I was diagnosed with oral allergy syndrome (OAS) recently and I have been having difficulties finding a balanced diet to eat. Hoping to find suggestions, I looked on the Allergy Q&A. However, I found your advice, particularly to one with my disease. One of the questions pertained to an allergy to cantaloupe, watermelon, and bananas; another to ragweed. You said in your response to the fruit allergy question that melons and bananas are unrelated. However, I have these same allergies and I found out from my allergist that these were, in fact, symptoms of oral allergy syndrome. It is caused by a body’s intolerance to certain antigens found in foods and pollens. In fact, ragweed pollen, bananas, and all gourds are grouped together as symptoms of one type of OAS related to a body’s intolerance to profilin. OAS is discussed in the July 1996 Issue of “Allergy” and this grouping, in particular, are on page 22.
I checked the Merck Manual which doctors use for diagnosis and treatment and found no oral allergy syndrome. Thanks for the info so I re-checked the National Library of Medicine and found no research on “oral allergy syndrome”. Articles in Allergy Journal are included in the National Library of Medicine’s database so I am puzzled. Sop then I searched for melon, banana, and allergy and found some articles, but not the one you list.
