Yesterday was not a good day. Abby stayed home sick. I had a lot of work to do. I basically had one day to write my business plan (so I procrastinated a little), which had to be ready to present today. Let’s just say it’s a good thing I’m not trying to convince bankers. I also had church last night, which meant a good chunk of the evening was gone.
It meant for a busy day, but not too bad. Then I had lunch.
A month or so back I went on a banana eating kick. I had one every day with breakfast and it felt good to actually be getting a one-fifth of my daily allotment of fruit. I’m not exactly a healthy eater. Then one day as I finished my banana I felt intensely sick. A stomach ache and cramps set in for the next 45 minutes. It was a good hour or two before I was back to normal. By that afternoon I felt fine. Rather freakish.
The next day the same thing happened. I decided to cut back on bananas, as in not eat them, and I haven’t had a problem.
Of course Abby’s made a few loaves of banana bread in the past month, and I’ve devoured them with no problem. So it’s not a total banana thing. Or maybe cooking bananas changes things.
At any rate, yesterday for lunch I went to Jamba Juice, the default sick-person food in our house. I always go for a Strawberries Wild, which is basically a strawberry and banana smoothie. After finishing three-quarters of smoothie the intense stomach ache and cramps hit me. Suddenly our house became a double-sickie home. Speak didn’t know who to lick more.
The pain subsided after an hour to the point where I could work, but I didn’t feel great. The cramps came back later in the afternoon, though it was shorter and less intense. By supper time I felt fine again, though that night I couldn’t sleep on my stomach. Not exactly a conducive afternoon for writing a business plan. Thankfully enough came together that I could squeak by, though I’ll have plenty of revisions.
So I guess that means bananas are out. They’re the only commonality that’s made me sick like this, though I can’t imagine why. Nothing else has ever had this kind of reaction for me. Is it possible to overdoes on bananas? And if it is, that’s just not fair. I try to be healthy and I get hit with a double whammy of suck.
And I liked bananas. It was healthy eating but they still tasted good. And I really liked Strawberries Wild at Jamba Juice. It’s the only flavor I ever order. Jamba Juice has suddenly lost all appeal.
So that was my bad day. Lying in bed next to my sick wife with a damp washcloth on my forehead and intense stomach pain, all while an incredible amount of work was due the next day. Yuck.
It’s really not that dramatic — it wasn’t that terrible of a day. But it wasn’t a good day by a longshot.
Update: It’s been more than a year since I wrote this entry on what could be banana allergies, and it’s racked up more than 50 comments. I’m thinking the comments are more helpful than my actual entry, but hopefully people are finding what they’re looking for.
Since it has been more than a year since I wrote this, I thought I should give an update. I haven’t had intense banana-related stomach cramps since, though I have eaten small quantities of bananas. Back in February I had half a banana with no dire consequences. A few weeks back my wife made a fruit salad with bananas, and over a couple days I ate the equivalent of a couple of bananas. No dire consequences.
My only conclusion has been that my stomach cramps were caused by consuming massive quantities of bananas in a short period. If I eat them every day, I get sick. But once in a while seems to be fine.
Of course I’m still a little hesitant when it comes to Jamba Juice.
Hey everyone, my friend had the exact same problem with stomach pains from eating bananas. He consumed bananas on a regular basis and developed the allergy in 2003.
I’ve done a little bit of research browsing through some scientific papers online and most of them correlate to a linkage with latex-fruit syndrome.
Some of the papers have done work on a class of proteins found in fruits called chitinases which reacts with IgE (Immunoglobulin E) in some people. Basically causing a reaction in a test tube, but the scientists are not all too certain about the allergy it causes in a person.
I also found this interesting paper:
Sanchez-Monge et al.(2000) Class I chitinases, the panallergens responsible for the latex-fruit syndrome, are induced by ethylene treatment and inactivated by heating. Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. 106(1 Part 1). July, 2000. 190-195.
This paper found that chitinase activity is activated by ethylene in fruits such as bananas and that cooking basically stops the chitinase from working so it won’t make you sick.
So to sum it all up, not a lot is known about this allergy, although the chitinase protein and presence of high ethylene is likely to be related.
