What is going on this year, the Avocado Allergy Scourge of 2014? Everyone I live with is suddenly having allergic reactions to eating avocado.
A couple of months ago my husband ate some avocado, not normally a food in his diet, and proceeded to have terrible stomach cramps, hives, and other allergic symptoms that only went away with antihistamines and tore him up for days.
Then a week later, my sister-in-law bit into some avocado, which IS normally in her diet, though not every day. Within minutes, she experienced a swollen throat and itchy mouth reaction that did not leave her for several days and was only controlled with antihistamines.
Now, today, several weeks later but still the spring of 2014, my brother bites into a free sample of avocado at the store, and immediately feels his throat swelling and becoming sore. Benadryl for him, too - his wife, no dummy, carries them with her all the time now!
So...what could be happening here? None of these folks were allergic to avocado before. Now it's like there's an avocado allergy virus or something weirder going around - and I'm afraid I'm due to get it next!
We all live in the same household, but other than that, the newly allergic have nothing in common genetically or health-wise. The avocados were purchased at different places - one at Fred Meyer, one at the Food Co-op, another at Trader Joe's. At least one, and probably two, originated in Mexico and were the small variety. The one from Trader Joe's might have been Mexican or not, whether from small avocados or from the large Florida variety I don't know - it was pre-prepared.
So what do you think? Is it truly avocado doing this to our household? Have the fruits been genetically modified all of a sudden? Are we talking GMO avocados? Is it not the avocados at all, but maybe the pesticides or fertilizers used?
Or is it just really, truly a bizarre coincidence? I have no idea, but I'm finding it incredibly weird. What are the odds? Only one of us had even heard of an avocado allergy before - me, and I wasn't the one who reacted.
Because of my own health history, I knew that avocado allergy can be associated with an environmental-based immunological response. Though it's uncommon, allergic reactions to avocado can occur in association with a birch allergy. This is called "pollen allergy syndrome" or "oral allergy syndrome."
With some research, I have learned that avocado allergy can also originate as part of the "latex fruit syndrome," in which case one might also be allergic to not just latex, but kiwi and/or banana and a few other foods.
So - get this - I and my brother both have oral allergy syndrome, but I have it far more severely than my brother. And I showed no reaction to avocado - I've been eating it almost daily this season - though he did.
What is UP with that?