Could I possibly have a fruit allergy?

Question

I am seventeen-years-old, and for the past several years I have avoided eating raw fruit. It's not that I don't like the taste (I absolutely loved bananas before). It's the fact that every time I eat it, I get a very annoying, almost painful tingling/itchy sensation in my throat and around my gums.

My parents are convinced that I'm just paranoid and don't want to eat fruit, but I'm rather certain that this is not normal.

Does anyone by chance know anything about fruit allergies?

Answer 1

It sounds as if you may have oral allergy syndrome, which you can read about on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allerg... People who suffer from this often have the like symptoms you describe when they eat raw fruit.

It's definitely a real condition!

You can get immunotherapy treatments (http://www.food-allergy.org/page2.html; http://www.food-allergy.org/epd.html) to improve or cure your sensitivity to fruit. You and your parents will have do decide whether it's worthwhile to go this route, or if it would be best for you just to continue to avoid raw fruit.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

You have to wash raw fruit skin especially if you're going to eat the skin. They have pesticides on them, so unless you wash the fruit thoroughly you could have a reaction like yours. Soak the fruit if you can for about 10 minutes in a fruit wash solution to make sure you get it clean. I wash my apples with a drop of dishwashing detergent before I eat them.