Featured: Oral Allergy Syndrome

I think I may have referred to (whined) about my tendency to break out in an itchy mouth and throat when I eat raw vegetables and fruit. On occasion I’ve even talked to my doctor about it. Usually I love my doctor but on this subject, I get

“If it makes your mouth itchy, don’t eat it.”

Um… Yeah… Helpful.

When I’m trying to loose weight and I can’t eat fresh vegetables or fruit, that puts a kink in my plan, ya know?   Then I found out that this ridiculous figment of my fast-food-eating brain wasn’t actually a figment of my imagination – but a real, live issue – and not just for me!

 

And for your reading pleasure, there is another article in WeightWatchers magazine, March & April issue, pp. 68 on this itchy mouth phenomenon, otherwise known as oral allergy syndrome.

The cause: Your immune system senses a similarity between pollen proteins and the proteins in certain foods, and reacts with classic allergy symptoms.

And LiveStrong.com says:

If you’re allergic to birch pollen, the following fresh fruits may trigger oral allergy syndrome: pears, peaches, apples, apricots, cherries, plums, prunes, kiwi and nectarines. Eating bananas, watermelon, honeydew or cantaloupes can cause an itchy mouth if you’re allergic to ragweed. Certain grass pollen can cause your mouth to itch when you eat oranges, tomatoes, melons or peaches. Consuming pears, apples, cherries and peaches can cause oral allergy syndrome if you’re allergic to alder pollen, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

And the fix – is as easy as cooking the items that you’re reacting to.  In nearly all cases you do not need to cook until mushy – just until you will cease and desist the itchy mouth reaction.

Try these recipes if you suffer from Oral Allergy Syndrome:

• Baked Apples
• Roasted Veggies
• Mom’s cucumber salad (cucumber is one of those things that I rarely react to)
• How to add carrots to just about any main dish