Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2009 Nov 1;14 (11):e568-72.

Oral Allergy Syndrome

Journal section: Oral Medicine and Pathology

Publication Types: Review

doi:10.4317/medoral.14.e568

Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS). General and stomatological aspects

Martina Ausucua, Igone Dublin, Maria A. Echebarria, Jose M. Aguirre

Oral Medicine. Stomatology Department. School of Medicine and Odontology. Universidad del Pas Vasco / EHU

Correspondence:
Medicina Bucal. Departamento de Estomatologa
Facultad de Medicina y Odontologa
Universidad del Pas Vasco / EHU
Barrio Sarriena s/n
Leioa 48940. Vizcaya. Spain
[email protected]

Received: 22/12/2008
Accepted: 20/05/2009

Ausucua M, Dublin I, Echebarria MA, Aguirre JM. Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS). General and stomatological aspects. Med Oral Patol Oral
Cir Bucal. 2009 Nov 1;14 (11):e568-72
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Abstract

Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS) is a special contact allergy conditioned by specific amino acids in food allergens,
usually fruits, as well as some proteins from different pollens. It is usually manifested in the mouth, however
relatively little is known about the syndrome in Odontology. OAS is a fairly common adverse reaction that occurs
after ingesting certain foods, such as peaches or apples, produced in atopic individuals who usually suffer from
rhinitis, bronchial asthma or both. This syndrome mainly affects the oral cavity and oropharynx, provoking minor
local alterations, although there may be serious systematic reactions, making it important to distinguish it from
other oral processes when making the diagnosis. One of the more severe forms of OAS is anaphylaxis, which is
food-induced. In this study, we will analyze the key etiopathogenic, clinical and therapeutic aspects of this syndrome, focusing specifically on the stomatological aspects.
Key words: Oral allergy syndrome, food allergy, cross reactivity, panallergens, oral cavity.

Introduction

sitivity to fruits and vegetables to birch pollinosis was

written in 1942 by Tuft and Blumstein (4). However, it
was not until 1987 when Amlot et al. (5) first denominated it as Oral Allergy Syndrome upon presenting a
mainly oral clinical manifestation.
Here we will analyse the key etiopathogenic, clinical
and therapeutic parameters of this syndrome, with special emphasis on clinically pathological stomatological
aspects.

We know that certain sensitivities to certain IgE-mediated air-born allergens are clearly associated to hypersensitivity to certain foods, commonly known as
allergies.
Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS) is induced by the oral
and pharynx mucosas exposure to certain food allergies in hypersensitive patients (1, 2). Even though it
usually results from an allergic reaction crossed with
pollen, it should not be considered an exclusive association between eating specific fruits and vegetables in
patients with pollinosis, since in theory any food could
induce it (3).
The first description of OAS that associated a hypersen-

Epidemiology

There is no authoritative data on the real prevalence of

OAS, since the crossed-reactivity patterns show geographical and climatic differences depending on the
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Oral Allergy Syndrome

exposure to inhaled and ingested allergens. In central

and northern Europe, allergies to fruits in the rosaceae
family are closely associated to birch tree pollinosis,
even though it is also associated to grass or ragweed
pollen (North America) or wormwood (Europe) or cedar (Japan) (6).
Twenty-six to 40% of adults with pollen allergies (birch,
grass and wormwood) present OAS; with the opposite
occurring with patients with rosaceae fruit allergies (7,
8). A study carried out in Spain (9) notes that more than
80% of people allergic to peaches are allergic to pollen.
For the majority of patients, OAS is usually always preceded by hay fever and tends to occur more often in
children and adults. Some studies (10) have noted that it
is more frequent in females.

es anaphylaxis and immediate enteropathy, or as an oral

allergy syndrome (OAS).
OAS is a type II, IgE-mediated allergic reaction that implicates fruits and vegetables and whose immunological base is the development of specific IgE antibodies
against proteins. These proteins fulfil basic functions in
vegetables, so are widespread and highly preserved in the
vegetable kingdom, converting them into panallergens
responsible for immunological reactivity amongst vegetables and the allergic associations to different pollens
and even latex (12). The base of OAS is the existence of
IgE anti-bodies that jointly recognise specific pollen and
fruit allergens, rarely manifested in patients without a
previous sensitivity to pollen (3). The sensitivity to food
allergies may also occur in newborns via the placenta or
inhalation in genetically predisposed adults.
In Figure 1 we present a diagram of the key steps of
this immunological reaction. The foods associated with
OAS and related to different types of pollen appear on
Table 1.
Vegetable panallergens are implicated in the vegetables defence mechanism when confronting plagues and
pathogens because of their antifungal and anti-parasitic
or antibacterial properties, or they may be reserve proteins accumulated in its seeds. The most common are
the allergens with Bet v 1, profilins and lipid transport
proteins (LTP) (8,13).

