What Seasonal Allergy Sufferers Need Know About Oral Allergy Syndrome

Learn why your mouth might tingle after eating fresh fruits or veggies if you have hay fever.

Have you ever experienced itching or tingling in your mouth, lips, or throat when eating certain foods? If you have hay fever or seasonal allergies, what you’re experiencing is almost certainly oral allergy syndrome. Here’s what you need to know about this condition.

What Causes Oral Allergy Syndrome

Oral allergy syndrome is sometimes also called pollen-associated food allergy syndrome. This second name, while cumbersome to say aloud, helps to explain what’s happening in the body to cause you to experience symptoms. Essentially, your immune system is confusing the food for the pollens that you are allergic to. This happens because some foods have proteins that are similar to common pollen allergens such as ragweed, birch, mugwort, and grass.

Common Triggers of Oral Allergy Syndrome

To a certain extent, the type of pollen you are allergic to can predict the type of foods that may cause oral allergy syndrome. People with birch pollen allergies often experience a reaction when eating foods that are botanically close to birch, such as apples or pitted fruits like peaches, plums, cherries, and nectarines. People who are allergic to ragweed pollen often have a reaction when eating melons (such as cantaloupe, watermelon or honeydew) and may also be sensitive to cucumbers, zucchini, kiwi, or banana. For individuals with grass allergies, tomatoes, melons, and oranges may cause oral allergy syndrome symptoms.

Symptoms Can Vary

While not all seasonal allergy sufferers are affected by oral allergy syndrome, this condition is fairly common. If you do have allergies, it is definitely worth being alert to the possibility of a reaction to a fruit or vegetable. You may notice itching or tingling within seconds or minutes of eating the food—and if you do, stop eating immediately. For most people, the symptoms will fade within a few minutes to an hour.

For some individuals, symptoms only strike during allergy season, leaving them free to eat all kinds of fruits and vegetables during the rest of the year. For others, oral allergy syndrome may leave certain foods off limits year round, even when their seasonal allergy symptoms are dormant.

Cooking Foods Can Help

Oral allergy syndrome is usually only triggered by fresh foods, because when a fruit or vegetable is cooked, this alters the allergy-causing proteins. Canning or freezing can also have a similar effect and some individuals are able to comfortably consume these versions of a fruit though the fresh version would cause a reaction.

Your Allergist Can Help

If you have noticed any symptoms that match our description of oral allergy syndrome, we highly recommend that you contact Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology Medical Group and make an appointment at one of our clinics. Our skilled allergy doctors can help you discover your allergy profile through allergy testing and recommend treatments such as antihistamines that can help relieve your symptoms.