The hazard of kissing when you are food allergic. Symptoms induced by other persons´ food intake. An inquiry study.
Eriksson, NE, Möller, C, Werner, S, Magnusson, J, Bengtsson U,
Published in Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunol. 2003;13(3):149-154
Background. According to
a few case reports, kissing can induce symptoms due to food allergy-
Objective. We wanted to
find out the occurrence of kiss-induced allergic symptoms and some other social
inconveniences among patients with self-reported food hypersensitivity.
Methods. A questionnaire
was answered by 1139 patients (1-84 years old, mean age 29 years; 393 males and
746 females) who considered themselves food allergic.
Results. Twelve percent
of the patients experienced allergic symptoms when in close contact with, e.g.
kissing, a person who had eaten an offending food prior to the contact. Some
case histories suggested that the symptoms only appeared if the food intake had
occurred immediately before the kiss. In addition the questionnaires
showed that 55% had problems in daily life finding tolerable food, 44% were
afraid of severe reactions if eating intolerable food, 13% could get problems
when sitting beside a person who was eating, and 17% could get symptoms in the
kitchen when someone else was preparing food.
Conclusions. Other
persons eating can influence the quality of life of food allergic patients.