Cress is in the Brassicaceae family of plants, other food in this family include broccoli, cabbage, rapeseed (canola), kohrabi, mustard, radish, swede and turnip. Cress is sometimes known as 'mustard cress' due to the appearance of the seeds, they are in the same family of plants, but not the same genus, so are distinctly different.

Watercress is different in appearance, it has much bigger leaves, but is in a different genus of plants, so is not a close relative. Watercress is in the Brassicaceae family of plants. An allergy to one may indicate an allergy to the other.

There are no identified allergenic proteins in cress or watercress, but other plants in the Brassicaceae family contain 2S seed storage proteins, this may also be the case for cress.

As a brassica, cress can be a high FODMAP food if eaten in large quantities, in normal amounts it can be eaten by people sensitive to FODMAP foods. Watercress is considered low FODMAP. FODMAP stands for Fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. Foods high in FODMAPs can cause symptoms of food intolerance, affecting the gastro intestinal system and this can be mistaken for a true IgE food allergy.

Cress and watercress are high in salicylates. Salicylates have the potential to cause worsening of asthma, swelling, itching and hives as well as food intolerance symptoms in people who are sensitive to salicylates.

You can read more about Food Intolerances on the dedicated Food Intolerance Page.

There are currently no allergic syndromes associated with a cress allergy.

Cress is in the Brassicaceae family of plants, other food in this family include broccoli, cabbage, rapeseed (canola), kohrabi, mustard, radish, swede, wasabi and turnip. If you react to other foods in this family of foods you may also react to cress.

This food list is not exhaustive, the most up to date information is on the Cross Reactivity Tool.

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