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The term "Oral allergy syndrome" is in this article is stated in the leadin as "not actually an allergy to food" but just prior to that states "is an allergic reaction to certain (usually fresh) fruits, nuts, and vegetables". Then the bulk of the article, by length, is the table claiming that those with hayfever to certain pollens may have cross reactivity to certain foods.
A quick search on PubMed indicates that the term "Oral allergy syndrome", in official biomedical literature, seems to be often used synonymously for "food allery", e.g.:
((cite journal))
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)in the first sentance of the abstract switches terminology to "Background Soybean protein is used in a number of food products but is also a common cause of food allergy"
Many of the reports seem to address Japanese studies on raw fish (a food product not mentioned by the article at all), eg:
((cite journal))
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)A good reference that does discuss fruit-pollen cross-reactivities is:
((cite journal))
: Explicit use of et al. in: |author=
(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)but this does not require exclusivity to pollen reactions, stating "Forty-one of 63 patients with OAS (66.1%) had pollinosis and/or allergic rhinitis", which presumably means that 33.9% had OAS without any reactions to pollens.
This seems at complete odds with PMID 17357673 abstract introduction that quite clearly gives an absolute definition that "History of oral allergy syndrome goes back to 1987 year, when Amlot for the first time used this name for pollen-food cross-reactive reactions". It would seem that use of the term has broadened since it was first coined. Worse, PubMed gives just single paper by Amlot for 1987 which seems make no such fruit-pollen association at all ! See abstract of:
((cite journal))
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)So what are we to do with this article?
So this article either needs a radically rephrased lead-in definition, or possibly merging into Food allergy David Ruben Talk 04:01, 25 January 2008 (UTC)
Bkwillwm, can you tell me what constitutes a food allergy in your mind? I think that being clear about this definition will make this conversation easier.
My immediate concern is that we have an article that states that OAS both is and is not an allergy to food, which is nonsense. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:20, 25 January 2008 (UTC)
My answer, part 1: Definitions
Thank you for your response. What I got out of your message is that your defintion of "food allergy" is not simply a slightly more compact way to say "an allergy to one or more foods." Your definition of "food allergy" is much closer to "an allergy to food that causes a certain pattern of symptoms," although you seem willing to be flexible about it.
I also understand from your description that you have no specialized knowledge about this area (that is, that you're a normal person).
So let me tell you my perspective on food allergy. First, I think that "food allergy" and "an allergy to food" are identical in meaning. I do not believe that it is possible to have an allergy to any specific food without having that specific food allergy. For example, all of my nephews are allergic to peanuts, and they all have peanut allergies. These phrases communicate precisely the same information to me, and I suspect that any attempt to make a fine distinction here would be entirely lost on the average reader, even if it was warranted.
I define a food allergy as an antibody-based immune system response against a material (such as a plant or animal) that is normally considered edible. If 99% of people can eat oranges without triggering an antibody response, and your body mounts an antibody response against oranges, then I say you are allergic to oranges. I do not care how or why your body came to mount this antibody response: if it does so, then you are allergic. In this field, my definition is generally considered to be slightly on the expansive side because I do not limit it to specifically IgE-based reactions (IgE is a kind of antibody, and it's the most common one involved in allergies).
My defintion also reflects my bias towards theoretical biology instead of clinical practice, because I do not require any specific clinical symptoms. To give you a concrete example of the distinction here, when I say that I'm personally allergic to cats, I specifically mean that my body produces antibodies against a cat protein called Fel d 1. When my doc says that I'm allergic to cats, she means that my eyes water and my skin itches and my head aches and my nose runs and I sneeze repeatedly whenever I'm around cats, and that none of this happens when I avoid cats (and it's not hay fever season).
The rest of my answer: Details
Technically, OAS is not a "cross-reaction between pollen and food." That phrasing suggests that the pollen and the food are interacting with each other, and they're not. In OAS, the allergic-reaction-causing antibody that binds to the pollen proteins is also capable of binding to some food proteins (specifically, to those food proteins which are similar to pollen proteins). It's the antibody that is cross-reactive; the allergens do not interact with each other. The relationship between pollen allergies and food allergies is entirely explained by this mechanism.
Your understanding of mechanisms involved in nut allergies is incorrect. People with regular nut allergies and OAS-prompted nut allergies both react to the nut proteins -- indeed, both groups react solely to nut proteins. The actual difference here is that antibodies against Jug r 1 (to use walnuts as an example) respond to the linear (amino acid) sequence of the protein, not to a conformational epitope. In practice, this means that no matter how much you cook it/denature it, the anti-walnut antibodies can still attack it. This is true both for people with OAS and for people with plain walnut allergies. Furthermore, some people with OAS do not find relief by eating cooked foods. Even for susceptible foods (e.g., peaches), protein denaturing only works for a subset of people with OAS.
Additionally, people with OAS can have serious, even deadly, reactions to foods. Just because your (and my) experience with OAS is that the symptoms are mild and temporary doesn't mean that everyone has the same experience. If people with hay-fever-deranged immune systems didn't have serious reactions to foods, then there would be no need for them to carry EpiPens into restaurants, and anaphylaxis would not be mentioned in the article.
