![]() It seems then that we can enjoy our pesto sauce without worry. Although there are no regulations governing the marketing of pine nuts, judging by the decline of “pine mouth” complaints, it seems that the vast majority of nuts on the market now are not of the suspect variety. Unfortunately, those of Pinus armandii are not among them. There are over a hundred different varieties of pine trees and only about thirty of these produce seeds that have been deemed edible. And yes, you can really grow a tree from the seeds but it will be many years before you can taste your own pine nuts. They are the seeds of the pine tree and are found inside pine cones. Reports of the syndrome have since declined sharply as importers cut back on Chinese pine nuts and the Chinese government actually took steps to stop the export of the culprits. Again, cases were linked to Chinese nuts, whether raw or roasted, fresh or old. In some instances, the bitter taste was accompanied by other symptoms such as headache, nausea and stomach pain. Some victims even organized a Facebook group, “Damn You Pine Nuts,” where they vented about their experience. There was now enough evidence for Europe to stop the import of this species of pine nuts.Ĭases also emerged in North America as people who had experienced unexplained taste alterations previously were now alerted to the connection with pine nuts. A graduate student at Waganingen University in the Netherlands even produced a Master's thesis on the topic in which she reported that volunteers who had consumed Pinus armandii seeds experienced dysgeusia. Then in a small Danish trial, six volunteers consumed six to eight pine nuts of this species and all six developed a taste disturbance to some degree, some much more intense than others, starting 1-2 days after ingestion and lasting about five days. In most cases the nuts were of the Pinus armandii species and were of Chinese origin. Throughout the next decade, other cases cropped up sporadically and then in 2011, French researchers reported over 3000 cases of “dysgeusia”, or distortion of taste, following consumption of pine nuts. He sampled several brands of pine nuts and experienced taste disturbance only with those that were imported from China. One scientist at the Poison Control Center found this interesting enough to investigate further and undertook the role of a human guinea pig. The only common feature was that in all cases the pine nuts had come from China. As stated in the paper, an analysis of the nuts did not reveal any mould or pesticide contamination. This resulted in the publication of a case report in the European Journal of Emergency Medicine, albeit it was hardly an emergency. He mentioned this to a colleague who was intrigued enough to look into the matter further and learned that six similar cases had been recently reported to the Belgian Poison Control Center. In 2001, a Belgian physician experienced two episodes of bitter, metallic taste that lasted for several days and noted that both had occurred after he had eaten pine nuts.
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