Etiopathogenic aspects

In food allergies, we must distinguish between an adverse reaction to food which would be an abnormal
clinical response attributed to the ingestion, contact
or inhalation of food or additive; and a food allergy,
which is a hypersensitive reaction mediated or not by
IgE antibodies, resulting from ingesting, contact or inhalation of a food or additive (11).
IgE-mediated allergies may be expressed via an immediate gastrointestinal hyper-sensitivity that encompass-

FOOD
ALLERGEN

Activating
Mast cell
and Basophiles

Liberation of
Chemical Mediators

Activating
Antigen presenting cell (APC)

Production of
IgE

Clinical
Symptoms

Activation of
T Helper Lymphocyte
APC

Activation of
B Lymphocyte APC

SAO

Sensitisation
Allergic response

Fig. 1. Diagram of the cellular response in the sensitisation and allergic reaction with food allergens.

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Oral Allergy Syndrome

Table 1. Types of food and pollen associated to OAS (2).

POLLEN

BIRCH

RAGWEED

FRUIT

Kiwi

Peach

Apple

Nectarine

Pear

Apricot

Plum

Cherry

Banana

Honey

Watermelon

Dew

Melon
WEEDS

Watermelon
Tomato

WORMWOOD
PARIETARIA

VEGETABLE

Apple
Watermelon
Cherry

NUTS

Celery

Potato

Carrot

Tomato

Parsnip

Pepper

Parsley

(green)

Hazelnut

Dill

Lentils

Walnut

Cumin

Peas

Cilantro

Beans

Fennel

Peanuts

Squash

Cucumber

Celery

Carrot

Almond

Orange
Kiwi

Melon
Melon

Clinical aspects

The Bet v 1 family is a group of defence proteins that

behave like major allergens in patients in Northern and
Central Europe, with vegetable allergies in combination
with birch tree pollinosis. These are labile proteins, easy
degradable by digestive enzymes and commonly associated to local and minor symptoms. Profilins are proteins highly conserved in eukaryotic organisms that are
probably implicated in the transmission of signals and
the organisation of the cytoskeleton. For vegetable allergies in patients allergic to birch tree pollen in Northern
and Central Europe, profilin behaves like a minor allergen, even though the allergy to rosaceaes combined
with pollinosis (gramineaes) in patients in Spain is a
serious allergy (14).
Lipid transport proteins (LTP) are major allergens implicated in rosaceaes fruit allergies in patients around
the Mediterranean not used to birch tree pollen (15).
These proteins are highly resistant to digestive enzymes
and thermal treatments, which explains what maintains
their allergenic activity in drinks and processed foods
(juice, beer). They may be associated to severe systemic
symptoms and may provoke hypersensitivity in nonpollinosis patients (16).

The allergic reaction in OAS normally occurs immediately and may occur as soon as the fruit or vegetable is
in contact with the oral mucosa. The symptoms often
start after a few minutes (maximum one hour), affecting
almost exclusively the anatomical regions that enter in
contact with the food, generally the oropharynx.
Overall, it is under control quickly and is not usually
severe. However, there are cases that it may come accompanied by more severe local and even systemic
symptoms.
The oropharynx symptoms include tingling, irritation
and/or swelling of the oropharynx; oedemas of the oral
mucosa, itching and burning lips, tongue, palate and
oropharynx (Fig.2).
Extra-oral affectation is generally on the face and neck
with hives, atopic dermatitis, itching of the ears and a
runny nose, oral itching, tearing, periorbital oedema,
retractions without respiratory obstruction and sneezing (2).
On certain occasions there may be systematic clinical
symptoms like: Nauseas, vomiting, stomach aches and
diarrhoea, general eczema, asthma, hives, laryngeal
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Oral Allergy Syndrome

The skin tests to determine immediate hypersensitivity will complement the clinical diagnosis of OAS. The
skin prick test (SPT) is performed with commercial extracts of pollens and food on the forearm or the back,
measuring the 15 minutes, and are considered positive
if they are greater than 2 mm of the negative control
sample (2,20). The commercial extracts do not appear
as good as when fresh. One of the inconveniences of the
skin prick test is the prevalence of false positives and
false negatives, and that some of the medications like
antihistamines may alter them (21,22).
We must also perform analytical determinations: Complete blood count, total IgE and IgE serum antibodies.
The valuation of total IgE allows us to identify atopic
patients, without locating a specific allergen (23). IgE
serum antibodies can be analysed via radioimmunoassay (RIA), Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
(ELISA) or chemiluminescence or a radioallergosorbent
test (RAST). The RAST test is performed by inhaling
pollinic allergens (grass, birch tree) and food allergens (apple, peach, pear, tomato, potato, carrot, celery,
peanut, hazelnut, melon, almond, banana and oranges).
Apart from the problems interpreting the results, other
inconveniences in these diagnostic tests include their
high costs and false positives.
OAS may be confused with other oral pathologies due
to the lack of specificity of the current symptom complex. This is why a differential diagnosis must be performed against viral infections (herpetic), recurrent
aphthae, erythema multiforme, physical or chemical
burns, contact allergies to other substances (toothpaste,
odontological material, etc.).
Some serious forms of OAS may present itself as an unspecific ulcer-membranous stomatitis, either as isolated
canker sores or in more specific cases with multiple
oropharynx affections (23).
As previously noted, in cases of OAS, a history with
pollen allergies and contact with food are key.

