Buckwheat anaphylaxis: a case report

Case A healthy 32-year-old Chinese female presented with three episodes of allergic reactions after ingestion of buckwheat. She was assessed in the allergy clinic after eating cake containing buckwheat flour. After a few bites she experienced tongue tingling and throat tightness. Within 30 minutes she developed urticaria, nausea and abdominal cramping, which subsided with diphenhydramine. Eight months prior she had an episode of abdominal cramping, urticaria and lip angioedema within 45 minutes of eating multigrain toast. Two years earlier she had eaten buckwheat noodles at a restaurant in China. She developed abdominal cramping, emesis and throat tightness 30 minutes after ingestion, and was treated at a local emergency department. There was no other history of food, drug, insect or latex allergy. Skin prick testing was performed for food allergies. All food skin tests were negative with appropriate controls. Skin prick testing was performed to the extracted cake and was strongly positive at 9mm (W9F29). Prick testing to extracted buckwheat was remarkably positive at 48mm (W48F70). Specific IgE to buckwheat was obtained and was high at 6.13KU/L.