Mango Allergy (Blog)

[Jake Birkett]

Yeah it's weird that more people are getting peanut allergies. We haven't suddenly evolved new genetics that have made us more allergic to peanuts, BUT our environment has lots more chemicals in it the last 60 years and our diet (generally) has also changed radically since WWII. There's also more asthma and other diseases caused by our "modern" lifestyle.

[Gec]

Peanut allergy "vaccine"?? Boy, I'm almost speechless. I didn't want to say anything the first time it got mentioned, but now I HAVE TO: this has got to be the new "thing" in pharmaceuticals (which is not that new, it's the same old thing as the swine flu vaccine and the ones before that which I don't care to mention )

There's these guys in charge with innovation in pharmaceutical companies, and they have their yearly brainstorming session:

"Man, that swine flu thing worked wonders, we got billions dollars profit. What's next? Now remember: it has to fulfill only 2 conditions:

1. it must be something people would be willing to buy in order to "protect" their "loved ones"
2. it must be completely untraceable, meaning they must never know whether it works or not OR by the time they find out it doesn't work (years down the line) we can say it was not administered properly or whatever"

And another guy goes:

"I got it guys, listen to this: you know all those kids allergic to peanut butter, getting into anaphylactic shock when they smell an open jar? Well, everybody knows them, and any parent would want their kid "protected" against this "allergy". Let's make up a vaccine for it."

"But it's not a bacteria that's causing it, what do you mean vaccine?"

"Bah, bacteria shmuckteria, who cares? I bet they'll buy it."

"You know," jumps in another guy, "I think he's right. It fulfills the two conditions, and plus, we're running out of animals for the flu."

"OK enough work, good idea, let's wrap it up and call it a day. I'll let marketing know tomorrow that they have to start a new campaign about our newest "dis-co-ve-ry", he he he. Let the fun begin."

[skinnyninja]

Gec, I don't think you understand how peanut allergies work.....people die when they eat the stuff. They die from just smelling peanuts.

And they have cured it, through immunotherapy or whatever you call it (basically what Steve is experimenting with). These same people (who would have died) can now eat like up to 5 full peanuts without a reaction. This is amazingly good news (to me).

Just think if your child had peanut allergies.....

A few years ago, a young girl in my town died because she ate some chili. There was peanut butter in the chili, to help thicken it up. Who would have guessed? The girl died though.

By the way, my peanut allergy was detected before I was old enough to start eating cereal. I was just under 2 years old when they found out....

[Becca]

Steve - I'm terribly sorry to hear about your mango allergy, since mangoes really are delicious.

I actually discovered last fall that I had developed not one, but several food allergies (including tomatoes and hazelnuts). It actually took doctors several months to figure out what was causing my chronic hives. To make a long story short, I ended up being referred to a specialist at the Mayo Clinic. In addition to running a series of blood-tests to pinpoint my allergies, the doctor that I saw also gave me some useful information on allergies and how they sometimes develop later in life.

From what I understand, you will be allergic to mangoes for the rest of your life. Unlike a food intolerance (which can cause upset stomach, etc) in which there are various factors like a person's body not producing the correct enzymes or an inability to absorb specific nutrients, a food allergy is an immunological response to what your body perceives as a "foreign body". When your body has this reaction, it produces IgE antibodies against this foreign substance, which, to the best of my knowledge, are with you for life.

Why a person's body develops a latent food allergy is sometimes unknown. One of the most frequent precursors to developing a food allergy as an adult is compromising the intestinal mucosa, which is a membrane on the inside intestinal wall. One of the functions of the mucosa is to keep whole proteins of foods from passing through and to only let through amino-acids. When the mucosa is compromised, whole proteins are allowed to pass through and can be targeted by the immune system as a foreign body (and thus an IgE antibody to that protein is developed). Things that can cause the mucosa to become compromised are stress, illness, consumption of certain substances (tobacco/alcohol/excessive acid-ie:soda), or a severe allergic reaction to something like a medication or chemical.

