There are two types of mustard plant with allergens recognised by the World Health Organization, Oriental Mustard and Yellow Mustard.

Oriental mustard only contains one allergen, Bra j 1, which is a 2S seed storage protein commonly found in nuts and seeds.

Yellow mustard has 4 food allergens. Sin a 1 is also a 2S seed storage protein and Sin a 2 is an 11S seed storage protein.

Sin a 3 is a lipid transfer protein (LTP) and Sin a 4 is a profilin protein. These 4 allergens are all panallergens, proteins which can cause allergies over a larger groups of foods.

Mustard seeds are high in salicylates, which can cause symptoms of intolerance rather than a true IgE allergy. Salicylates are found naturally in a variety of foods, eating a diet low in salicylates can help alleviate symptoms of food intolerance.

Yellow mustard allergy can be linked to LTP Syndrome, where similarly shaped proteins in other plants resemble those in mustard and elicit an allergic reaction.

Allergy to mustard seed is sometimes linked to Celery-Mugwort-Spice Syndrome as the sensitising allergen is a profilin protein called Art v 4, these proteins are also sometimes also called Bet v 2 proteins.

There is also a link between mustard and Latex Food Syndrome. The plant involved in latex allergy Hevea brasiliensis, the rubber tree plant, has an allergen called Hev b 8 which is a profilin protein. Those very sensitised to latex may have a contact allergic reaction from other foods or plants containing profilin proteins, there is less evidence of this than sensitisation to other latex linked proteins like hevein and chitinases.

Other food containing 2S albumin seed storage proteins are cashews, peanuts, brazil nuts, turnips, rapeseed, pecans, chickpeas, hazelnuts, pistachio, buckwheat, soya, sunflower seeds, walnuts, kiwi, castor beans and sesame seeds.

Other food containing 11S proteins (not already mentioned above) are pumpkins, walnuts and almonds.

Common foods involved in LTP allergy include kiwi, strawberries, sunflower seeds, walnut, apple, mulberry, banana, pea, apricot, cherry, plum, almond, peach pomegranate, raspberry, tomato, grape, celery, peanut, asparagus, cabbage, broccoli, chestnut, lemon, tangerine, orange, hazelnut, lettuce, lentils, lupin, green bean, pear, mustard, wheat and maize.

Other foods containing profilin allergens are celery, peanut, soyabeans, lychee, walnut, lupin, almonds, hazelnut, kiwi, pineapple, chilli, melon, orange, strawberry, apple, banana, aubergine (eggplant), peach, pear, tomato, dates, cherry, carrot, barley and wheat. Allergic reactions to some of these foods may be considered a marker of profilin hypersensitivity.

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