Food. It’s something we consume each and every day. Something very personal, as we’ve all got our personal tastes which aren’t to be discussed. Something essential, pleasant and social – after all, there’s nothing as cozy as enjoying a meal with friends, discussing whatever’s going on in your lives at the moment. Yet food can also be a tricky thing, especially for people who suffer from allergies. Some of those are pretty well-known, like nuts or stone fruits. Yet others are flying under the radar and mostly not even considered as allergies, even though they should. One of them: oysters.
Especially during the holiday season, oysters seem to be everywhere. You can eat them at the restaurant, at home or even at the Christmas market. And for some people, that’s their definition of heaven. They divulge them with the greatest enthusiasm and appetite, eating twenty without difficulty and even then longing for more. Yet for others, oysters can be a true disaster. They love the taste, they eat them every now and them but even before getting started, they know they’ll end up crouching over the toilet at the end of the evening, seeing those lovely oysters come out in reverse.
Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome
We often consider that as a non-threatening thing, thinking we’ve eaten a bad oyster, causing all the drama. But new research shows there’s more to that vomiting fest than meets the eye. Apparently, you can really be allergic to oysters and that’s not something to take lightly. The phenomenon is called food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome and will cause you to be sick each and every time you eat an oyster, as your digestive system just isn’t able to process them. So no need to blame your sickness on a “bad oyster”.
“Many people who are sick for the first time just presume they have encountered an infected oyster and they assume they can eat them again in the future. But each time they eat an oyster, they are getting sick”, Madeleine Epstein, allergist, tells the magazine Sciences et Avenir. The problem with oyster allergies, however, is that just a handful of people take their issue to their doctor as they consider their sickness as something normal. They continue to eat them but as the only way for your body to cope with the issue is to get it all out, they keep getting sick consistently. So if you recognize yourself in this, please do yourself a favor and stop eating those oysters. It’s just a waste.