Steve, you will always be allergic to mango (though I'd encourage you to get a blood-test done to make sure it is a true allergy and not a sensitivity). One thing that some people may want to try with food allergies is to see how much they need to consume to produce a clinical reaction. For me, a few bites of tomato is not enough to produce a reaction; however, a couple hazelnuts will have me covered in hives for days. If you decide to undertake these kinds of reaction trials, please, do so with caution. At anytime, your body could react to the allergen by not only producing hives or gastro-intestinal discomfort, but also by causing you to go into anaphylaxis (which is life-threatening and very frightening).

I hope this information is helpful.

[Becca]

After re-reading the forum, I thought it might be prudent to clear up what might be some confusion on what Steve is doing with the mango (and the same thing that happens with allergy shots).

Once a person develops an allergy to a substance (a true allergy with IgE antibodies), this allergy never goes away. No matter how your symptoms diminish, the antibodies remain a part of your immune system. What allergy shots do is gradually increase the exposure your body has to the allergen to increase your immune system's tolerance of the substance. By increasing your body's tolerance, it will take more of the offending substance to provoke an allergy. In Steve's case, by eating small amounts of mango, then increasing to larger amounts gradually, he's helping his immune system to tolerate mango, so that it takes a greater amount of mango to produce symptoms. This does not "cure" the allergy, but does help to dampen reactions. Once again, with food allergies, BE CAREFUL! This sort of thing can be dangerous. Stop if you start having severe reactions.

One more thought on food allergies: Most people are very fortunate and have a strong initial reaction (cramps/vomiting/etc) to a food that they are allergic to, but not all people do. A very small percentage of people actually have no gastro-intestinal symptoms--their only symptoms are asthma and/or chronic uticaria (hives). Just a weird fact I thought you guys might find interesting.

[Gec]

OK I'm going to try to make my point once more.

I'm not saying the treatment doesn't work, or that it's OK for people to die. What I'm saying is: why isn't anybody looking for the real cause of the allergy? Why are people allergic in the first place? We know how to get rid of the allergy, but we don't know its real cause. All research conducted is trying to find a treatment, nobody tries to find the cause.

My theory is that, while you can build up immunity against an allergy, the real cause of the allergy (why it appeared in the first place) lies in the environment, in the food we eat, in the chemicals around us, in our habits. Our bodies' energy is spent coping with those issues, and there is little energy left to cope with peanut butter.

Trying to find a treatment instead of trying to find the cause is like (again back to the car analogy) your car is leaking fuel and you can't get to work for a whole week without a refill, like you used to. And to fix the problem, you install a bigger fuel tank. Now you have enough fuel to go to work for a week without refill. You found a treatment, but you did not find the cause.

In time, it will only get worse. Unless taken care of properly, the leak will attract other problems, more treatments will be needed, more money on spare parts that address a different issue. This is exactly what pharmaceutical industry wants from us: it gives treatment for symptoms, in time we get more problems and we need more treatment. It gives people insulin to keep them alive and to sell them more insulin. It does not teach them how to cure diabetes. Pharmacies don't sell cures, they sell treatments.

I hope you understand my point this time.

edit: while I was typing this, Becca posted her information. It is very helpful. Wouldn't it be logical to reduce the risk factors? E.g.: huge taxes on tobacco, alcohol, animal products; take the subsidies/incentives that are in place for meat and diary and move them over to fruits and vegetables; create huge taxes on fast food, use the money to fund incentives on organic fruit shops etc. Imagine a world where instead of McDonald's there a green smoothie shop and a fruit market. How many people would get sick? What would pharmacies sell in this world?

edit2: @skinnyninja: the cereal was just an example, I mentioned it because it's very common that people who eat cereal get autoimmune stuff. And they have not cured it, they merely found a way to treat the symptoms, which is what they were looking for in the first place - treating the symptoms, not the cause. I hope I've made myself understood.