The Beano product sounds interesting, maybe i’ll look into that someday :)
I too found out that I suffer from some sort of allergy from bananas, because every time I eat them, I wake up in the middle of the night with severe leg cramps, and I know people say eating bananas is supose to stop leg cramps but it gives them to me. I never have leg cramps until I eat a banana so I found that it was the connection, I don’t eat them any more and am fine now, but I can’t really find any refrence online to this allergy. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who has this weird type of problem, thanks a lot for sharing.
Oh by the way I am 24 now and my banana allergy started a couple years ago in early 20’s too
Wow – Im so glad i found this site, I thought it was just me with these weird banana symptoms. Its half two in the morning and instead of sleeping like normal people do at this time, I am still up and have the most evil stomach pains and nausea due to stupidly eating a banana earlier – as this has happened on at least the last five occasions I have eaten bananas you would think I would have learned by now – duh. Ive just swallowed four antacids and Im considering waking my boyfriend up just to make him feel as miserable as I do. Next time I am tempted to eat a banana Im gonna look at this post and remember how grindingly, obscenely sick I feel right now ;) Ive been eating bananas for most of my 35 years, and its only recently I have had a problem – at the same time I have developed an allergy to hair bleach – if I even touch the smallest amount my throat swells, my face burns and I get wheezy. Anyway with this banana thing, I take it as a message from a higher source that healthy things make me ill – so Im gonna curl up with a beer and a burger next time
About this crummy problem the most of us experience, my dad and I believe it may be linked to very high potassium levels or high levels of vitamin A, not sure what type, but i did a little research on the three main allergies i have and cantaloupe, i dont know if cantaloupe kills me though. The worst is avacados, which is acute severe pain, its really crippling, in 150 grams of avacados there is 219 IU of Vitamin A, and 727 mg of Potassium, the second worse for me is bananas, which puts me stuck on a bed for at least 6 hours, has, in a 225g serving 144 IU’s of Vitamin A, and 806 mg of potassium. The least on my rictor scale would be Eggs, a couple of hours of pain, not debilatating though, these are cooked mind you too. In a 100g serving there is 410 IU of Vitamin A and 147 mg of potassium, maybe the cooking breaks this high amount of Vitamin A down to a smaller amount. Now i dont have to much experince with the cantaloupe it has an amazingly high amount of Vitamin A 5987 IU in a 177g serving and 473 mg of potassium. This is just an analysis of what i think may cause our horrible pains, and the data seems to corralate to my experences, according to serving size and the fact i never cooked bananas or avacados. Also i first noticed my allergies to these foods around 15, and i am now 21, i dont think age plays the biggest factor, but maybe metabolism does. I also have Hypo-Glycemia, i have to eat every 5 hours or else i feel weird, dont know if that matters to this though. Anyone who can information about this, please email me at oursonapollo@aol.com
hi! I’ve found reading this site very interesting as my one year old has been allergic to banans since she was six months old and she’s just gone through food challenge wich confirmed a severe reaction ‘anaphylaxsis’ however were waiting to see if it will be latex related and how many other foods will have the same effect, she also has hayfever wich is suspected to be related to banana allergies as it’s related to grasses along with watermelon .I now have to carry epi-pens everywhere with me and check if people have eaten bananas before touching her . If anyone has any ideas or know of any other children with same allergy please let me know. everyone looks at me strange when I say what she’s allergic to as though bananas are a holy fruit!!
I’m another sad banana. I’m also 21, which, for whatever reason, does seem to be an age when this allergy frequently shows up. I never had a problem with bananas until a few days ago. About 15 minutes after eating half a banana I began experiencing violent stomach cramps and gassiness which lasted for almost two hours. I had no idea what was causing the cramping until today. I ate one baby banana (which i do not believe was sprayed) and almost immediately felt the same cramping and gassiness (burping almost constantly). A few hours later, I’m still feeling cramps. I am not allergic to latex, avocados, or any other foods that I know of, though my mouth occassionally itches after eating kiwis.
Someone should bring this to the attention of a specialist and find out what the deal is with this cramping banana business.
