I love that joyous picture which shows the true meaning of Easter: Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and is our Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jim !!

I spend this Easter to research on why my right-hand eczema (rash) is getting worse. My chewing gum habit is the culprit. It gets worse when I switched from hard-Trident to the softer Trident XtraCare, which melts in my mouth while sleeping ... I always suck on a piece of gum, for my dry mouth. The problem with chewing gum is instead of using NATURAL RUBBER ... they make GUM BASE artificially with chemicals & latex.

Listed below are the allergens reported to be associated (clinically or immunochemically) with natural rubber latex. Degree of Association or Prevalence High (4) Banana, Avocado, Chestnut, Kiwi - See more at: http://latexallergyresources.org/cross-reactive-food#sthash.oSjTd6D9.dpuf

I de-frizz my kid's curly hair with avocado oil, then chew my gum, then stick my hands in latex-glove to wash dishes ... and it's an explosion of rash on my hands. The cross reaction between Avocado, chewing gum, and latex is what worsened the eczema on my right hand (which started when I used weed-killer).

After a long absence of NOT eating bananas (1 month), I resume eating bananas and my eczema worsened ... Allergens strongly associated with rubber latex are: Banana, Avocado, Chestnut, and Kiwi ... and to a lesser extent pineapple and grapefruit.

Chewing gum is no longer from NATURAL RUBBER, they make it artificially from plastic and latex. There are many reports of allergic reactions to chewing gum, here's one of them from

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Allergy/Gum-allergy/show/776585

Great info Straw! Have a great Easter Sunday!

Hi Jim: Thank you for your positive feedback which helps me to research. Another poster in Gardenweb traced her eczema (rash) to banana and sesame seeds. Sesame seed-allergy is on the rise, and it's in the top 10 allergy-list in many countries. But I could never understand banana-allergy until I understand the cross-reaction between banana, avocado, kiwi, grapefruit, pineapple to LATEX gloves and gum-base.

The Carrageenan in coffee creamer & Silk Soy milk inflames stomach and isn't good for skin either. My kid drank soy milk and had acne, while her friends drink cow-milk and have clear skin. I trashed $7, or 2 cartons of Silk Soy milk, and switched to cow-milk recently. I was surprised when I ate 1 bowl of bran cereal & 1% fat-cow-milk: I felt full ... compared to when I used Silk Organic Soy Milk with bran-cereal .. I never felt full, I kept on eating 2 to 3 bowls due to stomach-inflammation. It was SO HARD to lose weight with soy-milk !!

See http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/carrageenan-natural-ingredient-you-should-ban-your-diet

"Although derived from a natural source, carrageenan appears to be particularly destructive to the digestive system, triggering an immune response similar to that your body has when invaded by pathogens like Salmonella. The result: "Carrageenan predictably causes inflammation, which can lead to ulcerations and bleeding," explains veteran carrageenan researcher Joanne Tobacman, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Illinois School of Medicine at Chicago. She says the food ingredient irritates by activating an immune response that dials up inflammation. Her previous work showed a concerning connection between carrageenan and gastrointestinal cancer in lab animals, and she's involved with ongoing research funded through the National Institutes of Health that is investigating carrageenan's effect on ulcerative colitis and other diseases like diabetes.

The concern over food-grade carrageenan isn't new. Beginning in the 1960s, researchers started linking the ingredient to gastrointestinal disease in lab animals, including ulcerative colitis, intestinal lesions, and colon cancer."

People don't realize that soy is genetically modified to withstand a large dose of Round-up, with Monsanto Corp. reaps double-profit from both. Since 91% of soy in this country is genetically modified, our soy is heavily-laden with pesticides. To get NON-genetically-modified soy, companies have to import soy from China, which is contaminated with heavy metals & also heavily sprayed with chemicals. Big Corporations benefit at the expense of consumer's health. A nurse wrote an excellent article to expose the dark side of soy: http://www.truthaboutabs.com/soy-foods-make-you-fat.html

"Soy also contains goitrogens - substances that depress thyroid function.

