Do I have a banana allergy?
I grew up my whole life eating raw bananas as a snack. I also ate fried plantains and plantain chips very often. It wasn’t until recently that I ate some baked goods made with bananas. I just had never come into contact with it in my life. I ate banana bread, on multiple occasions, and every time I couldn’t taste the flavor of the bread because my tongue was in so much pain. I also made my own banana muffins, and experimented the same oral pain. I thought perhaps I was allergic to bananas only when cooked? Then, I ate a banana cream pie for the first time. It made my tongue hurt too. But it wasn’t made with cooked bananas, so that confused me. Could it have been some other ingredient in all three that caused my tongue pain? I was thinking that when bananas are cooked with, they are typically more ripened and soft. Perhaps there is some sort of chemical change that releases something in the banana that triggers my tongue pain. Please let me know what you think.
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10 Answers
Well that’s a shit allergy, isn’t it?
I really have no idea what, other than an allergy, would cause that.
Maybe you could go see an allergist?
In any of these instances, the bread, the muffins – were there also walnuts?
@figbash I think the bread did but the muffins didn’t.
Have you checked your tongue for thrush? I currently have thrush on my tongue from antibiotics and certain things hurt it. Other than that, I am not sure. I know that bad allergic reactions include skin rash, breathing difficulties and swollen lips. Food intolerance is different to allergy.
Do you have ulcers or anything else in your mouth?
The same thing happens to me as well if I eat a lot of bananas. By a lot I mean more than 2 in twenty four hours.
I have 3 questions for you.
1. Does it happen with any other fruit at times?
2. Do you have acid reflux?
3. Do you have any allergies to ragweed or birch?
I have noticed when I touch a the skin of a regular banana, it doesn’t cause a skin reaction. But if I boil a green banana or a green plantain and I peel the banana, I will get this film on me that will make me itch. I’ve read that it is sometimes linked to an allergy to latex, but latex bandaids or gloves does nothing to me. Funny enough touching shell fish (shrimp specifically) before cooking does the same thing, but I have no problem eating it once it is cooked or steamed. No reaction what so ever.
The cream pie and the bread both have something baked with flour, and most likely baking powder. Maybe you are having a reaction to baking powder.
To know, you would need to eliminate them from your diet for a few weeks. Then, you’d eat a raw banana to see if you have a reaction.
If the banana causes no reaction it is an ingredient in the baked goods. That would then take more work to figure out which ingredient.
Most people that are allergic to bananas are also allergic to birch trees. Do you have seasonal allergies?
Try cooking a banana all by itself. Just slice it up and fry it with a little butter or something. Eat that, and see if you get the same reaction.
I’m pretty sure I’m not allergic to birch. I get affected to a very small degree by seasonal allergies.
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