Allergy information for: Camomile (Matricaria chamomilla )

  • Name: Camomile
  • Scientific Name: Matricaria chamomilla
  • Occurrence: Camomile Tea.
  • Allergy Information: Individuals allergic to pollen from a weed called mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) can develop an allergy to camomile because of the similarity between the allergens (proteins) in both plants. They react to the herb with respiratory tract symptoms (e.g.wheezing), vomiting, cramps, diarrhoea or even more severe reactions like a skin rash. Individuals react to dried, boiled or fresh camomile plants or extracts.
  • Other Information:
  • Taxonomic Information:
  • Last modified: 18 October 2006

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    References (0)

      Clinical History

      • Number of Studies:1-5
      • Number of Patients:21-50
      • Symptoms:

        Reider et al. (2000) [837] described the symptoms observed in subjects after oral intake of camomile tea. All had respiratory tract - rhinoconjunctivitis, wheezing and dyspnea, fewer with gastrointestinal tract symptoms - vomiting, cramps, diarrhoea or some experiencing other systemic symptoms like urticaria, angiooedema, hypotension. Patients experienced symptoms of comparable intensity and quality, no matter if exposure was to dried, boiled or fresh camomile plants or extracts.

        A young woman developed lip swelling and facial eczema (oedematous) upon drinking hot chamomile tea. (Rycroft 2003) [1144]

      Skin Prick Test

      • Number of Studies:1-5
      • Food/Type of allergen:

        Camomile extract

        Commercial inhalant allergens (De la Torre-Morin et al. 2001) [1185]

      • Protocol: (controls, definition of positive etc)

        Skin prick tests were performed by the prick method. PBS glycerol-solution and histamine hydrochloride (10 mg/mL) were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. Wheals greater than 3 mm were considered positive (Florido-Lopez et al. 1995) [866].

        Skin prick tests were performed on the volar surface of the forearms. Normal saline-glycerol-solution and histamine hydrochloride (10 mg/mL) were used as negative and positive controls, respectively. Results were considered weakly positive if the mean diameter of the weal was at least half the diameter of the histamine weal, clearly positive when it was of equal size and strongly positive when larger (Reider et al. 2000) [837]

      • Number of Patients:

        9 patients with a history of systemic allergic reactions after drinking camomile tea and with pollinosis (Florido-Lopez et al. 1995) [866]

        10 patients with clinical symptoms to camomile (Reider et al. 2000) [837]

        24 patients with asthma and /or rhinitis sensitized primarily to A. vulgaris (De la Torre-Morin et al. 2001) [1185]

      • Summary of Results:

        All patients showed a positive reaction with camomile extracts (Florido-Lopez et al. 1995 [866]; (Reider et al. 2000 [837]).

        SPT with chamomile were positive in 21 patients (De la Torre-Morin et al. 2001) [1185]

      IgE assay (by RAST, CAP etc)

      • Number of Studies:0
      • Food/Type of allergen:

        Commercial camomile extracts.

      • IgE protocol:

        The Phadezym IgE RAST method (Florido-Lopez et al. 1995) [866]

        Specific IgE was measured by the AutoCAP method. RAST classes 2 or higher were considered positive (Reider et al. 2000) [837]

      • Number of Patients:

        7 patients with a history of systemic allergic reactions after drinking camomile tea and with pollinosis (Florido-Lopez et al. 1995) [866]

        10 patients with clinical symptoms to camomile (Reider et al. 2000) [837]

      • Summary of Results:

        Florido-Lopez et al. (1995) [866] found 12/12 patients presented IgE binding to camomile extract whilst only 10/12 patients presented IgE binding to the extracts in the study of Reider et al. (2000) [837]

      Immunoblotting

      • Immunoblotting separation:

        For immunoblotting studies Reider et al. (2000) [837] used hot water camomile extracts and compared them to dried/fresh camomile extracts. Protein separation was performed using 10% acryamide 1D SDS-PAGE gels. Samples were reduced with beta-mercaptoethanol.

      • Immunoblotting detection method:Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes of 0.45 µm pore size in buffer. Membranes were blocked , incubated with sera (1:4 dilution) and bound IgE detected by 125I-rabbit antihuman IgE. Blots were then washed, dried and exposed to Kodak Biomax MS films at -70 °C. (Reider et al. 2000) [837]
      • Immunoblotting results:

        Sera of two patients displayed IgE-binding to a 17-kDa protein. Four other patients reacted to polypeptides running at 23-50 kDa. IgE-binding was not detected in the remaining sera. Therefore, Bet v 1 is not the dominant allergen involved in sensitization to camomile. Bet v 2 (profilin) could not be detected in the camomile extracts. Dried and fresh camomile extracts contained the same allergens as the hot water extracts indicative of the heat stability of camomile allergens, although the proteins may have retained solubility whilst unfolding. (Reider et al. 2000) [837]

      Oral provocation

      • Number of Studies:1-5
      • Food used and oral provocation vehicle:Commercial chamomile infusion. (De la Torre-Morin et al. 2001) [1185]
      • Blind:Open (De la Torre-Morin et al. 2001) [1185]
      • Number of Patients:

        24 patients with asthma and /or rhinitis sensitized primarily to A. vulgaris (De la Torre-Morin et al. 2001) [1185]

      • Dose response:Patients ingested aliquots of 10 ml and stopped in the presence of a local reaction or after the consumptionof 200 ml without symptoms (De la Torre-Morin et al. 2001) [1185]
      • Symptoms:Oral provocation test was positive in 13 patients with symptoms consisted of mild perioral allergy syndrome, pruritus and angioedema of the lips (De la Torre-Morin et al. 2001) [1185]

      IgE cross-reactivity and Polysensitisation

      IgE-binding to blotted 23-50 kDa camomile proteins was inhibited by extracts from celery roots (40%), anise seeds (48%), and pollen from mugwort, birch and timothy grass (78%), indicating that the camomile allergens are IgE cross-reactivite. In addition, seven patients showing a positive RAST and skin prick test to camomile were also displayed also a positive RAST and skin prick test to mugwort pollen, explaining the association between mugwort allergy and sensitization to camomile (Reider et al. 2000) [837]

      Other Clinical information

      De la Torre-Morin et al. (2001) [1185] also reported that 12 of the patients with a positive oral provocation test were also positive for bronchial challenge and conjunctival test with chamomile.

      Reviews (0)

        References (4)

        • Reider N, Sepp N, Fritsch P, Weinlich G, Jensen-Jarolim E
          Anaphylaxis to camomile: clinical features and allergen cross-reactivity
          Clin Exp Allergy. 30(10):1436-43. 2000
          PUBMEDID: 10998021
        • Florido-Lopez JF, Gonzalez-Delgado P, Saenz de San Pedro B, Perez-Miranda C, Arias de Saavedra JM, Marin-Pozo JF
          Allergy to natural honeys and camomile tea
          Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 1995:108(2):170-4. 1995
          PUBMEDID: 7549505
        • Rycroft, R
          Recurrent facial dermatitis from chamomile tea
          Contact Dermatitis 48 (4):229. 2003
          PUBMEDID: 12786736
        • de la Torre Morin F, Sanchez Machin I, Garcia Robaina JC, Fernandez-Caldas E, Sanchez Trivino M
          Clinical cross-reactivity between Artemisia vulgaris and Matricaria chamomilla (chamomile).
          J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 11(2):118-22. 2001
          PUBMEDID: 11642570