美国国家公共电台 NPR If Raw Fruits Or Veggies Give You A Tingly Mouth, It's A Real Syndrome

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Many people complain this time of year about pollen¹ allergies². They get those itchy, watery⁴ eyes, runny noses. You know what I'm talking about. But some people with seasonal⁵ allergies have it worse. They develop allergic⁶ reactions to common fruits and vegetables - everything from apples and bananas to carrots and cucumbers. NPR's Allison Aubrey examines this allergy⁷ syndrome⁸ that often goes undiagnosed.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE⁹: Several years back, Jessica Slattery began to notice a strange reaction every time she ate a banana.

JESSICA SLATTERY: So the first thing I would feel is a little itch³ on my tongue, and my lips would start to swell¹⁰. And then I'd feel it all the way down my throat. And it's just like a little tingle¹¹.

AUBREY: And the reaction got worse in late spring, right around the time her seasonal allergies to tree pollen kicked in. Now, at first, she didn't go to the doctor because the symptoms were mild and because nobody she knew had ever heard of a fruit allergy.

SLATTERY: I did have some friends who were like, how could you possibly be allergic to a banana?

AUBREY: It's true that fruits are not the top allergenic foods. The usual culprits are eggs, fish, nuts. But over time, Slattery noticed that her reaction to bananas - that itchy, tingly sensation - spread to other fruits too, like kiwis, apples and avocados. Now, ultimately, she was diagnosed with a condition called oral allergy syndrome. Here's physician Carah Santos. She's an allergist at National Jewish Health in Denver.

CARAH SANTOS: I do think that this is one of the most underreported and under-recognized conditions.

AUBREY: She says Jessica Slattery's story is familiar. People with seasonal allergies or hay fever can suddenly develop allergic reactions to many common fruits and vegetables that they've eaten for most of their lives with no problem. Santos says what happens with this condition is that the immune system gets tripped up. It mistakes the proteins found in fruits and vegetables for the plant pollens¹² that triggered the allergy in the first place.

SANTOS: We call it cross-reactivity. And that just means your immune system sees something as looking very similar to something it already reacts to.

AUBREY: Santos says it's not clear why the immune system suddenly starts reacting to foods that it has tolerated for years. That can happen in adolescence¹³ or adulthood¹⁴. And the tricky¹⁵ part about diagnosing it is that the standard tests to detect food allergies often come back negative. That was Jessica Slattery's experience.

SLATTERY: I had testing through skin pricks¹⁶ for everything that I felt that I was allergic to. And everything came back negative.

AUBREY: Slattery says she went to several doctors who told her she was not allergic to these foods.

SLATTERY: When they're telling you that they've done this test and it's negative, you're like, OK, well, then it must be me.

AUBREY: That's why when she finally got the diagnosis¹⁷, she felt reassured¹⁸. Doctors made the diagnosis simply based on her symptoms.

SLATTERY: It was like, OK, so this isn't in my head. It's really a thing. And, you know, for me, it was a lot of relief.

AUBREY: People with oral allergy syndrome are typically told to avoid the raw foods they react to. But what they can do is peel or cook the fruits or vegetables before eating them. For instance, if apples cause the reaction, applesauce may be OK. Or if bananas are the problem, try banana bread. Here's allergist Carah Santos.

SANTOS: Oftentimes, they're able to eat these foods simply because the cooking process can degrade the proteins that look like the pollens.

AUBREY: This is the approach Jessica Slattery's taken. She's had to give up a lot of raw fruits, but she's found plenty of workarounds to maintain a healthy diet. Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

1 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

2 allergies   

n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性

参考例句：

• Food allergies can result in an enormous variety of different symptoms. 食物过敏会引发很多不同的症状。 来自辞典例句
• Let us, however, examine one of the most common allergies; hayfever. 现在让我们来看看最常见的变态反应的一种--枯草热。 来自辞典例句

3 itch   

n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望

参考例句：

• Shylock has an itch for money.夏洛克渴望发财。
• He had an itch on his back.他背部发痒。

4 watery   

adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的

参考例句：

• In his watery eyes there is an expression of distrust.他那含泪的眼睛流露出惊惶失措的神情。
• Her eyes became watery because of the smoke.因为烟熏，她的双眼变得泪汪汪的。

5 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

6 allergic   

adj.过敏的，变态的

参考例句：

• Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
• Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏，比如花粉。

7 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。

8 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

9 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

10 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

11 tingle   

vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动

参考例句：

• The music made my blood tingle.那音乐使我热血沸腾。
• The cold caused a tingle in my fingers.严寒使我的手指有刺痛感。

12 pollens   

n.花粉( pollen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Brownian movement of pollens also shows the fractal characteristics. 花粉的布朗运动轨迹也具有分形特征。 来自互联网
• In contrast, C. sinensis var. sinensis and assamica couldn't be distinguished by the morphology of pollens. 至于不同地区的台湾山茶之间、或是茶与阿萨姆茶之间，皆无法以花粉形态来区分。 来自互联网

13 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

14 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

15 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

16 pricks   

刺痛( prick的名词复数 )； 刺孔； 刺痕； 植物的刺

参考例句：

• My skin pricks sometimes. 我的皮肤有时感到刺痛。
• You must obey the rule. It is useless for you to kick against the pricks. 你必须遵守规定，对抗对你是无益的。

17 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

18 reassured   

adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》