food bee allergy

Allergy to bee (that is, the larvae/pupa of bees and wasps, which are extremely popular special high-protein ingredients in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places) is an immediate type of food allergy mediated mainly by IgE. In severe cases, it can induce anaphylactic shock and death. There is currently no universally applicable radical cure. For the vast majority of allergic people, 100% avoidance of ingestion of bee and related processed foods is the only safe way to prevent and control it.

In July last year, I went to Pu'er, Yunnan on a business trip. I ate at a roadside food stall with a local friend. I ordered two plates of fried golden and crispy bee'er, sprinkled with chili powder. A young man from Hubei who was traveling with me always said that he had nothing wrong with eating silkworm chrysalises and grasshoppers. Thinking that they were high in arthropod protein, he pinched half of one and stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it twice and swallowed it. Within ten minutes, he suddenly covered his neck and said hoarsely, "I can't breathe." When he lifted up his T-shirt, he saw that his chest was covered with continuous red wheals, and even his eyes were swollen to the point of squinting. Everyone rushed him to the county hospital in a panic. He was given epinephrine and corticosteroids in the emergency department before he recovered. The doctor said that if he had arrived twenty minutes later, he might have to do an emergency tracheotomy to save his life.

At present, there is no completely unified conclusion in the industry about the triggers of bee allergy. The mainstream allergy academic community believes that the core trigger is several specific allergen proteins contained in bees. Whether they are wild or artificially cultivated bees, even if they are fried and roasted at high temperatures until they are crispy, the allergenicity of these proteins is difficult to be completely destroyed. This is why many people still develop allergies after eating fully cooked bees. However, many grassroots foodborne disease prevention and control personnel hold different views. During their daily consultations, they found that about 30% of patients who claimed to be allergic to bees had no problem eating well-processed bees many times before. They only had reactions after eating under-fried or even raw pickled bees. , they believe that the discomfort of these people is actually an anaphylactoid reaction induced by uninactivated bee pupal toxins or toxic pollen residues collected by bees, which is not the same thing as true IgE-mediated food allergy. Both views are currently supported by clinical data, and there is no right or wrong yet.

Speaking of which, many people have a misunderstanding, thinking that "if I have eaten bee'er before, I will never be allergic." Don't believe this. I worked as a volunteer in the allergy department of a tertiary hospital for half a year. I met no less than ten patients with bee allergy. More than half of them told me, "I ate half a plate last year and it was fine. I don't know what happened this time." In fact, food allergy sensitization is a cumulative process. During the first few times of exposure, your immune system has secretly produced antibodies against prolin, but the amount of previous exposure was not enough, or your immune status was relatively stable at that time and did not trigger a reaction. One day, when you stay up late at night, have just recovered from a cold, and your immunity fluctuates, even a sip of the wine soaked in beeer may cause you to explode. Some people think, "I've been stung by bees and it's fine, so eating bees is definitely fine." This is also a pure misunderstanding. The allergen in bee stings is the component of bee venom, which is completely different from the protein in bees' bodies. There is no cross-immune reference between the two.

As for the post-allergy treatment and radical cure plan, the current consensus in the industry is not absolutely unified. The safest thing, which almost all doctors will recommend, is to completely avoid food after diagnosis. Whether it is fried, boiled, soaked in alcohol, or even health products or meal replacements with bee powder added, you must not touch them. Antihistamines such as cetirizine hydrochloride and loratadine are always available at home, just in case you accidentally eat them. After eating, eat it as soon as symptoms of numbness around the mouth and itchy skin appear. If you are out of breath, dizzy, or panicked, don’t hesitate to call 120 immediately. The golden rescue time for anaphylactic shock is only fifteen minutes. By the time you can’t bear it anymore, it will be too late to go to the hospital. There are also some scientific research institutions that are doing specific immunotherapy, which involves slowly exposing patients to purified bee allergens from small doses to gradually induce immune tolerance. I have checked the latest clinical data and found that about 30% of patients who have completed the entire two- to three-year course of treatment can ingest a small amount of bee without causing an attack. However, severe allergic reactions may be induced several times during the treatment process, and the risk is not low. Therefore, unless you are a practitioner who has to be exposed to beekeeping or bee product processing, most doctors will not recommend you to take this risk.

To be honest, Feng'er is really delicious. The first time I ate it, I couldn't help but show off half a plate. The next day, I had two little pimples on the corners of my mouth and I was afraid of it for a long time. But if you are really diagnosed with an allergy, don't take the chance that "just one bite will be fine." Before, Corey saw an aunt, a relative, who slapped her breasts and said, "The wild bees you ate before are poisonous, and mine is domesticated, and there is absolutely no problem." She persuaded her to take one bite, and she went straight to the ICU for three days. She really couldn't do it. When it comes to eating delicious food, safety always comes first, right?