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Imagine this: You take a bite of a crisp fall apple and notice your lips feel a little itchy. An odd sensation, but you ignore it and take another bite. Now your tongue is itchy too. After another bite, the itch spreads to your throat. As you swallow the apple, your throat starts to swell. The weird thing is, you're not allergic to apples; you've eaten them all your life. So what's up?
“I like to call oral allergy syndrome 'the cocktail party allergy,” says Dr. Chris Webber, an allergy/immunology specialist based in Denver, Colorado. “It is surprisingly common among people who have seasonal allergies, but (the sufferers) think there's something strange about (themselves) and never bring it up to doctors or friends. But if you bring it up at a social event, you find it is very, very common.”
Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is a bodily response that occurs in some adult hay fever sufferers when they eat certain raw fruits and vegetables. For the majority of people, its side-effects are annoying but not life-threatening: a temporary itching of the mouth area coupled with a swelling of the throat. The more disturbing aspect is mental: Why are people suddenly allergic to foods they've eaten hundreds of times before?
In fact, it's not specific foods that are the problem: It's pollen. And OAS is just your body being a little over-protective.
Of course, your immune system means well. When you develop a pollen allergy, it's responsible for producing an antibody against that pollen. OAS occurs when your immune system mistakes the food you're eating for the pollen to which you are allergic.
Say you're allergic to birch pollen and eat an apple. Your body might detect trace amounts of pollen left on that apple and start producing antibodies. In one bite, a food you've enjoyed all your life has become an itch-inducing enemy.
Luckily, there are a couple of ways for those affected by OAS to go around the problem and enjoy their food. A common method is to literally go (all) around it, by removing a fruit's outer skin. If that's not sufficient, another tactic has even more dramatic results:
“Heating the foods denatures the fruit's cross reactive protein and renders it nonfunctional,” Dr. Webber explains. In layman's terms: cook it before you eat it, and you're good to go.
Of course, if you suffer from OAS and can't bring yourself to stay away from the raw foods, you can always just wait out the reaction; it typically only lasts about 15 minutes.
And don't forget to bond with fellow oral allergy syndrome sufferers at your next cocktail party!
OK, your turn, readers: Has this ever happened to you, or someone you know?
Related:
- Sipping without sneezing? Scientists thwart wine allergies
- You can literally be allergic to exercise
- Real-life vampires: People who are allergic to the sun
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
I have this - and as the article says I had it for years and thought it was just something odd to do with me lol. It was quite a revelation to learn it actually had a name!
This happened to me at the end of August. Only it was not apples it was watermelon. Two bites and I was in an anaphylactic reaction. Trip to ER then overnight in ICU unit. The odd thing is that I ate watermelon a week earlier and had no reaction at all. I was tested and was found to be allergic to trees,grasses,weeds corn,melons,carrots,celery,squash,tomatoes and nuts. Very odd to me. Lived here my whole life. Now getting allergies. I stay away from ALL fresh fruits and veggies.
Finally, something to prove my husband isnt crazy! He's had these symptoms from raw apples for the past couple years! It has confused us both to say the least. He can eat them cooked but maybe we'll try removing the outter skin as recommended.
Thank you!
This exact thing happened to me! I am an seasonal allergy sufferer, mostly Alder pollen. Then one day, I'm eating an apple, and get the itchy throat and gums. Then, it started to happen with plums, peaches, nectarines. I stayed a way from that fruit for a long time, then decided to just keep eating them despite the symptoms. Now, none of the fruit bothers me at all.
You are lucky- I have the same responses - apples, peaches , pears, nectarines, strawberries, plums.....but with me they make my eyes swell up like a lizards,
then the whites of my eyes turn red, and then THEY swell up, leaving me with sunken irises. A good look!
I love fruit, and it kills me. Luckily, bananas , grapes, and berries are OK- also, 30 seconds in a microwave kills the protein too, so I do apples in the fall.
