Pumpkin seed allergy in a child, plus a review
What it found
An eight-year-old boy had a severe allergic reaction right after eating a bread bun that contained pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
He could eat pumpkin pulp, other seeds, peanuts and nuts without problems.
What they found
Studies in people
The boy's reaction
Almost immediately after eating the bread bun, the boy had deep faintness, vomiting and swelling of the face and throat. His parents gave antihistamines and corticosteroids, then used his epinephrine auto-injector when symptoms worsened, and he was hospitalized for 24 hours.
Skin tests to pumpkin
Skin prick-to-prick tests gave large positive responses of 10 mm to several kinds of pumpkin seeds, and a 5 mm response to butternut squash seed. Tests with raw and cooked pumpkin pulp and with pumpkin seed oil were negative.
Blood antibody tests
Specific IgE to pumpkin seed was positive at 3.75 KU/L, while specific IgE to pumpkin pulp and to sunflower, flax, sesame and poppy seeds was negative. Total serum IgE was 212 KUI/L.
Other seeds and nuts
Skin tests were slightly positive to sunflower, flax and sesame seed, but an oral challenge with a mix of these seeds was negative at a cumulative dose of 20 g. Tests to peanut, all kinds of nuts and several flours were negative.
Animal and lab studies
Lab studies on seed proteins
In lab studies, proteins from pumpkin seeds such as moschatin and cucurmosin were reported to inhibit the growth of melanoma, leukemia, lung adenocarcinoma and pancreas cancer cells. Pumpkin albumin 2S showed activity against several cancer cell lines.
Other findings
Pumpkin seed compounds
Pumpkin seeds contain 30 to 37% protein with all 9 essential amino acids, and 40 to 50% lipids rich in essential fatty acids. They also contain phytosterols, carotenoids, tocopherols and phenolic compounds.
What the authors conclude
“Pumpkin seed food allergy may therefore be expected to augment in the future.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say that because pumpkin seeds are increasingly included in foods, alternative medicines and cosmetics, pumpkin seed food allergy may be expected to increase in the future.
- They advise that it should be assessed by carefully taking the patient's medical history and by including common edible seeds in food allergy testing panels, such as sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, flax and poppy seed.
How it was done
Food allergy to pumpkin seed is thought to be very rare, with only a few single cases published. The authors wanted to describe this new case and review what is known about pumpkin and its seeds.
They described an eight-year-old boy with a history of allergies who developed a severe reaction after eating a multigrain bread bun with sunflower and pumpkin seeds. They did skin prick-to-prick tests with many pumpkin varieties, other cucurbits, seeds, nuts and flours, and measured specific IgE antibodies in his blood.
What it can’t tell you
- This is a single case report, so it cannot show how common pumpkin seed allergy is or who else might react.
- The review of medicinal activities includes lab and animal studies, which cannot show what happens in people.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, France
The paper
- Title
- Medicinal bioactivites and allergenic properties of pumpkin seeds: review upon a pediatric food anaphylaxis case report
- Type
- Case report
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Chatain C, Pin I, Pralong P, Jacquier JP, Leccia MT (2017). Medicinal bioactivites and allergenic properties of pumpkin seeds: review upon a pediatric food anaphylaxis case report. European annals of allergy and clinical immunology. doi:10.23822/EurAnnACI.1764-1489.19Free full textPubMed 29249131DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error