[Becca]

Gec: I completely agree with your point about chemicals and habits can be the root cause of allergies. This is one of the main ways that the bodies system gets compromised in the first place. With food allergies, this compromise often happens with the intestine -- but it is definitely chemicals in food, environmental chemicals and toxins, medications, and other toxic habits that most often cause the initial compromise in our system.

[Becca]

P.S. I know the theory on how allergy shots work, but I've never actually used them and have very mixed feelings on them (and vaccinations in general). I know (at this exact moment) very little on the peanut allergy vaccine.

[TheAndySan]

While I was reading about Steve's mango allergies, all I could think of was Mango from SNL!

"You can't-a have-a de Mango!"

[Spakwali]

Originally Posted by Becca

If you decide to undertake these kinds of reaction trials, please, do so with caution. At anytime, your body could react to the allergen by not only producing hives or gastro-intestinal discomfort, but also by causing you to go into anaphylaxis (which is life-threatening and very frightening).
I hope this information is helpful.

I was planning to say the same thing, Becca. I have an allergy to milk and have two family members with life-threatening allergies to bee stings. It can be terrifying to go through a serious allergic reaction (or to watch someone you love go through it.)

[islandgirl]

Hi Steve (I haven't read through all of the replies, so I apologize if this is redundant) ...

I've been living in the Caribbean for years (went to culinary school), and as soon as I read your latest post, I yelled out "flesh of mango"!!!

Here's a fairly decent blog entry on it ...
Mango Allergy | Allergy

As the mango allergy is caused by the same compound as poison ivy, I'm just curious if you ever had poison ivy?

I would hesitate to say that most "born here" Caribbean folk, have never encountered poison ivy, so mango allergy is unlikely, or the body develops immunity early on. A good friend of mine (transplant from NY) is also highly allergic to mangos and she definitely had poison ivy as a kid. Regarding "the skin", I found this research for her a number of years ago ... But as much as she loves mangoes, and has tried different techniques, she still can't eat mango unfortunately, without the negative side effects.

I personally have not had poison ivy, and I don't have any inflammation from eating or touching mangoes, in any form.

As a hypothetical question, I want to correlate the mango allergy to what we term here (in the Caribbean) as sicateria (a form of shellfish disease) ... I find it interesting that I can't find the term on Google. Anyhow, a friend of mine, was once knocked off of some coral rocks, while reef fishing, by a big wave. She was very badly skinned up by the coral, and ever since, is highly allergic to any type of shellfish.

I think the same of the herpes virus ... both on the coldsore end and the shingles end ... certain biological and environmental factors trigger them ...

As someone missing peaches very much at this time of year, I hesitate to say, peaches might be a good mango substitute, staying within your own macro-biotic and regional farming environment. ☯

[butterflyeffect]

Hey Steve,

I am an allergic person and I have done alot of research on allergies and seen different doctors/naturopaths about it.

I have been told that the source of allergies is often the liver and digestive system. Simplistically speaking, if your liver or digestive system is under performing that is when you start to develop allergies. The sicker your liver is the more allergic you get.

[gingerbaker]

Originally Posted by Gec

Edit: PS: @Skinnyninja: I think you should be grateful that they don't allow testing this "peanut vaccine" in your country. And yes, as I said, you can build immunity to just about anything, but that "cure" will only attract more problems in the long run. It is treating symptoms, not the underlying cause.

The thing with the peanut "cure" is that they are NOT trying to get peanut allergy sufferers to a point where they can chow down on a PB&J. The aim instead is to turn an allergy that is "one accidental bite of a non-peanut cookie that was BAKED on a sheet that had months ago held peanut cookies" from being an immediate hospital visit into something that gives said person time to realize what is happening and stop eating the problem food. Essentially I think they are trying to build people up to a 5-7 peanut tolerance (as I recall). This would be enough to ensure that they don't need to be INSANELY vigilant all the time, just PRETTY DAMN vigilant.

