People with nut allergies can have reactions if they kiss someone who has recently eaten the offending substance.

For people with allergies, the term "safe sex" often has a broader definition than condoms and sexually transmitted diseases. People who are allergic to peanuts, walnuts or other nut products may also have to ask, "What have you eaten in the last 6 hours?"

In a questionnaire involving people with peanut and tree nut allergies, we found 5% who voluntarily stated that they had had a reaction after kissing someone who had eaten a type of nut to which they were allergic.

These people stated that they had had reactions up to 6 hours after the kisser had eaten the food. In most cases, the kisser was a spouse, although some children said that they had been kissed by a relative, and one grandparent had been kissed by a grandchild who had eaten peanut butter. Some respondents were single people who had had a reaction in a dating situation.

The investigators were struck by the long time delay after eating the food that the allergen was present in the mouth of the kissing partner. Among married couples, the spouse had often taken several precautions, such as brushing teeth and using mouthwash, which proved to be ineffective against preventing a reaction.

Among the 17 respondents who could recall the treatment necessary for the reaction, one child had an anaphylactic reaction and required emergency treatment in the hospital.

This is a mode of exposure that people with nut allergies need to know about. They need to make sure family and friends know that they can be exposed to an allergenic substance by kissing someone who has eaten this substance. Even the social greeting kiss may need to be modified.

59th Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Orlando, Florida November 19, 2001

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Fortunately this is not a very common problem, but I suspect many of us know people who are sensitive to nuts. My four-year-old nephew Jake is one of those who can have anaphylactic reactions, so for him this information is very important. Yesterday my sister called me to tell me of Jake's most recent incident with cashew nuts. She had eaten about a handful of cashews at about 9:00 pm. At 10:30 she checked gave Jake goodnight kisses on his face and patted his head as she does each night when he is asleep. Thirty five minutes later, after she went to bed he came to her bed to tell her he was itching. She didn't make the connection to the nuts right away. She rubbed some lotion on him and did not think anything of it until he came in a few minutes later to tell her that his head and chest was itching too. This time she turned on the lights and discovered that he had broken out in hives on his face, chest and down his legs. She immediately gave him two teaspoons of liquid Benadryl and about twenty minutes later he was back asleep peacefully. But the lesson learned is no more nuts in the house. Also, he will be coming to our office for nut desensitization treatment. I use a variety of treatments in the office but typically Total Body Modification or a variety of energy psychology techniques like EFT are most helpful in severely reducing or eliminating the allergy. So folks, this is a real problem. If you know someone with a nut problem, please let them know and make sure they fully understand how serious this can be. The only solution is no nuts in the home. Related Articles: Peanut Allergy Often Starts Early