The Shea (Karite) tree begins to bear fruit after about 15 years; and can take up to 30 years to bear a quality crop of nuts with a high content of irremovable fatty acid. From the shea nut, shea butter is extracted.Then is it safe to use on people suffering from nut allergies?It is one of the commonly asked questions about shea butter. I found an interesting study that proves that shea butter which is found from diapers to creams poses a very little or no risk at all for people suffering from nut allergies.
Here is an excerpt from foxnews:
Dr. Kanwaljit K. Chawla, a pediatrician in training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, said she became curious about the potential for shea butter to trigger nut allergies while researching the safety of baby products.
"I was looking up baby products and realized that many of the 'natural' or 'organic' products contained shea butter, including wipes, diaper creams, baby lotion and nipple cream for breastfeeding mothers. I saw that the FDA listed shea nut as something to avoid if you are allergic to tree nuts," Chawla said. "But shea nut is in everything. How is it possible to avoid it?"
Shea nuts are mostly fat, but Chawla and her colleagues decided to see if they could extract any proteins from the nuts and whether those shea proteins would provoke an immune response.
The researchers first separated out the fat from shea nuts and were left with a miniscule amount of protein, less than 1/30th the amount present in cashews and less still than that in peanuts.
Even trace amounts of nut proteins can still pose problems for people susceptible to the substances, so Chawla's group tested the ability of shea protein to trigger an immune reaction. Using blood taken from several volunteers with known allergies to nuts, the researchers found that the principle immune molecule that would usually invoke an allergic response, immunoglobulin E, barely bound to the shea protein.
In other words, Chawla said, although shea nut in theory could be an allergy trigger, the evidence from her study suggests it's not. At least the immune system does not appear to recognize it as a nut protein.
For more information on this article,click onto http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/12/23/shea-nuts-appear-safe-allergy-study/#ixzz19ALiZzdN
Dr. Kanwaljit K. Chawla, a pediatrician in training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, said she became curious about the potential for shea butter to trigger nut allergies while researching the safety of baby products.
"I was looking up baby products and realized that many of the 'natural' or 'organic' products contained shea butter, including wipes, diaper creams, baby lotion and nipple cream for breastfeeding mothers. I saw that the FDA listed shea nut as something to avoid if you are allergic to tree nuts," Chawla said. "But shea nut is in everything. How is it possible to avoid it?"
Shea nuts are mostly fat, but Chawla and her colleagues decided to see if they could extract any proteins from the nuts and whether those shea proteins would provoke an immune response.
The researchers first separated out the fat from shea nuts and were left with a miniscule amount of protein, less than 1/30th the amount present in cashews and less still than that in peanuts.
Even trace amounts of nut proteins can still pose problems for people susceptible to the substances, so Chawla's group tested the ability of shea protein to trigger an immune reaction. Using blood taken from several volunteers with known allergies to nuts, the researchers found that the principle immune molecule that would usually invoke an allergic response, immunoglobulin E, barely bound to the shea protein.
In other words, Chawla said, although shea nut in theory could be an allergy trigger, the evidence from her study suggests it's not. At least the immune system does not appear to recognize it as a nut protein.
For more information on this article,click onto http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/12/23/shea-nuts-appear-safe-allergy-study/#ixzz19ALiZzdN
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