Weird. I’ve pegged -very- severe stomach cramps to avocados, though there’s one episode I can’t tie to them. I have no trouble with bananas, nor latex allergies. Can’t seem to find much about it other than this blog.
Based on http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ethylene-Gas.htm, it’s hard to imagine that ethylene-concentrated ripening would have any dramatic effect. It’s just a fairly mundane hydrocarbon.
But hang on. It breaks down into ethylene glycol. This may or may not be what it does in the stomach, mind you, but this is interesting:
“Potential symptoms: Irritation of eyes, skin, nose, throat; lassitude (weakness, exhaustion); headache, dizziness, central nervous system depression; abnormal eye movements (nystagmus); skin sensitization; INGES ACUTE: Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, loss of coordination, stupor, convulsions, unconsciousness; rapid heart rate, congestive heart failure; kidney damage, failure (delayed). ”
And the US OSHA says:
“Note: Exposure by ingestion can be determined by urinalysis for oxalic acid, a metabolite of ethylene glycol.”
There’s a bunch of history and context of ethylene here: http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ethylene-Gas.htm
I don’t think ethylene ripening would be considered unorganic; see e.g.: http://www.soilassociation.org.uk/web/sa/saweb.nsf/0/80256ad800554549802567850056dcba?OpenDocument
-Rob
Another enemy of the banana apparently. I’m 20 and I haven’t been able to eat bananas and other foods sine I was probably 13 or so.
While some people have mentioned it already, I personally believe it’s the potassium that gets to me. I experience the stomach cramps/pain when I eat bananas, canteloupe (to a lesser extent), powerbars, dasani water and just now I discovered I get it if I eat too much tomatoes at once. All of which are pretty high in potassium. Perhaps a conclusion is on the way.
My daughter Ashlee has had 2 bad reactions to bananas. Once back in the spring when a student brought a fruit tray to school with banana slices and yesterday. She had just eaten half a banana when her throat started itching, then smelling. Her eyes and ears burn and itch. She gets rash on legs and stomach. Cramps set in then she vomits for about an hour. Her eyes will swell almost shut and her throat swells to the point she can hardly breathe. She took Benadryl as guick as she could get it. This helps, but takes few minutes to work. She never had this problem until this year. She is 19. The part where she can harldy breathe is scary. Now she will stay away from bananas and always keep Benadryl with her.
I sure am relieved I’m not the only one out there who gets banana-related stomach aches. I’m 16 years old and the pain started maybe a year ago. It didn’t take me long to realize it was bananas causing it. Whenever I see bananas, automatic alarms go off in my head like, “NO DON’T EAT THAT!” but today at lunch, I ignored them. Bad idea. The pain isn’t too bad this time, just mild discomfort, but sometimes it’s terrible. It makes me sad because I really do like bananas. This is the first time I’ve researched it online and I’m glad I did–I don’t feel like such a freak now. So I guess I have “banana allergies”… Do you think there are any studies being done to explain this? I’d really like to know why some lucky folks can eat all the bananas they want and I have to stand back and watch them sadly. :(
Hey, try eating organic bananas, it made a huge difference for me. They have to be labelled “organic”. They can be a bit more expensive sometimes, but it is definitely worth it, because they don’t bother my stomach and cause pain in the least, like the other ones do. If you try them, can you post your results? Thanks. :)
I have the worst stomach aches when I eat avocados…I thought I was eating bad taquito’s for the longest time but then I finally put 2 & 2 together and realized it was the guacomole…By the way…I am not allergic to bananas or latex. I think the “gas ripened” theory may be the cause…because it is done to avocados too…but why don’t I have problems with the bananas? Very odd…I read that when bananas are cooked it kills some enzyme…that’s why the banana bread doesn’t bother those with the banana allergy
By the way…I was 19 when I started having my avocado allergy…but didn’t realize it was the avocado until I was 26 when my best friend & I had a discussion and I realized she had the same problem w/avocados
I have similar problems as Rob mentions in his August 30, 2005 post, only in reverse order. I have not eaten eggs (concentrated form such as egg salad or omelets) since I was in high school because I get crippling stomach cramps. From time to time (seems to be more frequent these days) I find that avocado, bananas, cantaloupe, and broccoli have similar unpleasant effects.
