# Person has a nut allergy - should they eat nut pollination honey?



## Fusion_power (Jan 14, 2005)

It has not been covered by any research I am aware of, however, there are very few nut species that are pollinated by bees. For example, Walnut and Pecan are wind pollinated. Peanuts are not visited by honeybees.

While I can't give a reliable answer, I can say that pollen contains many of the proteins produced by the parent plant and since most allergies are based on proteins there is a chance that consuming honey or pollen derived from those plants could be a problem. But since the most common nut allergen species are not visited by honeybees, there is very low probability of anyone having a problem.


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## Robbo (May 11, 2008)

Thats interesting about the proteins. I am thinking of the almond and macadamia type of nuts in the original post as these are a bee - pollination service nut.

Also, I didnt know that different nut species affect allergies. I thought it was any nut - good to know!

Cheers


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## Laurence Hope (Aug 24, 2005)

I have a friend who seems to be allergic to all kinds of nuts. He is also allergic to honey and other products of the hive. I don't know how many nut allergic people are that way, but he is really severe.


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## libhart (Apr 22, 2010)

Remember that what is probably the most common allergy to a "nut" is to the peanut (I think that's probably the case), which is not really a nut at all, but a legume...essentially a bean.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

double post


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

This goes beyond nuts, specifically soybean products. There are lots of people with soy allergies. I found this statement: Eight foods account for 90 percent of all food-allergic reactions in the U.S.: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (e.g., walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans), wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. 

Recently one of my customers who is known to be allergic to soy products had a reaction to my honey. The honey was collected during the summer when cotton and soybeans were blooming. I have no doubt that she indeed reacted to the soy proteins in the honey. I plan to add an additional label to our summer honey informing customers of the potential soy contents.


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