All this from too much woodworking.......
my wife has this. can't eat raw apples, zucchini, cherries, peaches, even raw strawberries give her a little reaction. can't even kiss me if i've eaten an apple. Apples are the worst for her
I have the same problem. Veggie Wash.... I bought it online, it takes off all the ickyness of raw fruits/veggies. Give it a try, it works for me.
Sounds more like reactions to pesticides; after all, apples are high up on the list of "the dirty dozen"!
worst food for pesticides:
NO, it's not pesticides. Peddle your crap somewhere else. It's a protein under the skin that causes the problem.
Get a life.
It is the pesticide crap on and in the fruits and vegetables. Lets see, you drink a cup of apple juice compared to a cup of pesticide and we will see which one is better for you.
Just because a pesticide is poisonous, doesn't make you allergic to it. And you wont be allergic to the juice because it is pasteurized and none of the pollen on the skin. And the trace amount of pesticide will not kill you like a cup of it may. Even the cup may only make you sick, but not be itchy with a swollen throat. Learn the difference between poison and allergic reaction.
I have this condition and have discussed it with my allergist. Let me put it in simpler terms. Most people who have this are allergic to an airborne pollen: Grass, tree, ragweed. When as person eats certain fruits, the body thinks they are actually eating tree, grass or ragweed and has the appropriate reaction. Another major offender not on the list below: Raw peas! I can eat any of these fruits frozen or cooked (unlike a person with a real allergy to them) but if I eat them raw, I get itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, wheezing, scratchy throat and my windpipe will close up on me.
Hmm, sounds like another attempt to bamboozle the unwashed masses. "The last couple of years," you say? Allergies are not something that just suddenly happen from one season to the next, no matter how much the media talk us into accepting the latest sickness or disease. An allergy is genetic; most are born with it.
It is very interesting, however, to observe how all these really weird symptoms and strange, inexplicable diseases have suddenly become widespread after those so-called chemtrails started making their appearance in the sky. Ever considered that?
Allergies can indeed "appear" at any time. Or disappear. My brother has a host of allergies, as did I as a kid - but I outgrew mine, and he did not. My ex husband never had ANY allergies, but developed several in his 40's. My son developed an allergy to raspberries (a true allergy) in his teens. And that was an allergy that wasn't anywhere in our family.
As far as this goes, however, my father did find the "cure." Wash the apples with soap. It takes away the pollen, and he can enjoy them without a problem.
Pol, you are wrong and this isn't an attempt to do anything but inform. I have been like this for years, and yes it started and I wasn't born with it. I can eat salads and fruits and so forth as long as I take my antihistamine every day, but there are sometimes when my allergies are bad that if I eat watermelon my mouth itches, and cantaloupe does that to me as well. I used to eat bananas and love them, but they started making my lips swell, throat swell and itch, and I could feel them go all the way through me...horrible feeling. If it isn't pollen season and I'm not already miserable I can eat all but the bananas usually.
Perhaps you might consider reading up on allergic reactions and how they develop before saying things like your first paragraph. It is totally inaccurate.
This problem began for me in the early 70's. It went away for apples and such, but pit fruits (peaches, cherries, etc.) bother me to this day.
I disagree with the advice to simply ride out the symptoms. It depends on how badly you're affected. I once ate 3 slim slices of peach and my throat swelled to the point where I was beginning to have difficulty breathing.
Allergies are genetic and don't just start? Gee, I guess I should listen to you instead of the Immunologists at the research facility I work at who study allergies...
Just another commenter that needs to do some actual research on a topic before type something they apparently know nothing about.
I have had this same problem for years but for me it’s not a pollen allergy, it’s all the crap they spray on fresh fruit. I also have it with plums but if I eat organic I have no reaction.
This article is BS. The allergic reaction has nothing to do with pollen it has to do with the food coloring and waxes that are put on fruits and veggies. Red fruits have dyes put on them.
Also, the reactions can be serious, I have for can barely breathe when I bite into one of these chemical laden pieces of fruit. I've complained to the grocery stores but they are still buying from these suppliers that use these chemicals.
My advice, find a good produce stand and shop there. They are much more likely to know which of their products are local, which are imported and which have chemical dyes and preservatives and waxes on them.
