Nils E Eriksson1, Sonja Werner2,
Tony Foucard3, Christian Möller4, Torsten Berg 5 Jaak
Kiviloog6, Kerstin Norrlind7, Margareta Söderberg8
and Jan-Åke Wihl9
1Lung
& Allergy Clinic, County Hospital, Halmstad, Sweden, 2Allergy
Clinic, Heart and Lung Division, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden, 3Dept
of Paediatrics, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden, 4Dept of
Clinical Sciences, Paediatrics, Umeå, Sweden, 5Dept of Paediatrics,
Central Hospital, Västerås, Sweden, 6Dept. of Lung Medicine, Örebro
University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden, 7Dept. of Medicine, Dander
hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. 8Lung and Allergy Clinic, Norrlands
University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden, 9Allergy Clinic, ENT Dept.
University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
The majority of Swedish birch pollen (BP)
allergic patients report hypersensitivity to some fruit, nuts and vegetables.
Some BP-allergic patients complain “I can’t tolerate any fruit“. The
main aim of the present study was to answer the question: Can they tolerate
some of the exotic fruit, not at present common in Sweden? Consecutive
patients (n=397) visiting the participating Allergy clinics, who had a BP
allergy and reported a food hypersensitivity, were asked to fill in
questionnaires regarding 66 different fruit and vegetables. They had three
alternatives as an answer to each of the foods: "I tolerate";
"I get symptoms from"; "I have not tried this food". Skin
prick tests were performed with pollen allergens. Most of the patients had
experienced reactions to several foods; only 31 patients (8%) reported
hypersensitivity to one food only. Some of the fruit had been tried by only
very few patients. Besides earlier well known BP-related foods, more than 40%
of the patients who had knowingly eaten these fruits, said that they got
symptoms from Japanese pear and Pomegranate. Most patients tolerated pineapple,
melon, grapes and citrus fruits as well as zucchini, lychee, rambutan,
mangosteen, ugly, melon pear and cherimoya. To conclude, although an allergy
to fruit is common among BP allergic patients, there are several widely
available fruits which most of the patients
tolerate, for instance pineapple, melon, grapes and citrus fruit. Furthermore
there are many exotic fruits which most of the patients have not yet tried.