Vegetable oil and Sunflower oil

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jfrash:
Jillian,
Are you allergic to ragweed? I have a severe allergy to ragweed and now also to sunflower seeds and oil . Sunflowers are in the same family as ragweed along with chicory which is listed in some foods as inulin like Kashi cereal. Also, be careful with bananas, melon, kiwi and avocado as ther may be a cross reactivity with those. Hope this helps.

SizzyG:
I seem to be having major stomach and racing heart issues with foods as the doctor put me on a vegan diet. I use rice milk and started having trouble with it and about half of the health food things. I am very allergic to ragweed and sunflowers. One of the reasons I moved to another state which helped but now they use sunflower oil and seeds in almost everything. It is in rice milk, rice dream ice cream, almond milk , breads now, restraunt foods. I can't eat out at all anymore. My daughter carries an epi pen with her because now her food allergies from it are awful. My mother was hospitalized with reactions to it many times. It is very dangerous to people with hay fever ragweed allergies I wish the FDA would just ban it. Couldn't figure out why even fruit and veggies I used to eat I can't now. They cross bred them! Frustrated beyond belief!

Lauren:
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Whoops!!! All those new alternative milks have sunflower oil in them! It's really a craze that all the "healthy" products now use Sunflower oil!! Even subway meats have sunflower oil in therm! Always read the labels, and when you take that first bite and notice signs of allergy, trust yourself, and stop eating. The kids at Sunway don't know / care what's in their unlabeled breads, meats... Etc.

Always read the label, especially if it's more on the health side of snacking!!

SunflowerFree:
Hi- I'm new here and have recently been found to have a severe allergy to sunflower (skin test). My allergist tells me it is usually the protein (the seed itself) that cause issues vs. oil because there is not much protein in the oil. I was wondering how others fare with sunflower oil and lecithin in foods and skin care products? Do you find that you react as strongly to the oil and lecithin as to the seed itself?

PurpleCat:
Hi SunflowerFree!

Sunflower seed is one of my DD's allergies. In her case, she tolerates the oil in foods and products just fine. We retested this spring as she was hoping she outgrew sunflower. Unfortunately she has not!

Your sensitivity can also be different to sunflower oils depending on how they are processed. If with heat, (refined oils) more protein is removed. Cold pressed or expeller pressed processes do not remove as much of the protein.

If you run a google search there are explanations of these processes where you can get more details.