Oral Allergy Factsheet June 2014 Document Reference AFCS16v8

Oral allergy syndrome is a medical condition in which the person affected suffers immediate allergic symptoms in the lips, mouth and throat, usually when they eat certain kinds of raw fruit, raw vegetables or nuts. These symptoms are most commonly itching or tingling, but swelling may also occur. This factsheet aims to answer some of the questions which you and your family might have about living with oral allergy syndrome. Our aim is to provide information that will help you to avoid the foods that cause the problem and know how to treat an allergic reaction should it occur. If you think you suffer from oral allergy syndrome, you should visit your GP for confirmation of the diagnosis. Most cases are mild but on rare occasions there is the potential for more serious food allergy and so your GP may recommend consultation with an allergy specialist. Throughout the text you will see brief medical references given in brackets. More complete references are published towards the end of this fact sheet. Other terms for oral allergy syndrome The type of allergy described in this fact sheet is caused by a process known as “cross-reactivity ” – where the proteins in certain foods are similar to those in pollens. Therefore this condition can also be known as ‘pollen food syndrome ’ (Egger et al 2006, Ma et al 2003, Konstantinou et al 2008). In other cases the primary cause is