Resources:
Podcasts from The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) that are made for a general audience:
Blogs/Sites with practical tips:
Nut-Free New York (specifically these posts: a guide to tree nuts made in dedicated facilities and nut free brands)
Food Allergy Diva (specifically these posts: peanuts from dedicated facilities, tree nuts from dedicated facilities, boiled peanuts for peanut allergy)
Flavorpalooza (Speficially this post about nut free store bought snacks)
Academic Papers:
Cashew oral immunotherapy for desensitizing cashew-pistachio allergy (NUT CRACKER study) Review of a study on OIT specific to cashew/pistachio. It’s harder to find studies specific to these nuts—there is so much more information on peanut allergy than on cashew/pistachio allergy that a lot is just extrapolated from peanut studies.
Anaphylaxis-a 2020 practice parameter update, systematic review, and Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) analysis Overview of the range of anaphylaxis.
Home multifood oral immunotherapy microdosing with Dartmouth Spoon Sheets The immunotherapy program we are doing with J!
Evolution of Immune Responses in Food Immunotherapy A comprehensive analysis of multiple OIT studies across various food allergens reported consistent findings: allergen-specific IgG4 levels increased significantly post-OIT, correlating with decreased skin prick test reactivity and improved clinical outcomes…ie: a primer on what happens biologically that makes OIT effective.
Sustained unresponsiveness to peanut in subjects who have completed peanut oral immunotherapy: This study, while about peanuts, shows that even after stopping OIT for peanuts there is sustained unresponsiveness. Hopefully this is true for cashew too.
Epicutaneous Sensitization in the development of food allergy: what is the evidence and how can this be prevented? This is “skin is sensitizing/gut is tolerizing theory of allergens—ie you want to eat allergens rather than have them smeared on your skin, especially traumatized skin like eczema in order to prevent allergy. This theory is not proven at this point, but to the point that it is a working theory, there are many recommendations about trying to improve the skin barrier in children with eczema so that allergens are not inadvertently introduced through the skin. Regardless of if it is proven or not, keeping a good skin barrier seems like a wise goal to strive for.