Stevioside, a natural noncaloric sweetener isolated from Stevia rebaundiana Bertoni (stevia), is widely used as food additive in Japan (1). Some Japanese cultivate stevia and make herb tea with stevia leaves. We experienced ana-phylactic shock by stevia or stevioside in two infants with atopic eczema (AE). Patient 1 is a 7-month-old female. She had AE since 2 months, which was treated with steroid ointment, but without effect. She was breast-fed. She had egg allergy and cow's milk allergy, but not other food allergy or latex allergy. Mother cultivated stevia and drank herb tea with stevia leaves. One day, mother noticed that the infant was chewing stevia leaves. Soon after, the infant became unconscious. Upon emergent admission, she was treated with injection of dexamethasone, with prompt recovery. She was found to have allergy to stevia leaves and stevioside (Table 1). Key words: anaphylaxis; atopic eczema; food additive; stevia; stevioside.
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