If you’ve ever experienced a tingly feeling in your mouth after eating fruit, you probably don’t want to just brush it off as nothing. Sure, apples, berries, and bananas are delicious and good for you, but if they’re making you feel strange, it’s probably a sign that you should address what’s going on.
Unfortunately, if your mouth has ever tingled after eating fruit, you could actually be developing a disorder.
You might already know that the tingling feeling you get has something to do with seasonal allergies. But what you probably don’t know is that these symptoms can be so severe that the National Jewish Health center has named them “oral allergy syndrome.” This means that it’s just not allergies, but an actual syndrome you can be diagnosed with.
According to Food & Wine, Dr. Carah Santos, who works at National Jewish Health in Denver, spoke about this on the podcast The Sporkful. Dr. Santos said that people who have general allergies can easily develop allergies to fruits and vegetables, especially during prime allergy season. Because the proteins in fruits and veggies can be similar to those in plants and pollens, the immune system of someone with general allergies could mistake fruits for pollen-filled plants. Basically, because they’re so similar, your body thinks fruits and veggies are plants you’re allergic to — and that’s how the allergy develops.
Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is hard to diagnose, and Dr. Santos has stated, “I do think that this is one of the most underreported and underrecognized conditions.” This is probably because the tests that usually detect food allergies usually come back negative for someone with OAS. So you might think you’re allergic to the fruit, but you get tested and it oddly seems like you’re not.
Because it’s so underreported and not often diagnosed, researchers don’t know how many people suffer from OAS. Research on pollen-related food allergies from 2015 did find, however, that “there is no doubt that the increase in pollen allergies is going to be followed by an increase in the so-called pollen-related food allergies.”
While this might make it sound like you should avoid fruits and veggies for good, you don’t need to.
Although some allergists do recommend avoiding the fruits and veggies that make your mouth tingle, there are ways to get around it. Cooking the food instead of eating it raw is a good way to break down the proteins more, making it less likely for you to have a reaction. You can also eat canned fruits or veggies during pollen season, or even try peeling the food — often, there is a lot of that protein in the fruit’s skin.
If the tingly feeling is really uncomfortable, the National Jewish Health center recommends taking an oral antihistamine to relieve symptoms.
