Apricot allergy

About apricot allergy

Apricot is a stone fruit in the same family as peach, plum and cherry, and allergy to it is usually an IgE-mediated reaction to fruit proteins. In the UK it is often linked to birch-pollen hay fever, causing a mild pollen-food syndrome to the raw fruit. In some people, particularly in southern Europe, allergy is instead directed at a more robust protein (a lipid transfer protein) that resists cooking and digestion and can cause more significant reactions. How the allergy behaves depends largely on which protein is involved.

With the pollen-linked type, symptoms begin within minutes of eating raw apricot and are usually confined to the mouth: itching or tingling of the lips, tongue and throat, occasionally with slight swelling. These reactions are generally mild, and cooked or tinned apricot is often better tolerated because heat breaks the protein down. The lipid-transfer-protein type can cause hives, digestive upset and, less commonly, more severe reactions, sometimes made worse by exercise or alcohol. Reactions typically appear within minutes to two hours.

Diagnosis relies on the history together with skin-prick or specific-IgE blood tests, and component testing can distinguish the milder pollen-related pattern from the more concerning type. Management is based on avoiding the fruit in the form that causes trouble and reading labels on jams, dried fruit and desserts. If a reaction ever involves breathing difficulty, throat swelling or faintness, treat it as an emergency and call 999.