I wonder how many of you know someone who has any type of food allergy. Allergies to nuts and shellfish are a couple of the most common food allergies, but there is another food-related allergy that consumers need to know more about: latex.

The number of people with latex allergies has increased since the 1990s. Sensitivity to latex first appeared among health care workers who tried to protect themselves from infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Latex allergy later spread to other professionals who frequently wear gloves for protection, such as child care, food service, housekeeping, and dental workers. People who prepare food commercially may use latex gloves as a sanitation barrier, which the FDA allows despite the severe allergic reactions that can occur in people with a latex allergy.

Someone who is allergic to latex may experience moderate symptoms like redness, itching, swelling, or sneezing, to more severe ones like trouble breathing or a drop in blood pressure.

In addition to exposure from protective gloves, there are specific foods that latex allergy sufferers should avoid. Bananas, chestnuts, kiwi fruit, and tomatoes have shown cross-reactivity in people with known latex allergies. This means that these foods may also cause a similar reaction. The cause of the cross-reaction remains unconfirmed; some experts believe it could be due to the presence of a protein component in these foods that chemically resembles a protein component of latex.

What comes first, the latex allergy or the food allergy? It seems experts are unsure of this, too. It appears, though, that eliminating these foods may lower the medical risks associated with latex allergies and also decrease an allergic person's sensitivity to latex in later years.