Are You Allergic to Eggs But Miss Them?

Well, Duck Eggs Maybe Your Answer

Recently, we had a person contact us specifically for duck eggs.  In fact, she has spent a lot of time searching for individuals in our area that sold duck eggs.  She even went so far as Louisiana to purchase them.

Why, I wondered?

Turns out she is allergic to chicken eggs but not duck eggs, and since she missed eggs so much she will willing to travel a distance to find them.

This left me intrigued.  What was the structural differences between duck eggs and chicken eggs that would allow someone to eat one but not the other?

Time to do some detective work!

Believe it or not, after cow’s milk chicken eggs are the second most common food allergy in children, affecting .5-2.5% of children [1].  The egg white rather than the yolk is what usually causes an allergic reaction.  The allergy usually disappears when children reach school age.

Although the total number of proteins in egg whites is not known, there are over 40 identified, with 24 have been identified as causing allergic reactions [2].

“The two main allergens are known as ovomucoid and ovalbumin. They are found in the egg white. Ovomucoid is acid resistant and heat stable. People who have an allergic reaction to ovomucoid usually cannot tolerate raw or cooked eggs. On the other hand, ovalbumin breaks down at high temperatures, so people who have an allergic reaction to ovalbumin can often tolerate cooked eggs.”

Others are listed below:

Allergen name Nomeclature Size % of Egg white Major/
minor
allergen		 Stability
Ovomucoid Gal d 1 28 kDa 11% Major Stable
Ovalbumin Gal d 2 44 kDa 54%   Unstable
Conalbumin, Ovotransferrin Gal d 3 78 kDa 12-13%   Unstable
Lysozyme Gal d 4 14 kDa 3.5%   Unstable

 

So are duck eggs a viable alternative?

Maybe.  The protein content in eggs, the part that most people are allergic to, differs between bird species.  One of the common allergens conalbumin (Ovotransferrin) makes up 12% of a chicken egg white, but only 2% of a duck egg white (4).  If conalbumin is what you allergic to, you may be able to eat duck eggs.

Duck eggs have other advantages over chicken eggs, including more essential vitamins and minerals and more omega 3 fatty acids.  That, however, is a discussion for another post.

I scoured the internet but couldn’t find a lot of information about substituting duck eggs for chicken eggs to alleviate allergies so the safest way to determine if you can handle eating duck eggs is to have an allergy test done.  It should also be noted that one can be allergic to duck or goose eggs but not chicken eggs.  Go figure!

 

Sources:

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3069662/

2. http://www.phadia.com/Products/Allergy-testing-products/ImmunoCAP-Allergen-Information/Food-of-Animal-Origin/Egg/Egg-white/

8 Comments


  1. // Reply

    I was NEVER allergic to eggs before but I am now and I am 57 years old. I just developed it along with a bunch of other allergies. I read iit may be because I am going gluten free. I have to I am now allergic to gluten. As soon as I went gluten free I became increasingly more allergic to eggs. I am trying duck eggs tonight.


    1. // Reply

      Sometimes allergies develop over time as our bodies are constantly bombarded with environmental toxins, food toxins, etc and it works overtime to eliminate them. I am not sure that taking gluten out caused the gluten allergy. Gluten is one of the foods that alot of people are sensitive to. You may have had a gluten sentistivity for a very long time. It manifests itself in many different ways depending on the person. It could be acne, depression, brain fog, all sorts of things that you just lived with. It is probably just a coincidence that it coincide with you stopping eating it. Have you ever tried the elimination diet?


      1. // Reply

        Its something I found out from my metal toxicity support group. I had a toxic metal orthopedic implant placed in me from the top orthopedic hospital in the country.
        Long story short. It almost killed me. Because of that I am allergic to many things now that I was not before.


        1. // Reply

          Ahhhh….that makes a lot of sense. I have an aunt that had heavy metal toxicity from the mercury in her fillings. She had to undergo chelation. Have you thought about that?


  2. // Reply

    That’s so interesting. The previous poster. I as well just found out I was gluten allergic as well as a plethora of other foods eggs being one of them. Heart breaking was the eggs as I love them. I have been searching to see if I can have duck eggs. But there is not much on this as you have said. But I do believe it’s all connected. I’m looking forward to asking what egg I was tested for and asking if I can be tested for others. Thank you for this post!


    2. // Reply

      How the egg is cooked changes stuff. You might still be able to have cake (sunflour maybe a good sub?)
      Vinegar is another thing to try.


  3. // Reply

    My child is allergic to chicken egg. (Ok in flour matrix aka cake) But able to eat duck egg so far, if scrambled with vinegar. (Fried still cause allergy)
    They are under 2 yo. We are early in our allergy journey, but I’ve learnt a lot to play around with food and experiment safely.

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