It's really not bs at all. I reacted the same to store bought fruits & veggies and things grown in my parents' garden. As I've gotten older (I'm 30 now) and my hayfever symptoms have waned, so have the food reactions.
Allergies to pesticides or other chemical additives are different than oral allergy syndrome.
MBA, your're BS.
I have OAS to pineapple, kiwi and cherry tomatoes--none of which have food dyes added.
When you have a reaction so bad that you cant close your mouth, swallow, or breathe then maybe you'll get a clue.
My husband and son have eaten fruit from our yard, cleaned off, and still had an allergic reaction, so it's not dyes or pesticides.
I have this issue with almost every common fruit and vegetable... in fact there are fruits that I've never had in my life for fear that I will have one of these reactions. Washing the fruit is never enough (even the organic ones that I pick or GROW myself); I have to cook them or not eat them at all.
My reactions vary from annoying to my throat nearly swelling shut which makes it hard to breathe.
It is not BS at all. I have OAS, diagnosed by an Allergist-immunologist. My allergies to particular fruits and nuts are due to cross-reaction with allergy to birch pollen. I have tried organic apples after some layman suggested my symptoms were due to pesticides. I nearly choked myself to death, they almost had to give me an epinephrine shot at the ER.
Nope, not BS. I've had it for years. Thought I was really strange. I love crisp corn on the cob, but can't eat it unless I cook it more than I'd like. Can't eat raw carrots, cooked carrots are no problem. And lots of fruits, especially melons. I was very relieved when they came up with a name for it! I've always had a few true food allergies, but this is just bizarre. And very difficult to explain to people.
My apple allergy came on suddenly, and it's clearly not due to food coloring and waxes because I first noticed it when eating an applie I picked apples in an orchard.
so when I pick a berry off of the bushes in my yard, the red color of that berry has all ready been chemically induced into it? Simply amazing! How do they do that? And when, after going into my home and rinsing off that special berry, my lips and mouth itch, it is because it is tied into a checical-laden producer? NONSENSE, I do not care if you have an MBA. (And no, I do not spray anything on my property, nor do neighbors many acres away. I am in Alaska.) My brother, by the way, in PA has this same allergy. Certain fruits and veggies, when cooked, do not have such an effect.
I had this as a kid. My hayfever allergies peaked when I was a teenager and as the typical symptoms have gone away over the years, so have most of the food reactions.
Raw carrots are a stubborn outlier though! But considering at one point I reacted to melons, bananas, many lettuces, raw carrots, celery and a host of other things, I really can't complain.
I have this reaction in a fairly significant way to the melon family --- canteloupe, cucumber, etc.--- and to nearly any raw vegetable. My father, a vegetable crops researcher, has surmised that I have a sensitivity to an amino acid in the veggies that is destroyed by heat. This pollen/histamine theory sounds as if it has merit also.
hymnist, if I don't take an antihistamine every day I can't eat any of those either. I love salads and can't do it without the meds. I feel for you, definitely, and I know it is serious.
I also have an allergic reaction to the melon family (also includes cucumbers). I have heard of OAS before and when I researched my allergy to melons, I found out that my body is thinking it's a ragweed protein. I'm really allergic to ragweed and that allergy usually peaks in the Sept-Nov. time frame and during that time, if I eat any melons, my mouth and tongue swell up and my throat becomes extraordinarily itchy. I can eat melons at other times of the year, and whenever I'm in doubt and eat a melon in the wrong season, my body will certainly let me know it does not like it!
MP, same here! It took me awhile to figure out why I reacted sometimes worse than others, and the ragweed link explained a lot!
MBA, you are wrong and it isn't BS at all. Sorry, but red apples are red on the tree...not saying there isn't dye used on some things and I am sure there is, but guess you haven't been to an orchard or had apple trees? Guess you never have been around veggie plants or trees much? Red peppers are red on the plants...exactly what are you referring to? If you react to red dye you would react to it in foods and not just on fruits, too. I can see reacting to the waxes or pesticides, though, and of course those are nasty.
