One Case of Buckwheat Allergy Proved by Oral Provacation Test

Eun Soon Hong, Jin Ah Park, Tae Rim Shin, Ki Youl Seo, Ga Eun Woo, Na Young Lee, Mi Sun Kim, Sun Hee Maeng, Young Joo Cho

Copyright ⓒ 1997. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jul 24, 2015

Abstract

Buckwheat belongs to the Polygonacea or buckwheat family and is not a true cereral since it does not belong to the Graminiae, or grain family. Its products have long been considered excellent foods for both human and animal consumption.

The earlist reference to case of buckwheat sensitivity was a report by Smith in 1909. He accurately described a case of angionerotic edema and urticaria in a young man upon ingestion accurately described a case of angionerotic edema and urticaria in a young man upon ingestion of small amounts of buckwheat, and violent asthma on the ingestion of moderate quantities of buckwheat.

The authors have experienced one case of buckwheat allergy. The chief complaints were wheezing and dyspnea for several years. The skin tests showed positive reaction to the extracts of buckwheat flour and buckwheat husk. The buckwheat allergy is considered to be the model of the typeIallergy(that is lgE dependent type) proposed by Cooms and Gell. The antigenicity of buckwheat is extremely string, so oral provocation test must not easily be applied for fear of severe and dangerous reaction.

Keywords: Buckwheat allergy; Type I hypersensitivity ; Oral provocation test