If you are prone to sinus during pollen season then you are more likely to be reactive to specific foods too. Which foods? Raw fruit and vegetables! Symptoms can be eczema, itching, tingling or swelling of the mouth, tongue or lips, the parts of your digestive tract in direct contact with the irritating food. Does this happen to you? It’s labelled as Oral Allergy Syndrome.

In Northern Europe 70% of people sensitized to birch pollen have a reaction to raw fruit and vegetables as well. 80% of those react to apples, 59% react to hazelnuts, 51% react to nectarines and peaches, 48% to kiwi fruit, 35% to carrots … the list goes on. Peanuts come in at 24%, tomatoes 21%, potatoes 19%, celery 16%, and more.

But the symptoms continue internally too. Stomach cramps, diarrhoea, bloating, vomiting, and even vary rarely, anaphylaxis. Cooking these fruits and vegetables can neutralize the impact. So juices or smoothies may not be so good all year round or for some people at all.

Although the pollens and foods are not biologically related, the structures of their proteins are so similar that the body reacts to both, especially during pollen season. In Australia we have our own pollen season that plays havoc with people in the path of the wind.

And what affects your digestive tract will also disturb your brain. A National Institute of Health study found that learning issues can develop from a mere allergic reaction to a specific food product. This can include raw fruit and vegetables, not just wheat, milk, eggs, seafood, peanuts that we hear about so much.

The belief that food can have an impact on brain function has been studied as early as the 1920s, when Dr W.Ray Shannon reported on the successful treatment of children with hyperactivity and learning disorders, using an elimination diet, writes Dr Dorothy Fairley ND.

Can you eliminate this problem of food reactions?
It was recently reported that more than four years after a group of children with peanut allergies were treated in an Australian immunotherapy trial, 70% are still free of the allergy. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute research could eventually change the way nut allergies are treated, but for now it’s essential to keep any nut products out of school lunches is still the official medical advice.

But what can you do right now to be healthier, and reduce or eliminate the reactions you have to foods. Science is gradually proving that allergies don’t have to be a lifetime burden and natural therapists have been helping people all along. First thing is to find out what sets off your reactions, which foods and conditions?

Attend Food: Friend or Foe workshop, Saturday 3rd February, in Brisbane and discover how to identify offending foods and what you can do to get your best nutrition from your foods to stay healthy. Contact me for details: anna@annamcrobert.com.au