Medscape: Childhood Peanut Allergy Linked With Other Legume Allergies

By Lorraine L. Janeczko

French children with peanut allergy tend to have reactions to other legumes, including soy, lentil, pea, bean, lupin, and fenugreek, and those other allergies often lead to anaphylactic reactions, a retrospective study from France reports.

"Among children allergic to peanut, at least two-thirds were sensitized to one other legume, and legume allergy was diagnosed in one-quarter of the sensitized patients," write senior study author Amandine Divaret-Chauveau, MD, of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nancy in Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, and her colleagues in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

Divaret-Chauveau and her colleagues assessed the prevalence and relevance of sensitization to legumes among all children and adolescents aged 1–17 years who had peanut allergy and had been admitted to one academic pediatric allergy department over roughly 3 years, beginning in early 2017. For the 195 study participants, peanut allergy had been confirmed, and they had been documented to have consumed or to have sensitization to at least one non-peanut legume; 69.7% were boys.

The researchers analyzed data on consumption history, skin prick tests, specific immunoglobulin E status, prior allergic reactions, and oral food challenges for each legume. 

Jodi A. Shroba, MSN, APRN, CPNP, coordinator for the Food Allergy Program at Children's Mercy Kansas City, in Missouri, told Medscape Medical News that few data are available in the literature regarding allergies to legumes other than peanut.

"It was interesting that these authors found such a high legume sensitization in their peanut-allergic patients," Shroba, who was not involved in the study, said by email. "As more people are starting to eat plant-based diets, it is important that we better understand their allergenicity and cross-reactivity so we can better help guide patient management and education."

Read the full article via Medscape

Allergy and Immunology at Children's Mercy

The Children's Mercy Food Allergy Center