Nature doesn’t like to reinvent the wheel. That is why the same proteins that appear in certain plant and animal species show up in apparently unrelated ones. They have evolved to serve some purpose, such as protection against natural predators, and as evolution continues creating new species and varieties, these useful proteins remain. For most people, they are harmless, but some of us react to them. We call those reactions allergies. Thus, you may be “allergic” to one thing, but you may “cross react” to something else.
Ragweed pollen is a common allergen. You would probably never think about adding it to a salad or soup. However, the allergens in it are also linked to honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, banana, and chamomile. Eating them can cause oral allergy syndrome, which is itching or swelling of the lips, tongue, throat or roof of the mouth.
Marsh elder, golden rod, and mugwort pollen, ragweed’s botanical relatives, may also cause problems for those allergic to ragweed.
Patients with seafood allergy are frequently reported to also have allergic reactions to mites and insects. This cross-reactivity is probably due to the high amino acid homology of these invertebrate tropomyosins and may have significant clinical implications. A recent study demonstrated sensitization to shrimp tropomyosin in orthodox Jews who are prohibited by religious dietary laws from eating shellfish; however, as they were never exposed to crustacean allergens, this sensitization to tropomyosin is probably due to a noncrustacean source, such as house dust mites (HDM), cockroaches or both, via inhalation.
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