Although soy has been known to suppress thyroid function for over 60 years, and although scientists have identified the goitrogenic component of soy as the so-called "beneficial Isoflavones.

A very large percentage of soy is genetically modified and it also has one of the highest percentages of contamination by pesticides of any of our foods.

Soybeans are high in phytic acid, present in the bran or hulls of all seeds. Phytic acid is a substance that can block the uptake of essential minerals - calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc - in the intestinal tract.

The soy industry hired Norman Robert Associates, a public relations firm, to get more soy products onto school menus. The USDA responded with a proposal to scrap the 30 per cent limit for soy in school lunches.

The 'NuMenu' program would allow unlimited use of soy in student meals. With soy added to hamburgers, tacos and lasagna, dieticians can get the total fat content below 30 per cent of calories, thereby conforming to government dictates.

Production takes place in industrial factories where a slurry of soy beans is first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally, neutralized in an alkaline solution.

Acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. The resultant curds are spray - dried at high temperatures to produce a high-protein powder. A final indignity to the original soybean is high-temperature, high-pressure extrusion processing of soy protein isolate to produce textured vegetable protein (TVP).
Nitrites, which are potent carcinogens, are formed during spray-drying, and a toxin called lysinoalanine is formed during alkaline processing.

In feeding experiments, the use of SPI (soy protein isolated) increased requirements for vitamins E, K, D and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid remaining in these soy products greatly inhibits zinc and iron absorption; test animals fed SPI develop enlarged organs, particularly the pancreas and thyroid gland, and increased deposition of fatty acids in the liver." Catherine Ebeling - RN, BSN

Great info Straw! But it being Easter Sunday you should be relaxing and resting your brain...

I'm missing my sister today so having a bit of a rough day... I too did not rest as I pruned roses today to keep my mind occupied... I was going to prune next weekend but since the weathers going to be decent for awhile I decided today was the day... I had to prune out lots of winterkill...

Hi Jim: I can't prune yet ... my right-hand is in bad shape with my "banana-experiment". I cut out bananas for 2-months, then resumed this week, 5 bananas for the past 3 days, and my rash is THE WORST EVER !! God had answered my prayer.

My daughter told me she's allergic to banana since she was 4 years old. She kept telling me it gave her a tummy ache. Both my kid and I have hay fever & allergic to ragweed. I didn't believe her until I get the most awful rash from bananas today. She helped me again when I put avocado oil to de-frizz her curly hair .. then I get the worse rash when I chew gum at night or use latex gloves to wash dishes. Didn't know that avocado and banana cross-react with latex, until the latex-association put a warning: Listed below are the allergens reported to be associated (clinically or immunochemically) with natural rubber latex. Degree of Association or Prevalence High (4) Banana, Avocado, Chestnut, Kiwi - See more at: http://latexallergyresources.org/cross-reactive-food#sthash.oSjTd6D9.dpuf

Pineapple and grapefruit also are known to cross-react with latex to a lesser degree. Gum used to be natural rubber, now it's synthetically made, from latex and plastic, lots of people report eczema with chewing gum:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Allergy/Gum-allergy/show/776585

From Asthma and Allergy Association:

http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&sub=19&cont=267

"People with ragweed allergy may also get symptoms when they eat cantaloupe and banana. Chamomile tea, sunflower seeds and honey containing pollen from Compositae family members occasionally cause severe reactions, including shock."

This is from eHow: The banana allergy takes two forms. The first is an allergy to bananas caused by an allergic reaction to ragweed pollen. The second, and usually more severe reaction, develops because the allergens in bananas are similar to the allergens in latex. This is called the latex-fruit allergy, and people with it may also be allergic to avocado, kiwi and mango, among other fruits

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/facts_5009540_symptoms-bananas-allergy.html

I'm going to cut out my chewing gum habit (4 sticks a day !!) I chew Trident XtraCare, which was reported to cause rash by the below MedHelp forum: http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Childrens-Allergies/Allergic-To-Bubble-Gum/show/507537