Sesame allergy doesn't always mean avoiding every seed. A new study found that 85% of children with IgE-mediated sesame allergy who had reacted to concentrated products like tahini and hummus successfully passed an oral food challenge using intact sesame seeds. The findings suggest that blanket sesame avoidance may be unnecessarily strict for many kids.
Sesame allergy doesn't always mean avoiding every seed. A new retrospective study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology found that the vast majority of children with confirmed sesame allergy could safely tolerate whole sesame seeds — even after prior reactions to concentrated sesame products like tahini and hummus.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University reviewed data from 27 children (median age at first reaction: 1 year) who had a documented history of immediate allergic reactions to concentrated sesame products. Each child underwent a supervised oral food challenge (OFC) using stepwise doses of intact sesame seeds within 4 years of their most recent reaction.
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Why it matters: These results challenge the one-size-fits-all approach to sesame avoidance. For many children, complete elimination may be unnecessarily restrictive — and supervised food challenges could be a powerful tool to more accurately assess individual risk and guide dietary counseling.
