Allergy Research What can help people with an apple allergy

Apple allergy: That can help those affected

Although apples are actually considered to be very healthy, if apple allergy sufferers consume this fruit, they quickly develop symptoms such as burning in the mouth and throat. However, not all apple varieties suffer from such symptoms.

Health disadvantages due to apple consumption

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away," is an old English saying. In fact, apples are valuable to your health. They are true "vitamin bombs" and contain plenty of trace elements, phytochemicals and ballast and minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron. However, the fruit for some people also brings health disadvantages. After all, around two million Germans suffer from apple allergy, as the Federal Government for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) explains.

Apples are healthy, but in apple allergy, the consumption of fruits leads to health problems. But not if they are old apple varieties. (Image: Syda Productions / fotolia.com)

Every second pollen allergy allergic to fruit or vegetables

"A person who suffers from an apple allergy feels after eating the fruit after a short time symptoms such as a burning sensation in the mouth and throat, tongue and lips swell and become deaf," said the pediatrician and allergist dr. Matthias Kübler in an interview with the Naturschutzbund (NABU) Baden-Württemberg.

"In some cases, a swelling of the deep throat and the larynx region may be added, which may be associated with tightness and, in rare cases, respiratory distress," says the physician.

Affected are often people with a pollen allergy. Because who is allergic to birch pollen, usually can not tolerate certain apples.

This is because the fruit contains allergens "that resemble the most important allergens in birch pollen," explains the Berlin-based allergist Karl-Christian Bergmann from the Charité in a message from the dpa news agency.

According to him, there are about 11 million adults with hay fever in Germany, of whom about one in two is allergic to fruit or vegetables.

Not allergic to all apples

The blanket statement "apple allergy" is actually wrong, writes the BUND in Lemgo (North Rhine-Westphalia) on its website.

"It must be true that those affected are allergic to certain apple varieties, especially supermarkets, and not as diagnosed by the apple allergy, that allergic reactions occur in all apple varieties," say the experts.

In fact, the allergic reactions are observed especially in common varieties such as Golden Delicious, Gala or Jonagold.

"The newer varieties, so-called dessert apples, contain particularly many allergens," explains Bergmann in the dpa message.

Accordingly, the allergen content is so high because another antibody of the apples, the polyphenols, has been greatly reduced by breeding to achieve sweeter varieties.

Polyphenols, which are responsible for aroma and acid, protect the apple from mold and are also healthy for humans.

"The saying 'One apple a day spares you the walk to the doctor' but rather applies to old apple varieties," says Bergmann.

Study participants had to eat problem apples

In a small observational study, the allergist and colleagues also discovered that old apple varieties are not only more tolerable for allergy sufferers, but also make their regular consumption more resistant to problem apples and reduce hay fever symptoms.

In the study, the approximately 100 subjects ate at the beginning and at the end of the investigation a "problem apple" of the variety Golden Delicious.

In between, they received for three months every day old apple varieties with high polyphenol content such as Alcmene, Eifeler Rambur, Goldparmäne and Roter Boskoop.

"Until the end, about 70 participants participated. Many were able to tolerate the Golden Delicious better and had in the following hay fever season less complaints, "said Bergmann in the agency message.

The expert is now further researching the topic and wants to intensify cooperation with colleagues from Kazakhstan.

For from there comes the forefather of today's cultural apple, the wild species Malus sieversii. "Hay fever problems like here are not known there," says the scientist, who wants to find out whether this is due to the high polyphenol content of the local apple varieties.

Compatible varieties

Although researchers found in a study last year that apple allergy can be alleviated with the help of an apple allergen, it is better to recommend them if they focus on compatible apples.

The BUND Lemgo has compiled a list of apple varieties that are tolerable or incompatible for allergy sufferers.

According to the information allergy sufferers, including Berlepsch, Prince Albrecht of Prussia and White Winter Bell Apple have good experiences.

On another page, the experts listed sources of supply of old fruits.

Heat or peel fruit

Incidentally, allergy sufferers usually do not have to do without apple pie and compote. Why this is so explains the pediatrician and allergist Matthias Kübler to the NABU:

"The protein responsible for apple allergy is called" mald1 "and is heat-labile. That means: by heating when cooking or baking the apples, the protein structure is changed so that it is now tolerated by the immune system, "said the physician.

And: "Sometimes even grating the apples is enough to make them more compatible. The peeling of apples can also be helpful, since most of the allergens are in the shell. "(Ad)