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] 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. Cinquetti et al. (1995) [ 304] reported a 3-year-old boy who developed an anaphylactic reaction following banana ingestion and who presented an associated immediate hypersensitivity to latex. IgE binding to a 40 kDa allergen was observed and proteins with molecular weights of 52, 58, 67, 88 and 94 kDa were detected by three of the four sera (Moller et al. 1998) [ 115]

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. In 2011, the Crusha brand was extended to a range of desserts, including Puddings and Jelly. [10] The Milkshake Mix was rebranded as Crusha Mixa, and the Vanilla flavour returned as a limited Edition flavour, now as Vanilla Ice Cream. [11] Banana Crusha was discontinued in shops, but remained a bulk product for cash and carry stores.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.

The presence of cross-reacting allergens in natural rubber latex and banana has been confirmed by immunoblot inhibition (Alenius et al. 1996) [ 5], (Lavaud et al. 1995) [ 102], (Beezhold et al. 1996) [ 281] Due to cross-reactivity, patients considered to be at high risk of banana allergy, as for example subjects allergic to latex, avocado, chestnut, kiwi, melon, or to certain pollens, should be carefully asked about possible previous adverse reactions on banana ingestion. Unless consumption of banana with perfect tolerance is reported by the patient, a banana-free diet should be recommended, until proper diagnosis - on the basis of objective procedures to evaluate clinical reactivity - is made. Determination and characterization of cross-reacting allergens in latex, avocado, banana, and kiwi fruit.out of 4 patients were IgE-CAP positive (> or = class 2) and two were banana-profilin EAST positive (Grob et al. 2002) [ 600] Banana is the crescent-shaped edible fruit of any of several species of the musaceous genus Musa, which are tropical and subtropical herbaceous tree-like plants. Meanwhile, Plantain specifically refers to the fruit of Musa paradisiaca, a large tropical musaceous plant, eaten as a staple food in many tropical regions. World banana production is about 65 million tonnes per year, concentrated in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, due to climatic conditions. In Europe, estimated yearly consumption varies among countries, from 5 to 10 kg/capita in the Mediterranean area and the Netherlands, to more than 15 kg/capita in Sweden. IgE reactivity to profilin in pollen-sensitized subjects with adverse reactions to banana and pineapple. Asero et al. (2003) [ 582] studied 71 patients allergic to fruits and vegetables but not sensitized to lipid transfer protein or natural rubber latex Allergen properties & biological function: Ba 1 and Ba2 are endochitinases with a possible defence function against plant pathogens and belong to pathogenesis-related proteins family PR3.

Crossreactivity between allergens in natural rubber latex and banana studied by immunoblot inhibition. There are only few studies on the stability of profilins most of them on celery profilin. Compared to other allergens, profilin is a moderately stable protein, more resistant than Bet v 1 homologues but less stable than lipid transfer proteins or corss-reactive carbohydrate deteminants of glycoporein allergens. With respect to banana-pollen allergy, several patterns of associated allergies have been described. Examples for that are the following clusters: ragweed pollen allergy with banana and melon allergies; multiple pollen allergies with banana, melon, watermelon, citrus fruits and tomato allergies; and Platanus tree pollen allergy with banana, hazelnut, peanut and celery allergies. A group of allergens very common in the plant kingdom seem to be responsible for at least part of these cross-reactions, but other allergens may also be involved. Cross-reacting IgE antibodies recognizing latex and fruit allergens (papaya, avocado, banana, chestnut, passion fruit, fig, melon, mango, kiwi, pineapple, peach, and tomato) were demonstrated by RAST-inhibition tests on 146 latex-allergic patients and a 30 control without clinical syntoms of latex allergy (Brehler et al. 1997) [ 292]. patients with anaphylaxis, 6 cases with angioedema/urticaria, 2 cases with vomits, one case with bronchial asthma, and another case with rhinoconjuntivitis (Blanco et al. 1994) [ 287].patients with anaphylaxis; 3 with local sensitivity and 1 with severe abdominal cramping and nausea. (Beezhold et al. 1996) [ 281] Allergen purification: The recombinant banana profilin was purified by affinity chromatography using poly-(L)-proline as the solid phase and expressed in E. coli. Inhibition experiments indicated similar IgE reactivity of natural and recombinant allergen (Reindl et al. 2002) [ 601] Crusha is a brand of milkshake mix, sold in the United Kingdom. The brand first appeared in 1955, and was bought by British Sugar. In December 2001, it came under the Silver Spoon brand. Crusha is often the milkshake of choice in cafés. However, it is also sold in shops, for home mixing in bottles, of from 250ml to 1l in size. patients with asthma; 2 with rhinitis; 2 with eczema; 3 with urticaria; 2 with angioedema and 2 with OAS (Makinen-Kiljunen 1994) [ 405]