Spice birch

The structure elucidation of salicylic acid we owe to Hermann Kolbe (1818-1884) and Victor Meyer (1848-1897). Also its industrial synthesis, from phenol and carbon dioxide, can be traced back to Kolbe, who developed this process in 1874. Previously, salicylic acid was produced by hydrolysis of its methyl ester, which in turn was obtained from wintergreen oU, a product of the steam distillation ofthe leaves ofthe American wintergreen oiteaheiry (Gaultheria procutn-bens) and the spice birch (Betula lento). 

To date, several plant food-derived profilins have been characterized, most of them being evidently involved in PFS. Hazelnut profilin Cor a 2 and the profilins from Rosaceae fruits strawberry Fra a 4, apple Mai d 4, cherry Pru av 4, almond Pru du 4, peach Pru p 4, and pear Pyr c 4, for example, are considered to cross-react with grass and/or birch pollen Bet v 2 profilin (van Ree et al. 1995). Reactions to celery Api g 4 and carrot Dau c 4 are observed in patients with concomitant birch- or mugwort pollen allergy (celery-mugwort-spice syndrome) (Egger et al. 2006). The... 

Scratch tests with powdered commercial spices in 70 patients with positive skin tests to birch and/or mugwort pollens and celery were positive to aniseed, fennel, coriander, and cumin, all Apiaceae, in more than 24 patients (2). Spices from unrelated families (red pepper, white pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon) elicited positive immediate skin test reactions in only three of 11 patients. Specific serum IgE to spices (determined in 41 patients with a positive RAST to celery) up to class 3 was found, especially in patients with celery-mugwort or celery-birch-mugwort association. The celery-birch association pattern was linked to positive reactions (RAST classes 1,2) with spices from the Apiaceae family only. 

Natural agents Birch bark, butter, cabbage, capsaicin, chicken, cinnamon, cobalt chloride, copper, cotton oils, eggs, fish, fruits (kiwi, strawberry), hawthorn, honey, horse saliva, laboratory animals, mahogany, milk, nickel, papain, prawn crust, seminal fluid, sorbic acid, spices, spider mites... 

In a patient with occupational allergy to anise seed, a skin prick test showed immediate positive responses to caraway and other spices and foods including coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, and asparagus. Skin prick tests with celery, carrot, birch pollen, and mugwort pollen extracts were negative (Garcia-Gonzalez et al. 2002). 

---