[Parthon]

Gec: It's very true that a lot of current-day allergies can be traced back to a specific source, such as a poison or illness, and they can manifest through allergies to specific foods. In this case it would be the best idea to find out what's causing it and eliminate the factors.

But, there also those people who are allergic to certain foods from birth, where it's not an environmental factor. For them it would be searching in vain for a solution where one doesn't exist. There could be nothing in their environment that gives them the allergy, their biology just simply reacts poorly to the food.

To use your car analogy, it would be like putting diesel in a regular car. It would run horribly and cause major malfunctions. Would you blame the car because it can't take diesel? Would you try and 'train' the car into 'tolerating' diesel by giving it a little bit at a time? I think the smart person would just be to not use diesel fuel, ever. Some allergies are putting diesel fuel into a regular car.

We are all different, we all require different fuel to run in different amounts. The goal is to find out what works best for you.

[Tony2020]

Maybe - Steve should give up the mango -- to follow the middle path - as Buddha says. Be alike in your likes and dislikes. And carry this to other things that he likes/dislikes.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Tony2020

Maybe - Steve should give up the mango -- to follow the middle path - as Buddha says. Be alike in your likes and dislikes. And carry this to other things that he likes/dislikes.

Buddha is dead, so perhaps his strategy proved ineffective.

[Zach M]

Originally Posted by Erinn

The Mango allergy topic just came up in the teacher's lounge this week. Apparently Mango is related to poison ivy and the peel, as Odyssey began to say, has the same chemical that causes the skin rash. The leaves and vine also have the chemical. I have heard that people develop an allergy to poison ivy after continued exposure, similar to how you developed your Mango allergy. Maybe you could try a Mango without the peel?

That's really interesting. My quick Wikipedia research indicates the irritating chemical is called urushiol, and it exists in mangoes (mostly the peel), poison-oak, and poison-ivy. apparently too much exposure can make you more sensitive. Did you run into any poison-oak on a hike lately?

By the way, Steve. Be sure to look for a Mangosteen while you're in Canada. It's my absolute favorite fruit, it's very tough to find in the USA, and it's not at all related to mangoes.

[daj]

Some always say taking a poison slowly over a period of time, builds up your tolerance to it. So possibly that's why you can eat mangoes without the reactions to it now.

People often jump into eating or doing things without building up the tolerance or momentum to do it. I do this when I haven't exercised in awhile, I'll just one day jump back into it at full force and regret it the next day when I'm all sore and can hardly move. It's the same with pale people in the sun. You have to build up slowly to get a tan.

5/10/15/20/25/30/35/40/45/50/55/60/etc.. Even my pale redheaded self can tan decently if I do it like that over 2 weeks. I may not be able to become as dark as others but I can definently tan without worrying about skin cancer if I do it correctly.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by danas

I just happened to be eating a juicy mango when I entered your blog

That is an oddly sexy sentence.

[codefreeze]

I am not allergic to mangoes, but I developed a severe reaction to milk about three years ago. In fact, most dairy products seemed to affect me. This was after 45 years of being perfectly fine with milk and dairy. I don't know but I suspect I may have been over-consuming milk and that's what kicked off the reaction. I can tell you I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

Still, giving up dairy has led me to a more vegan way of life, and I haven't missed the dairy at all. It only took a few days to adjust my diet, but I've fine tuned things over time. I'm a lot happier and healthier as a result.

For those interested, I wrote about the problem, and the changes I made to my diet, in the following article Losing Weight with a Simple Diet - Regards from the Balcony

[Jasper]

I wrote about my allergic reaction to mango on this board a few years ago. I became allergic after drinking mangoo puree everyday for a few months. After getting really sick everytime I ate or drank mango, I stopped it all together.
But a few months back I accidentally ate a bit of it, and noticed later I had no problems. I am now eating mango when I feel like it, just making sure I don't eat it too often. This seems to work fine for me.