Fig. 2. Asthmatic patient with OAS. Swelling of the

tongue and itching after eating a peach.

oedema or even in isolated cases, anaphylactic shock

(10,17,18).
OAS may occur during any part of the year, but is often
worsened during the season of the pollen instigating it.
Cooked, canned or processed fruits and/or vegetables
do not generally unleash the symptoms; this along with
the fact that it does not produce symptoms below the
oropharynx suggests that the majority of the allergenic
proteins are altered by the heat and or digestive processes (1).

Diagnostic data

A medical history of pollinic allergies and contact with

the food provoking them, usually fruit, are the fundamental elements in the clinical diagnosis of this syndrome.
In patients with allergies to air-born particles, the appearance of oral itching or tingling after eating fresh
fruit or vegetables is enough to suspect OAS. This is
why the medical history must be comprehensive; especially to make sure that it is not a more important allergic problem (1). In patients with allergies to pollen
we must ask about the intensity of the symptoms during
more active periods, the duration of these allergies in
previous years and at what age the pollen-food allergy
began. We must also include the type of symptoms that
the food triggers, looking to see if they are exclusively
around the mouth, in the zone of contact or affecting
other distant organs. Finally, it is important to include
the time that has passed between the ingestion and the
appearance of the symptoms.
An important test in diagnosing food allergies is a controlled double-blind provocation with a placebo, even
though it presents multiple problems for OAS. One
problem is that the excipient and taste disguise may provoke the loss of the foods allergenic properties. But the
food implicated must be administered naturally, not dehydrated, freeze-dried or in pills, since contact with the
oral mucosa is necessary to induce the symptoms (19).
Finally, due to the severity of the symptoms in some
patients, this test could be potentially dangerous.

Treatment and prognosis

The easiest, safest and cheapest way to treat OAS consists in avoiding fruits and/or vegetables that unleash it
(1,2). Since many of the immunogenic proteins in fruits
and/or vegetables are unstable (heat-labile), patients
will tolerate food cooked and canned well, and fresh or
raw foods badly.
Many of the more immunogenic proteins are mainly or
exclusively found on the fruit/vegetables skin, and less
so in its flesh, so simply peeling them is not a complete
safety measure (2).
In minor, local disorders, simply avoiding repeated contact is enough to resolve the case. If isolated ulcers exists, a topical corticoid may be applied (triamcinolone
0.1% or fluocinolone 0.05%) until resolved.
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Oral Allergy Syndrome

temic affection, systemic corticoids should be administered (20).

Due to the possible anaphylactic reaction, epinephrine
should be prescribed (via IM injection) and instruct the
patient on how to use it if necessary (2). Sometimes antihistamine therapy is recommended for IgE-mediated
cutaneous manifestations, but not for systemic reactions
(20).
Some studies (24,25) have used immunotherapy against
pollens as a treatment to this syndrome, with varying
results.
Allergists indicate that a fundamental preventative
measure in OAS is informing the patients with pollen
allergies about the possibility of developing a hypersensitivity to certain fruits and/or vegetables. So patients
aware of which foods provoke their OAS should avoid
them or eat them cooked or canned.
The general prognosis of OAS is good, with very few
severe reactions. Moreover, approximately one third of
patients with food allergies lose their sensitivity after 2
years of strictly not ingesting it (2).
Some authors (2) have concluded that neither the size of
the skin test reactions, the total IgE nor the atopical respiratory diseases is sufficient reason to predict severe
OAS reactions.

Figueredo E, Martnez J, et al. A method for quantitation of food

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Berti C, et al. IgE-mediated allergy from vegetable allergens. Ann
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Conclusion

As a conclusion we can state that oral allergy syndrome

(OAS) is an interesting allergy pathology induced by
vegetables in sensitive patients, and should be recognised by odontologists. Even though the symptoms are
usually minor, some cases may lead to severe consequences. This is why it is important to keep it in mind
when diagnosing patients with acute oral symptoms that
may be related to the ingestion of fruits and/or vegetables.

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