Do certain foods trigger similar symptoms as your seasonal allergies?
After reading this article, I wrote a blogpost about oral allergy syndrome/food-pollen allergy.
Do you (or someone you know) have a pollen allergy and often have oral discomfort (scratchy or sore throat, swollen lips, painful mouth, etc) when eating certain foods?
You might have food-pollen allergy syndrome.
Check out these links:
http://www.beyondallergy.com/food-allergies/oas.php
http://allergies.about.com/od/foodallergies/a/oas.htm
So what should you do if you have symptoms of food-pollen allergy syndrome?
~Try removing a peel from fresh fruit before eating.
~Try eating freshly-picked fruits because sometimes storing the fruit can add to the allergen.
~Try a different variety of fruit (ie: a different type of apple) to see if you don't react.
~Doctors don't recommend avoiding these foods altogether, but instead suggest patients try to tolerate the foods out-of-season or by processing them different (cooking, chopping, etc).
~Also getting an allergy shot (ie: hay fever) may help.
~Even drinking water soon after eating might dilute the proteins within the mouth.
What do you think? Do you know you have oral allergy syndrome or food-pollen allergy syndrome? Have you had reactions to fruit (or other foods) that remind you of other pollen-triggering reactions? Do you have any tips for preparing fruit or triggering foods that lessens their effects?
Do you (or someone you know) have a pollen allergy and often have oral discomfort (scratchy or sore throat, swollen lips, painful mouth, etc) when eating certain foods?
You might have food-pollen allergy syndrome.
Check out these links:
http://www.beyondallergy.com/food-allergies/oas.php
http://allergies.about.com/od/foodallergies/a/oas.htm
So what should you do if you have symptoms of food-pollen allergy syndrome?
~Try removing a peel from fresh fruit before eating.
~Try eating freshly-picked fruits because sometimes storing the fruit can add to the allergen.
~Try a different variety of fruit (ie: a different type of apple) to see if you don't react.
~Doctors don't recommend avoiding these foods altogether, but instead suggest patients try to tolerate the foods out-of-season or by processing them different (cooking, chopping, etc).
~Also getting an allergy shot (ie: hay fever) may help.
~Even drinking water soon after eating might dilute the proteins within the mouth.
What do you think? Do you know you have oral allergy syndrome or food-pollen allergy syndrome? Have you had reactions to fruit (or other foods) that remind you of other pollen-triggering reactions? Do you have any tips for preparing fruit or triggering foods that lessens their effects?
Tags: allergy, cross-reaction, food, fruit, oral, pollen, preparation, reaction
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ruth Smith on -
Hi Amanda, I have OAS to melons which is a cross reaction from ragweed. Ironically ragweed comes out here in the fall and I don't have fall allergy symptoms-but severe spring ones.
I ate melons as a child and my OAS started within the last five years. One bite of melon gives me an upset stomach, and itchy tongue and throat.
Honestly-I avoid all together. I know some foods can be cooked which will alter the protein and those with OAS will be able to eat.
Also-as you've suggested above-one might not have symptoms to ALL fruit types. I am "guessing" that it is related to your area or where you have lived in the past and the pollen there. My mom spent a number of years in Washington and now has OAS symptoms to red delicious apples harvested in Washington...but can eat other apples.
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Permalink Reply by amanda on -
ruth, thanks for sharing your insight! it's very interesting that your OAS started only <5 years ago. i wonder if the way our bodys change over time affects our ability to eat certain foods/react negatively to them. (i know this often happens with lactose intolerance for example.)
i think the geography-thing is a really interesting point too. you're probably right! it's funny that your mother lives near the apples she can't eat! (and unfortunate). you'd think she would have a tolerance to the environment and the fruit grown there would be ok? maybe it has the opposite effect?
i supposed people will have to sort of 'discover' what food they can enjoy vs. foods that give them trouble/reactions. it's a trial-and-error thing. it doesn't seem like a very fun experiment. and it's a shame that people, like you, may have to change their eating habits altogether to keep from feeling pain.
i'd be interested if anyone else has noticed these things too.
-amanda
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Permalink Reply by carl on -
thanks amanda for highlighting this issue. after 20 yrs of asma attacks I have found that diet is a very powerful weapon against imfamatory ailmonts. psorisois, arthritis, even migranes. I'm now free of steroids Occasionaly using prednisone if I ingest something that triggers a reaction. Please google 'elimantion diets' try eggs and cow products i mean any thing from a cow. Also eating more omega 3s. And nothing from a cow. Very good luck,
Carl
VB
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Permalink Reply by GreenerGirl on -
Here is an article from CNN, posted today, re: OAS.
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