I am not sure why you would feel qualified to say the reaction has nothing to do with pollen...you have no idea about the subject or you wouldn't say that...geez.
But many apples are waxed, and the wax is petrochemical-based and may contain added fungicides and pesticides. Remember Alar? Maybe these organic supporters are on to something.
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I developed an allergy to apples six years ago---they made me feel sick. Cooked, they were ok---and I found that if I took a raw apple sliced it without removing the skin, and then I rubbed each slice with lemon, then it didn't react on me, I was able to eat it. This lasted for about 2 years and suddenly disapeared.
Hmmm, maybe it's not the apple itself, maybe it's some new systemic pesticide that the person has never "tasted" before. Maybe it's the body saying, "get that s&*t outta here."
And what about when it happens to people eating the apples out of their own yards? Explain that one, when there are no pesticides. Quit trying to incite fear where none exists because of your own delusional fantasies and theories of mysterious new chemicals.
This started happening to me around the age of 30. Suddenly I was allergic to birch trees and then some foods, especially those with pits, some nuts (smooth shelled ones), and apples. Some apples it doesn't happen with thought so I just assummed it was a reaction to the pesticids that were used to grow the fruits. Go figure?
My son has seasonal allergies and all of a sudden one day became allergic to apples. For a couple of years it was just itchy and swollen lips, but now he will throw up if he eats anything with apples, whether cooked or not, and with skins or not. My husband has developed an allergy to grapes, including grape leaves and even fruit juice with grape juice in it, so it doesn't matter if it's cooked or not. He too will throw up. My son is from a previous relationship so it's not genetic between the two.
So glad to hear this - I'm allergic to eggplant and kiwi fruit and have had trouble explaining it (or getting my mom to quit feeding me eggplant when I was a kid). I'm still allergic to cooked eggplant though...
Sounds to me they like it is a reaction to the chemicals sprayed on the apples and other fruits and vegetables.
I believe the human body is more hearty then what it is being blamed for. I will believe in nature more then man and his propaganda.
I suggest eating the same fruits/veges and try organic farm produced ones. If your "allergy" is really from the fruit then you'll know. otherwise it's from the myriad of toxins they plaster all over the food we eat. my neighbor had cancer and his wife suggested lots of fresh fruits...his doc said "No way" those fruits and veges are full of pesticides and chemicals, and it would make him worse. do the homework, people.
I would agree. I tried an organic watermelon and while I still had the same allergy during ragweed season, it was much worse than a non-organic watermelon would have done to me. I've switched to almost all organic fruits and veggies, and have had less symptoms.
And this was said by a Dr who probably treated him with toxins and poisons to get rid of the cancer. So, yes listen to him...whatever...
It has happened to me twice in my whole life, so I don't think it's seasonal. ANd my face turnes black the first time. The second time, it only made me vomit.
Yup, I found I'm allergic to apples. Itchy mouth and gums, itchy throat, and hives around my jaw. Same thing happens with almonds. Something strange happened one time, though. My husband ordered apple pie once at a restaurant and they brought it out still steaming and crackling. Taking a breath while sitting close to it felt like breathing in smoke from a chemical fire. Awful. Weird.
It happened to me with them hazelnuts ,I was even itching inside my skin.I had to run to the dolla' store and get me some antihistamine.
Oh my gosh! I thought I was the only one. Banana's, raw carrots, lettuce, cucumbers and apples all do this to me. Since I was a kid.
My husband has Oral Allergy Syndrome - he's allergic to basically all fresh fruits and veggies, and has been since he was around 4 years old. He misses raw bananas so badly! It's really unfortunate because fresh fruits and veggies are so much healthier than when they are cooked!
When I was younger I would have this reaction to bananas, walnuts and other nuts, but only during hay fever season, when I was already going crazy with all my allergies. Since I am now on immunotherapy, I no longer have this problem (for the most part).
This happened to me with kiwi fruit. Went into anaphylactic shock, complete with total body itching, throat just about closed up, etc. Scary. I had eaten kiwi fruits for years before this. Now if I even get even a little of the juice on my tongue, my throat starts to close up.