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SKIN PROBLEMS: CASHEW NUT DERMATITIS
28 April 2009
by
admin
Filed under
General health
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (32:129) mentions an outbreak of poison ivy-like dermatitis that recently affected 54 people in a small Pennsylvania town. All of the victims had eaten cashew nut pieces purchased from the same Little League organization. The rash appeared on their hands, arms, trunk, and in their mouths, lasted about seven days, and affected approximately 20 percent of the people who had consumed the nuts.
The cashew nut tree, apparently, is of the same species as poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. For this reason, cashew nut shells contain the same chemical irritant and must be completely removed from the nuts (which should then be boiled) before they are made available for human consumption. To avoid problems, readers are advised to purchase only those brands of cashew nuts that have been processed by well-established companies that you have had experience with in the past.
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