Why are there so many people allergic to all nuts yet we don’t see many people allergic to all fruits?
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Not a lot of people are allergic to all nuts. There are just several different types of nut allergies that it is hard for manufacturers to keep track. Especially since a lot of processing is with mixed nuts. So it is easier to avoid any nuts whatsoever then to try to find out which nut products you can eat and which ones you can not.
There are exceptions though. A lot of peanuts tends to be processed separately due to the amount of it we eat. So someone with a nut allergy that does not involve peanuts might still eat some mass produced peanut products like peanut butter as it is pretty certain there is no other nuts mixed into it. But for example a chocolate covered peanut could have other nuts added to the chocolate to enhance the nut flavour. We also see the same with almond which is another mass produced nut. Seeing almond on a cake might suggest other nuts have been used as well but marzipan on the cake is generally safe because only almond is used to make it and it tends to be processed separately from other nuts.
The antigens in nuts might look more like each other than the ones in fruits do. Some of these also look somewhat like certain pollen antigens. Plus as another person mentioned, it might also be down to non-biological factors such as how food manufacturing processes may be separated.
In actuality, though, it’s not so much that these antigens from different kinds of foods resemble *each other*. It’s that they all have some features of antigens found in [helminths, which our IgE class of antibodies mainly evolved to target](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/140edg9/eli5_allergies_why_are_there_certain_foods_eg/jmvhm41/).
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Peanut oil is everywhere and in everything. But in western counties, peanuts are not introduced into a baby’s diet until they are older. Because of this, the likelihood that a baby’s first interaction with peanuts is not through the mouth is high potentially causing a sensitization. Think of it like someone you don’t know entering your house through the front door vs entering through a window. Your reaction to the normal entry vs the break in is similar to how the body reacts when peanut oil enters through the skin or other means instead of the mouth. If you see that person again, even if they come through the front door this time, you will still react negatively to their presence. Cultures that introduce peanut products early in infancy or that don’t use peanut oil so much that it’s everywhere, have fewer peanut allergies. Once allergic to one type of nut, many other species become off limits as well. Fruits and their byproducts are not nearly as ubiquitous so you don’t see the same numbers of allergies.
Nut allergies usually aren’t all nuts, they’re usually more confined to tree nuts or grounds nut, etc. The reason most nut allergy patients just blanket ban all nuts is that nut allergies commonly run toward serious life threats (anaphylaxis) and since it’s hard to know exactly what part of the nut you’re allergic to (what protein or substance) which means finding the dangerous and safe plants a game of Russian roulette. Basically, people don’t want to take the chance so all nuts get banned
Notice the comments about exposing babies to certain foods at certain ages. Being exposed to something by digesting it lets the body acclimate to it differently than if it were inhaled as dust or absorbed through the skin. Nut flavorings, powders, and oils are EVERYWHERE these days.
Second, nuts have a significant amount of protein and fruits do not. Bee sting allergy, peanut allergy, gluten allergy, all these allergies are reactions to proteins. Fruits have virtually no protein in their pulp or skin. Reactions to sugars like fructose (fruit) and lactose (milk) are less allergies than digestive problems. *(Note, the reactions to itching plants like poison ivy are to immune response to oils. They’re not so much “allergies” we learn by exposure as “what these oils do to the body”.)*
Over the course of 10 years in nursing seeing thousands of patients allergy lists, without looking at actual statistics and just based on personal experience data:
I would say it’s about even distribution between 3 categories. Allergic to fruit. Allergic to nuts. Allergic to both fruit and nuts. Most common nut allergies I see are peanut specifically or all tree nuts. Most common fruit allergies are bananas and tomatoes.
Editing because I didn’t address OP question directly. I think it has to do with how we talk about allergies, more like how we don’t talk about our health generally with each other. In my experience outside of healthcare I have only heard about allergies in my life when having to bring food to a school either for myself as a child or to my own kids school now. There’s no homemade food coming in and generally it’s candy/goodies not a fruit salad your bringing so peanut/nuts are the most common to avoid..
Being allergic to nuts are so American phenomenon I guess. In my country I have never seen a person allergic to nuts. Do you know the reason?
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