What is oral allergy syndrome?
Oral allergy syndrome is also known as pollen food allergy syndrome. It is a type of food allergy that occurs in people with allergic rhinitis to pollen. The reason hay fever and oral allergy syndrome are often connected is because some fruits, vegetables, and nuts contain proteins that look similar to pollen proteins, so your body reacts to them in the same way it reacts to pollen. This is called cross-reactivity.
What foods trigger oral allergy syndrome?
The types of foods that trigger oral allergy syndrome vary from person to person, and a person may be allergic to one or more of the following types of foods:
- Fruit: banana, orange, apple, kiwi, cherry, strawberry, apricot, avocado, fig, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, peach, pear, plum.
- Vegetables: tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, celery, zucchini, potatoes, pepper, parsley, chamomile.
- Nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds.
What are the symptoms of oral allergy syndrome?
It usually causes mild symptoms within minutes of eating the raw foods listed above, but symptoms are often worse during pollen seasons. Symptoms vary from one person to another. These symptoms include:
- Itchy lips, mouth, tongue or throat
- Redness around the mouth
- Mild swelling of the lips, tongue or throat
- Itching and redness of the skin when in contact with problem food
- Symptoms of rhinitis, such as sneezing, congestion, runny nose, itchy eyes, and tearing.
- In very rare cases, it lcan cause anaphylaxis.
How is oral allergy syndrome diagnosed?
Patient should consult an allergist to ensure that the symptoms are caused by this syndrome and not by any other more serious allergy.
Diagnosis depends on the patient noticing the appearance of symptoms after eating certain foods and seeing a doctor who will records the symptoms and do physical examination to check the condition of the nose, mouth, throat, skin.
They may confirm the diagnosis by doing allergy tests such as a skin prick test or an oral food challenge.
How is oral allergy syndrome treated?
- Oral allergy syndrome does not require medical treatment in most cases. Symptoms may disappear within 30 minutes on their own.
- You can ease an itchy mouth or mild swelling by stopping eating the problem food and drinking water to wash away any residue left.
- Antihistamine medications may help treat mild symptoms.
- Epinephrine to treat anaphylaxis.
How can prevent oral allergy syndrome?
The simplest and most effective way to avoid symptoms is to avoid eating raw (fresh) forms of problem foods. But if you must eat problem foods, the following tips can help:
- Cooking the problem foods. Heat changes the chemical composition of the proteins that cause allergies. But it should be taken into account that nuts can cause reactions even after cooking.
- Eat canned vegetables and fruits.
- Peeling the problem foods. The proteins that cause allergies are usually concentrated in the peels.
Can oral allergy syndrome go away?
There is no cure, but the syndrome may disappear in some people because the body used to the foods over time.
