Anaphylaxis after eating Italian pizza containing buckwheat as the hidden food allergen.
A 20-year-old woman developed anaphylaxis after eating pizza on 4 different occasions in 2 restaurants. Both restaurants made their pizza dough with a mixture of wheat and buckwheat flours. A prick-to-prick test with buckwheat flour was positive. Skin prick tests and specific immunoglobulin E responses to soybean and peanut were weakly positive while the response to buckwheat was negative. We ruled out a pathogenic role for peanut and soybean because the patient usually eats both with no signs of allergic reaction. Double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenges with buckwheat flour were positive after the administration of a cumulative dose of 2.3 g of the culprit flour. To our knowledge, our report describes the first case of anaphylaxis after intake of buckwheat flour as the hidden allergen in pizza dough.
Heffler
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Department of Allergology and Clinical Immunology, Università di Torino, Torino, Italy. enrico_heffler@yahoo.it
Guida
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Badiu
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Nebiolo
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Rolla
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D000328:Adult; D000707:Anaphylaxis / Q000209:etiology*; D001939:Bread / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D019612:Fagopyrum / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D012882:Skin Tests