The skin itches. It is difficult to say where your runny nose, cough and irritation came from. You know for sure that they are not caused by animal hair, and you have also ruled out the consumed meal. However, you may not know that there are spice allergies.
Cinnamon and garlic are two of them that are the most allergenic. Weaker allergens turn out to be vanilla and black pepper. However, it may not end with typical allergy symptoms, because it happens that they lead to anaphylaxis.
Risk groups
Spice allergies are on the rise, according to researchers at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Up to 3% of the population can suffer from it. The medical community sees the reasons in cosmetics to which spices are added. Therefore, the reason why among the people who manifest this allergy most often are women seems to be obvious. Not without significance is also an allergy to birch pollen or pneumoconiosis.
Suspicion of this type of allergy falls when the allergy is caused by food and cosmetics, which seemingly have nothing to do with each other.
The amount of spices used in the mixture is not without significance, because the risk increases with their number.
Popular allergens
- Garlic – because it is not on the list of the 12 most common allergens in the European Union, there is no requirement to include information on products containing it. Diallyl disulfide, sensitizes after the destruction of the cellular structure of garlic.
- Black pepper – allergy to this nutrient most often concerns people who are allergic to birch or mugwort pollen. Symptoms are not very severe, but anaphylactic shock is possible.
- Cinnamon – carries a medium risk of allergy, which is caused by cinnamaldehyde present in cinnamon oil. In general, however, the allergy is of a contact nature, and it depends much less on the consumption. The doctor’s diagnostic dose is half a gram.
- vanilla – it is often associated with a cross-allergy to balsam of Peru. Cross-reactions are associated with an allergic reaction similar to the actual allergen.
Risk of anaphylactic reaction
Anaphylactic shock is a sudden reaction of the body to a given agent. It usually occurs within half an hour of contact, but a delayed reaction is possible (up to 72 hours). Most often, shock is accompanied by: palpitations, weakness, vomiting, nausea, lack of air, hoarseness and dizziness. The heart rate drops in 1 in 3 people, and with it comes the pallor of the skin and the feeling of being cold and sweaty. Immediately life threatening swelling of the tissues of the throat, as a result of which it is impossible to take a breath.
What now?
It is necessary to eliminate allergenic spices, which requires a change in eating habits. You should pay more attention to the composition of meals eaten in the city.