What foods should you avoid if you are allergic to fennel?

There is no uniform list of food taboos for allergies. Whether you need to avoid fennel depends entirely on the type of allergen you have - if you are allergic to Umbelliferae plants and Artemisia pollen, you must avoid fennel. If you have no history of related allergies, you can eat it normally.

I met a patient a while ago who had a history of Artemisia pollen allergy for three years. In previous years, he only sneezed and itched his eyes during the change of seasons from spring to autumn. When the weather was hot, he always liked to buy the fennel stuffed buns downstairs for lunch. He never had any problems. However, when the pollen season was at its worst last year, he ate a meal of fennel and egg dumplings made at home, and his mouth was full for less than two hours. His lips were swollen into a "sausage mouth" and there was a large red rash on his arms. He took antihistamines for a long time and it took a long time to go away. After going for an allergen test, he found out that it was a cross-allergic reaction. Fennel and the Artemisia pollen he was allergic to have proteins with similar structures. When the immune status is disordered during the pollen season, even foods that he had previously tolerated may trigger reactions.

At this point, some people must be wondering, so I have never been allergic to pollen, so do I not have to worry about fennel? Indeed, there are many opinions on the Internet now, either saying that as long as you have allergies, you should avoid "hair-raising substances" such as fennel and coriander, or that fennel and allergies have nothing to do with each other. Both opinions are too absolute. I also met a little girl who was allergic to dust mites. She heard on the Internet that she was forbidden to eat fennel for three months. In the end, the allergens were not related to fennel. She ate a lot of her favorite stuffing for nothing, which was a big loss.

In addition to cross-allergens like fennel, which are easily overlooked, most people with allergies need to avoid foods that they have already confirmed that they are allergic to. For example, if you are allergic to seafood, you should avoid shrimps, crabs, and shellfish. If you are allergic to eggs and milk, you should pay more attention to whether there are ingredients such as whey protein and egg powder in the ingredient list of processed foods. It really does not mean that all allergic people should avoid certain things. There was a parent who was afraid that his child's eczema would get worse. After listening to the folk remedies on the Internet, he even stopped rice and white flour. He only ate millet and cabbage every day. After two months, the child did not grow much. On the contrary, his immunity was lowered and allergies became more frequent. It was a complete fool's errand.

If you really don’t know what you are allergic to, go to the hospital for a serum-specific IgE test or a patch test, which is much more reliable than the various “10 foods you must avoid for allergies” you read. Don’t make your own diet dull by blindly restricting foods, and you will lose nutrition. It’s not worth it.