Child Health A-Z

Tree Nut Allergy Diet

General guidelines for tree nut allergy:

The key to an allergy-free diet is to avoid giving your child the foods or products containing the food he/she is allergic to. The items that your child is allergic to are called allergens.

A tree nut allergy is an abnormal response of the body to the proteins found in tree nuts. In order to avoid foods that contain tree nuts, it is important to read food labels.

How to read a label for an tree nut-free diet:

Be sure to avoid foods that contain any of the following ingredients:

almonds
brazil nuts
cashews
chestnuts
filberts
hazelnuts
gianduja (a creamy mixture of chocolate and chopped toasted nuts found in premium or imported chocolate)
hickory nuts
macadamia nuts
marzipan/almond paste
nougat
Nu-Nuts™ artificial nuts
nut butters (i.e., cashew butter, almond butter)
nut oil
nut paste (i.e., almond paste)
pecans pine nuts (pignolia, pinion)
pistachios
walnuts

To avoid tree-nuts:

Nu-Nuts™ artificial nuts are peanuts that have been deflavored and reflavored with a nut such as pecan or walnut.
Filberts are hazelnuts.
Avoid natural extracts such as pure almond extract, and natural wintergreen extract (for the child who is filbert/hazelnut allergic).
Use imitation or artificially flavored extracts.
Ethnic foods, commercially prepared baked goods, and candy can be cross-contaminated with nuts since nuts are frequently used in these types of foods.
Tree nuts are being added to an increasing variety of foods such as barbecue sauces, cereals, crackers, and ice creams.

Last Update
February 3, 2008

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