At bottom, OAS is an explanation for how you and I came to have food allergies in the first place, not a special style of food allergy. My OAS-related symptoms happen to be identical to my friend's almond-allergy symptoms: a little swelling in the lips, a little itching of the mucus membranes. The only difference is that I have hay fever and she doesn't, so I technically have OAS and she doesn't.
(I realize that I've just dumped a lot of technical information on you, so I encourage you to ask questions about anything that I've written that seems unclear or incorrect. I am happy to [try to] explain.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 07:01, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
Oppose Merge. I was going through some of my history and came across this page, which now has a large, ugly factual dispute tag at the top. I don't think this is necessary for what is essentially a semantics debate.
Although I'm probably going to offend quite a number of doctors, as a sufferer of OAS myself, I don't really care whether it's technically a "food allergy" or a "cross-reaction pollen allergy" or whatever... It's easiest for a layman like myself to think of it as a food allergy, because when I eat certain foods, I get sick.
I propose a compromise between those who wish to be technical about this (which is important, for the doctors who come across this article) and those who wish to be non-technical (which is important, for laymen like myself who come along): Let's start off the article with something like "Although not technically a food allergy, OAS is commonly described as one because those who have it become sick after eating certain foods." Then, we can create a section called "Technical/Medical Definition" and put all the gory details in there, and link part of the first sentence to it. I'm going to make these changes, using the wording from WhatamIdoing above. Since I may botch the technical stuff, someone smart please fix it! :) Michael (talk) 05:53, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
For example, OAS patients (myself included) often have allergic reactions to food, however, when tested for an food allergy, they turn up negative. - Bkwillwm
That is precisely what happens with me as well. I was also told by the allergist that interpreted my scratch test that eating, say a watermellon, would not induce anaphalaxis. It would make my mouth and pharynx swell up with the same practical conclusion as anaphalaxis, but it would not effect my lungs.
The difference is, from what I can tell, is that OAS is not systemic. The immune response does not spread to parts of the body not in contact with the offending protien. I'll try to find something to back me up on this later. Lizz612 (talk) 18:28, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
The external links look pretty weak to me. Imagine the "perfect" article on OAS for a minute. Is there anything on any of these links that wouldn't be included in that perfect article? Do they provide any unique resource to the general reader? WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:00, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
I'm not sure that we want this to be the non-restrictive clause. The idea is closer to "In case of foods that have more than one antigen (hazelnut is an example of this)" than to "In case of foods like hazelnut (or, for that matter, any other food that has more than one antigen)". I think the solution is a restrictive clause with the example moved to the end: "In the case of foods that have more than one allergen, such as hazelnut..."
What do you think? WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:37, 29 September 2009 (UTC)
I noticed at the beginning of the article it states "in oral allergy syndrome, the reaction is limited to the mouth, lips, tongue and throat." However, under symptoms, it states that "If a sufferer swallows the food, and the allergen is not destroyed by the stomach acids there is a good chance that there will be a reaction from histamine release later in the gastrointestinal tract. Vomiting, diarrhea, severe indigestion, or cramps may occur. Rarely, OAS may be severe and present as wheezing, vomiting, hives and low blood pressure." Perhaps the first sentence should rephrase it more like "...the reaction is usually limited to..." ?
Also, an allergic reaction to raw doughs such as cookie dough, cake batter, and raw noodles can occur (possibly caused by the flour). I'm not certain if it's part of OAS or if it's a plant allergy, but some people get a skin reaction, such as hives on the hands when handling certain foods and in some cases even just smelling the food can cause a reaction. Not sure if it should be added to the article, but I didn't see it mentioned and thought it should at least be somewhere. Kamiyu910 (talk) 19:14, 8 February 2011 (UTC)
Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is an allergic reaction in the oral cavity following consumption, of food,especially through fruits and vegetables.
The reaction occurs in entire oral cavity , previous edit "Only mouth" Especially the reaction occurs through fruits and vegetables
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4655061/
(KEKAPETA (talk) 15:32, 26 September 2018 (UTC))
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Wtmitchell#Requesting_you
(KEKAPETA (talk) 13:17, 28 September 2018 (UTC))
Present the definition :(After revert by user:Bonadea)
Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is a type of food allergy classified by a cluster of allergic reactions in the mouth and throat in response to eating certain (usually fresh) fruits, nuts, and vegetables that typically develops in adults with hay fever.
The definition Before revert : Oral allergy syndrome (OAS) is an allergic reaction in the oral cavity following consumption, of food,especially through fruits and vegetables.
1. "Oral cavity" is a better meaning. 2. Really allergy develops only in hay fever subjects? 3. Consumption Is better meaningful than 'eating' (KEKAPETA (talk) 13:32, 28 September 2018 (UTC))
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oral_allergy_syndrome&diff=861581403&oldid=861580539
(KEKAPETA (talk) 14:14, 28 September 2018 (UTC))
Hey, so I initially found this article when looking for reasons why my mouth feels uncomfortable after eating eggplant, yet there is no mention of eggplant anywhere so far. Could someone do me a favour and find a external source for eggplant in Oral Allergy syndrome so we can include it in the list of foods? Thanks