezing, ocular pruritus and lacrimation inside 5 minutes. Suppliers handled her with oral diphenhydramine, and signs resolved.
Though the researchers couldn’t get any details about the components concerned within the fourth incident, they mentioned they think that the Thai meals additionally included allspice. The combined drinks she consumed earlier than the primary two incidents generally use allspice as effectively.
“Given our affected person’s constructive environmental pores and skin check to ragweed, mud mites, weed combine and mugwort, it’s attainable {that a} offender protein in allspice is cross-reactive to one of many proteins in weed pollen,” Regula mentioned.
The docs prescribed an epinephrine autoinjector and instructed the affected person in avoiding allspice. Also called Jamaican pepper, allspice is frequent in ketchup, Japanese curry powder, Jamaican jerk seasoning, stews and spiced desserts, amongst different meals.
The dried unripe berries of the tropical evergreen Pimenta dioica are the supply of allspice, and its allergens haven’t been characterised. The researchers famous that additional research are essential to characterize these allergens.
“Ideally, it will likely be very fascinating to search out the precise allergenic protein in allspice that’s answerable for the allergic response and on the identical time see if it cross-reacts with related protein in weed pollen,” Regula mentioned. “This might require advanced immunochemical strategies comparable to Western blot and Western blot inhibition, that are achieved in analysis laboratories.”
Contemplating the potential for extreme allergic reactions, the researchers mentioned this case highlights the significance of checking for hidden allergens in sufferers who current with allergic reactions with none identified trigger.
For extra data:
Prudhvi Regula, MD, will be reached at pregula@montefiore.org.
