A RAPID increase in fruit and vegetable allergies affecting British children has medical specialists baffled.
Common vegetables and fruits, such as celery, apples and pears, are now rivalling peanuts as the most prevalent cause of food-related allergies.
Australian experts say fruit and vegetable allergies are on the rise here, but the problem is not as bad as it is in Britain.
There has been an increase in adverse reactions to bananas and kiwi fruits, but peanuts and tree nuts remain the most common triggers for severe allergic attacks in Australia, according to Maria Said, president of Anaphylaxis Australia.
"We do see fruit and vegetable allergy … we certainly have people who are allergic to celery and the pepper family … but the major allergies in Australia remain peanuts, tree nuts, milk and egg, fish and shellfish, soy, sesame and wheat," she said.
Allergy specialists in Britain say the alarming rise in fruit and vegetable allergies has mainly affected younger children.
Pamela Ewan, an allergy consultant at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, told the BBC that most patients suffered symptoms including swelling in the mouth and throat and breathing difficulties.
"We have seen a big rise in the number of cases in the past four to five years. It is a bit like the peanut allergy was the epidemic of the 1990s," she said.
"I think fruit and vegetables are becoming the epidemic now. In terms of numbers, fruit and vegetables are the new form of peanut allergy."
Dr Ewan, who sees more than 8000 people with allergies a year, said that fruit and vegetable allergies seemed to be getting more serious. "Early on when we first picked it up, it was not passed off as being serious. It began with fairly mild itching in the mouth. But now we are seeing people who are getting really severe throat closure … which can impede breathing."
Other specialists in Britain said the problem could be due to the spreading of pollen allergy to fruit and vegetables.
Adam Fox, from Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, said proteins in allergens such as birch pollen could spread.
"There is a cross-reactivity between the protein in that pollen with those in fruits and vegetables, so people start getting a reaction to fruits such as apples and pears," Dr Fox said.
Pollution could also be a factor, with Jonathan North, a doctor from Birmingham, noting that particles from diesel exhaust make pollen more allergenic.
But doctors in Australia have not seen such a marked increase in fruit and vegetable allergies.
"By far peanuts and tree nuts are the allergies that are on the increase," Ms Said said.
She said the proportion of allergies caused by fruit and vegetables was less than 10 per cent. However, banana and kiwi fruit allergies were on the rise, "but as to how much more allergy, I don't know".
She said it was unknown why certain allergies were increasing. "There are a number of theories … Unfortunately we don't have a lot of the answers when we talk about allergies and that makes it very difficult for us to track trends."
Allergy trends also differed between countries. "Celery and mustard seeds are on the list over there (Britain), not over here, but they could develop into a problem here," she said.
Ms Said said fish and shellfish were the biggest cause of allergies in Scandinavia; sesame was an allergy in Australia but not so much in the United States; and buckwheat rather than peanuts was a problem in Asian countries.
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