food reactions

[burntcopper]

Okay, NOT an allergy query thing.

This one's for odd/uncommon reactions to food.

Not talking about caffeine and sugar for sending someone bouncing off the walls, that's fairly common. Or wine and cheese giving you a migraine.

Anything that brings on an odd reaction?

Example: mate of mine gags if given fresh coriander.

I go completely bouncing off walls with too much hydrogenated fat. I can consume sugar like no-one's business and have no noticeable difference. Hydrogenated fat, bouncing off the ceiling. Oh, and I upchuck if given suspensions.

A mate's little brother had an extreme reaction to colours - one blue smartie, took us an hour to scrape him off the ceiling. really. This was scientifically tested.

Comments

[hano.livejournal.com]

I got two - I physically can't drink tomato juice, it makes me gag. And Perrier brings me out in a rash.

[calliopes_pen]

I have one really big one. I didn't discover it until I was already in the hospital for the whole anemia mess.

They gave me a tropical fruit drink, which included mangoes and passion fruit. What a time to find out that even one drop of either closes my throat, and makes me unable to breathe.

On the other end, I cannot eat bananas. Even the smell makes me nauseated.

Edit: Oh, yeah--MSG in Chinese food causes massive migraines within 15 minutes of eating it for me. I have to make sure it doesn't include it, or I can't eat it.

[da-pol.livejournal.com]

White starch like boiled/roast potatoes and plain rice give me a spaceout almost like weed, but not quite as nice.

Pepsi Max and Coke Zero are both instant migraine triggers.

I know a few people who go completely hyper on certain food colours - Blue smarties are bad, but the mix in R. Whites lemonade are lethal.

I know people for whom caffeeine has a sedative effect.

I have texture problems with a lot of food that would otherwise be fine - pork chops, kedgeree and kidneys are three that come to mind - any of those will trigger a gag reflex as soon as they hit my mouth.

I can smell certain brassicas a mile off and it will completely put me off eating.

[cynicalcylon.livejournal.com]

Eggs in anything but cooking (cakes, etc.) or omlette-form make me gag.

Smell of anything fish-like makes me nauseous, and if it's especially strong, physically sick.

[cynicalcylon.livejournal.com]

Also anything too squishy that's not supposed to be squishy - see my loathing for cooked veggies...veggies should go 'Crunch!'...makes me gag something rotten.

[gmh.livejournal.com]

Fruit juices from concentrate; specifically strawberry, apple and grape; cause me to fold into a little ball of pain within ten minutes as my stomach attempts to punish me for trying to kill it.

I can take the raw fruits no problem, but a 250ml carton of strawberry Ribena will knock me sideways for an hour or two.

[gmh.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'd never thought of that as an allergic reaction before, but it might be, according to a quick scan of the net.

Aside from that: Brussels sprouts and off milk - following an unfortunate childhood incident, I can tell sour milk from yards off and it never fails to induce heaves.

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

The coriander one isn't weird! It's genetic, actually. A small minority of the population just CANNOT DEAL with coriander; their taste buds process it as POISON BAD WRONG. My housemate's afflicted with this unfortunate genetic trait.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

really? huh. my mate is utterly fine with ground/dry coriander, it's just fresh that's the problem.

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

I've known K to eat dried coriander before, if there's not much of it. I think it depends on how strong the flavour is?

[alysscarlet.livejournal.com]

This is probably TMI, but I suffer from asparagus pee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus#Urine_effects). I love eating the stuff and suffer no side effects except my urine smells horrible for a few hours afterwards - like rotting veg. It's a known condition, but I only seem to have developed in in the past few years (or maybe I'm just eating more asparagus).

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

Me too on the bananas/smell thing. My parents tried to cure me of it as a kid by adding bits of banana to every fruit salad/ice cream sundae I was given, but the reaction never stopped.

[andromakie.livejournal.com]

Certain food dyes (aka koolaid) made me hyper as a small child. Not drinking Koolaid as an older person, I have no idea if they still do that, but luridly coloured candy has always been fine.

[andromakie.livejournal.com]

Oh, and actual allergy to mushrooms (and probably all related things like eggplant I'm told)and egg intolerance except in baked things like cynicalcylon, they make me really sick, even the smell.

[gmh.livejournal.com]

Apparently it does that to everyone, but only a fraction of the population have the (genetic) ability to smell methanethiol (a.k.a. methyl mercaptan).

Congratulations, you're evolutionarily superior!

A story that has been hanging around for years (but has no solid evidence behind it that I've seen) is that methanethiol is actually a powerful fish attractant; and that tinned asparagus was issued to US aviators in the Pacific as part of their emergency rations; they could eat the stuff, piss over the side, and then hang a line out for the fish.

[alysscarlet.livejournal.com]

I never knew that about the emergency rations - how intriguing!

I also like the theory that only a few people can smell methanethiol, but if that's the case I appear to have developed it in later life as I definitely didn't smell it when I was younger. :-)

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

Dunno if it's an allergy or a localised sensitivity or what (allergy clinic didn't seem clear, just said keep away from it) but I can't drink anything with alcohol at all or it will make my lips swell up hugely and painfully, like one of those gone-wrong trout pout things. Came on in my late 20s, was fine before, not a heavy drinker though so no obvious reason to trigger it. Bummer, frankly. Console myself with Bailey's flavour syrup in lattes etc, but not really the same thing :-(