The most taboo foods for allergic rhinitis

There is no universal "black list of foods that are 100% untouchable" for allergic rhinitis. The first thing you should avoid first is allergenic foods that have been confirmed to be IgE-positive by regular hospital allergen tests. The second is foods that you have personally tested will aggravate the symptoms of nasal congestion, sneezing, and runny nose. The other so-called "universal taboos" must be judged based on your own situation. Don't blindly follow the food taboos.

Last week, I had a late-night snack with a man who has suffered from rhinitis for 12 years. He had just checked for food allergens a while ago and found that he was not allergic to shrimp at all. However, he was so greedy that he ate three marinated shrimps. His nose was so stuffy that night that he sat up and fell asleep for half the night. The next day, he took a prescription nasal spray for hormones with swollen eyelids. To put it bluntly, it is not surprising. The storage time of raw pickled and drunk seafood is several times higher than that of fresh cooked shrimp. Even if you are not allergic to the shrimp itself, high histamine will induce a hyperreaction in the already sensitive nasal mucosa, which is similar to the reaction caused by exposure to pollen and dust mites.

What’s interesting is that when it comes to dietary taboos for allergic rhinitis, there are actually quite different opinions in different fields: Traditional Chinese medicine mostly recommends avoiding raw, cold, and hairy foods during the attack period, and ice drinks, seafood, mangoes, and pineapples are all listed on the high-frequency reminder list.； The view of modern evidence-based medicine is simpler - as long as your symptoms are not aggravated by eating it, you can eat it normally even if it is the "number one allergen" in other people's mouths. In fact, these two statements are not contradictory at all. According to Chinese medicine, raw and cold food will directly stimulate the capillaries under the nasal mucosa. The mucosa, which is already in an edematous state, will only become more swollen when cold stimulates it. Most of the so-called "fat foods" are high in histamine and can easily induce cross-allergy foods. During the attack period, the mucous membrane is already in a highly sensitive state, so it is easy to aggravate the condition if touched.

Let me tell you a few common minefields that I and my patients around me have stepped on. You can try them and you may not necessarily hit them all, but it is always right to avoid them as much as possible during the attack. For example, aged cheese, cooked seafood that has been stored for more than 24 hours, fermented pickles, and even ripe bananas with dark spots on the skin, the histamine content in these foods is much higher than that of fresh foods. During the previous attack, I was greedy and ate half a piece of blue cheese. I sneezed nearly 80 times in one afternoon, and my tears flowed like a faucet. It took me two days to recover. It was really a pitfall that I personally tried. There are also popsicles just taken out of the freezer and milk tea with half a cup of ice. Many people who have rhinitis in summer always think that it is caused by pollen and air-conditioning dust mites. In fact, it may be the glass of iced American made that they bought on the way to get off work. As soon as the ice enters the throat, stress edema will appear in the nasal mucosa in an instant, and the originally open nose will become blocked in a few minutes. Many people really don't notice this.

By the way, here’s a reminder. To check for food allergens, it’s best to go to a regular hospital to do a serum-specific IgE or skin prick test. Don’t believe in bioresonance tests that cost tens of dollars. The results have no reference value, but may easily make you avoid a lot of foods that you shouldn’t avoid. I met a high school girl during a follow-up visit at the otolaryngology department. I heard on the Internet that she should not eat eggs or drink milk due to allergic rhinitis. She had not touched eggs or milk for two years. Finally, the immune system was found to be ridiculously low, and she had rhinitis more frequently than before. After taking an allergen test, it was discovered that she was not allergic to eggs and milk at all. She was simply scaring herself to prevent problems. Some people say that you should not eat beef and mutton. As long as you don’t react after eating it, stewed beef and mutton can supplement high-quality protein, improve your immunity, and reduce the frequency of rhinitis attacks. There is no need to be blind.

If you really want to know what you can't eat, don't just rely on the general blacklist on the Internet. Just keep a food diary for half a month. Make two random notes about what you eat every day, and whether the symptoms of rhinitis are severe that day. After two weeks, your own exclusive taboo list will come out. It is more accurate than what others say.

To be honest, allergic rhinitis is already frustrating enough. Don’t stop eating the things you like because of unfounded taboos. Understand your own minefields and eat and drink the rest. As long as you don’t pretend to be cold during the attack or eat things you are clearly allergic to, that’s better than anything else.