A wheal the size of half of that caused by histamine dihydrochloride (10 mg/mL; ALK, Copenhagen, Denmark) or larger was regarded as a positive reaction. (Mikkola 1998) [ 418] Moderately active - Do light to moderate intensity exercise 3-4 times a week. E.g. going to the gym / swimming / cycling / horse riding / dance classes / playing golf. Daily dog walking (brisk pace, twice a day). Banana extracts (Delbourg et al. 1996) [ 42], (Alenius et al. 1996) [ 5], (Asero et al. 2003) [ 582] Detection of clinical markers of sensitization to profilin in patients allergic to plant-derived foods.

Number of Patients: Two patients with a positive SPT to banana and IgE-CAP positive (> or = class 2). These patients were also sensitized (SPT and CAP) to latex, avocado, kiwi, and birch pollen. In both patients banana allergy was confirmed by DBPCFC (Grob et al. 2002) [ 600] Nature of main cross-reacting proteins: Ba 1 and Ba2 are panallergens involved in the latex-fruit syndrome. There are cross-reactions with other endochitinases of fruits such as avocado, mango, kiwi, or seeds such as chestnut (Cas s 5, 85%) (Sanchez-Monge et al. 1999 [ 493]; Moller et al. 1998 [ 115]) and latex (Alenius et al. 1996 [ 5]).Latex is the milky sap of Hevea brasiliensis tree, which is processed to manufacture multiple products, including gloves, condoms and balloons. Latex allergy has been recognized as a very important health problem, due to increase in frequency, and to its ability to induce severe reactions. It is noteworthy that as much as 50% of latex allergic patients may have cross-allergic reactions to certain plant-derived foods (mainly banana, chestnut, avocado and kiwi), a condition known as the latex-fruit syndrome. Allergens responsible for this syndrome seem to be a group of shared plant proteins, to which patients react. Banana furits were peeled, freeze-dried, ground and defatted with cold acetone. The residue was extracted with PBS buffer, centrifuged and dialysed against water. The protein preparation was fractionated by affinity-chromatography on a regenerated chitin column equilibrated with 20 mM Tris-HCl. Elution was performed with 20 mM sodium acetate pH 5.5 followed by 20 mM acetic acid pH 3.2 to elute the retained proteins. The later eluate was fractionated by cation exchange chromatography on a Mono S HR 5/5 column equilibrated with 10 mM sodium acetate. Elution was performed with a salt linear gradient of 0-50% of 0.5 M NaCl (Sanchez-Monge et al. 1999) [ 493] Light - Have a job that involves long periods of sitting (office-based / driving) or are home-based and sitting for much of the day. Typical jobs: office worker, sales rep, bus/taxi/lorry driver. Heavy - Active for much of the day, walking non-stop and carrying objects. Typical jobs: hospital/ward nurse, waitressing in a busy restaurant, cleaner, porter, labourer/construction worker, gardener, farm worker. Leisure Activity Level IgE from 9/10 group 2 (fruit and latex allergy) sera reacted to banana proteins. The most important allergen in the extract was at about 30 kDa. A minor band was found at 35 kDa in one serum. Two sera from group 1 (monoallergy to latex) reacted with the 30 kDa protein (Lavaud et al. 1995) [ 102]

patients with urticaria and /or angioedema; 3 patients with rhinitis and/or asthma and 3 patients with oral syndrome (OAS) (Fernandez de Corres et al. 1993) [ 327] IgE cross-reactivity was demonstrated by RAST-inhibition between latex, avocado, chestnut and banana (Blanco et al. 1994) [ 288] Unfortunately, there is scarce data on the occurrence of banana allergy in different age groups and geographical areas. It seems that, although it is not among the top-5 food allergies, it cannot be considered as a rare allergy, neither in children nor in adults. Certainly, it is much more frequent among specific groups of patients, as for example subjects allergic to latex, to pollens, or to plant-derived foods. In the same way, the development of banana allergy is not known, as long-term follow up of banana allergic patients have not been conducted. Nevertheless, clinical data suggests that patients allergic to banana should assume a lifelong avoidance diet, since – to our knowledge - patients outgrowing banana allergy have not been reported. Moderate - On your feet for much of the day, either standing or occasional slow paced walking. Typical jobs: shop assistant, teacher, chef/cook, bar worker, engineer. latex-allergic patients and 22 control subjects with no evidence of allergy to latex or to banana. (Alenius et al 1996) [ 5].Process, chemical, enzymatic: Ba 1 and Ba2 are thermolabile allergens (Sanchez-Monge et al. 1999) [ 493]