Why are there so many people allergic to all nuts yet we don’t see many people allergic to all fruits?
In: 61
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/).
Latest Answers