I think you get allergic to mango if you eat it often. So if you stop for awhile, you're fine again.

[Andrew Gubb]

Been meaning to ask for ages. What results have you gotten, Steve? Something must have happened by now.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Andrew Gubb

Been meaning to ask for ages. What results have you gotten, Steve? Something must have happened by now.

Found out the hard way that I'm allergic to papaya too now.

I ate a huge red papaya one day a few months ago. I literally threw up a dozen times during the following 12 hours. All of it had to come up -- it wouldn't digest at all. I tried various remedies like drinking ginger tea, but it just came back up again with more papaya.

At least with the papaya I didn't get the hives.

Are mangoes and papayas related? It might have been the specific variety since I don't recall having red papaya before, and I never used to have problems with papaya.

[beast]

Steve, have you tried having someone else cut the mango skin for you? I ask because one of my best friends has a terrible allergy to mango sap (she also gets horrific reactions to poison ivy, and I know they're related). She has no trouble with mango pulp, but if someone touches mango skins and then touches her, she will get the most gruesome hives on her face, and sometimes her entire face will swell up like a balloon. She loves mango, so we're really careful to cut up pieces for her and then wash up really well afterwards, since she really can't go near the sap. I know you have stomach issues from them, too, but the hives sound exactly like what she experiences from coming into contact with the skins. Just a possibility?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by beast

Steve, have you tried having someone else cut the mango skin for you? I ask because one of my best friends has a terrible allergy to mango sap (she also gets horrific reactions to poison ivy, and I know they're related). She has no trouble with mango pulp, but if someone touches mango skins and then touches her, she will get the most gruesome hives on her face, and sometimes her entire face will swell up like a balloon. She loves mango, so we're really careful to cut up pieces for her and then wash up really well afterwards, since she really can't go near the sap. I know you have stomach issues from them, too, but the hives sound exactly like what she experiences from coming into contact with the skins. Just a possibility?

Doesn't seem to be an issue with the skins since I get the same problem if the mango comes prepared by someone else. The hives break out all over my body, not just where I touched the mango.

Handling a mango doesn't cause me any trouble at all, as long as I don't eat it.

[beast]

Phooey, too bad you couldn't have a lima bean allergy.

Let us know how it goes if you try some regular papaya!

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by Savage

Are mangoes and papayas related? It might have been the specific variety since I don't recall having red papaya before, and I never used to have problems with papaya.

I've no idea if they're related, but I have the same reaction to papaya as you. My stomach literally twinges in warning with just one small bite.

Mangos are fine for me, though.

I do wonder if some of these allergies are to do with the fact that the fruits are tropical and had to be picked very green. I'm allergic to bananas and cherimoyas too asides from papayas, though I do wonder if I would still be if I picked them ripe from the tree.

[kat]

Originally Posted by Savage

Are mangoes and papayas related? It might have been the specific variety since I don't recall having red papaya before, and I never used to have problems with papaya.

A pity about the allergies!

Mango and papaya aren't particularly related. They're both rosids, but they're in different orders. To put that in perspective, so is broccoli, the first other food I randomly checked (it's in the same order as papayas are, too).

Amusingly, it seems that mangos are in the cashew family.

Red papayas are fairly closely related to normal papayas. They're different species, but in the same genus.

[Criseyde]

I ate a mango tonight and thought of this post while eating it. Now my eyelid is inexplicably puffy and swollen. It's contagious.

[daj]

There's different kinds of mangos (six different varieties are sold in the USA) and papayas (two different varieties sold here, but usually just the Hawaiian ones). Are you allergic to the different types? Also were they labeled organic? It might be an allergy to something sprayed on them if they were conventionally grown.

I use to eat frozen mangos from Trader Joe's, but they caused my lips to break out in a rash. Now I eat some frozen ones from Whole Foods (labeled organic) that are already peeled and have no problem with them.