Why do I do it? Why do I still eat bananas when they make me feel so awful?! I am 26 and I have been having this banana issue for about 6 months now. Almost every time I eat them I have this terrible burning stomach ache and nausea that makes me feel like I want to crawl into bed for the rest of the day. It might only happen when the banana is just past it’s prime, but I’m not sure about this. It never used to happen, and now, all of a sudden, it hits me hard. I would really like to know what causes this, or, even better, how to make it feel better. I try antacids, pepto, milk, water, and nothing but time helps. Haven’t tried Beano. Any other suggestions? So far, I don’t have this reaction to any other foods that I am aware of. Just those evil little bananas.
I’ve been getting severe gas pains from bananas since about age 25. Now at 35, I’ve suddenly developed a similar reaction (only worse) to cantaloupe. It feels like trapped gas and is very painful. Taking Beano with a banana helps only a little bit. It’s too bad because I love the taste of bananas and cantaloupe. My husband gets the same reaction from apples. We both also have seasonal allergies(pollen, grasses, birch trees, Alder, ect..). As a side note, my mouth gets red and irritated after eating certain fruits which are juicy (peaches, plums, strawberries..) Also, the smell of peanuts makes me feel like I’m choking/having trouble breathing. Not sure if all these allergies are related. As a kid, I could eat anything. Ah.. to be young again.
I wanted to find out why bananas make me sick also. I am so surprised to know that so many other people experience the same symptoms…My stomach cramps up, but also my throat burns when I try to comsume them!!! What the heck is it? I wasn’t this way until I was about 5 months pregnant with my first baby! At that time I was 19! Someone needs to find out what’s really going on and have it stopped! I honestly think they’re being contaminated! I can’t even eat my ( use to be) favorite dessert, banana pudding! By the way, my first son never liked bananas from the start!
Wow, this is amazing. I have had it with this mess. I am at work. Just ate 1/2 of a banana after years of stearing clear. Stupid !! I am so sick ! I feel like I have the flu. Nausea, chills, headache…ugh ! Avocados kill me too !! It is really sad. There are only a few fruits that I like, and of course, they don’t like me. Have any of you actually gone to a doctor about this specifically? You speak of a latex allergy and honestly I don’t know what you are talking about. What is the correlation between fruit and latex. I must have missed something ! Will do more research. If anybody has the time to bring me up to speed I would greatly appreciate it.
In response to Marianne from http://www.latexallergyresources.org/Product_lists/food_list.cfm:
Listed below are the allergens reported to be associated (clinically or immunochemically) with natural rubber latex.
—————————-
Degree of Association or Prevalence High Moderate Low or Undetermined
(3) (8) (21)
Banana Apple Pear Mango
Avacado Carrot Peach Rye
Chestnut Celery Plum Wheat
Papaya Cherry Grasses
Kiwi Pineapple Ragweed
Potato Strawberry Mugwort
Tomato Fig Hazelnut
Melons Grape Walnut
Apricot Soybean
Passion Fruit Peanut
Nectarine
Simultaneous occurrence of allergies to certain pollens and foods described above have also been documented in reports independent of those focusing on natural rubber latex. Significant levels of allergenic cross-reactivity have been demonstrated for the allergen groups listed below:
Mugwort with Carrot, Celery, Apple, Peanut and Kiwi
Birch with Apple, Pear, Peach, Cherry and Hazelnut
Grasses with Potato
Ragweed with Banana and Melons
I’m so glad I found this page. I feel much better knowing I’m in good company with the banana syndrome. Mine started around age 23. I get the really bad burning stomach ache – feels like the winds is also knocked out of me. I am 33 now, and have steared clear for a lot of years, but was curious the other day about the “allergy”, so tried another. I had two bananas on two different days earlier this week. The first didn’t bother me. The second one gave me just a touch of stomach trouble, and I remember that one was really green yet. The one I had tonight though, whoa!! I haven’t felt pain like that since I was in labor! This one was quite ripe. I asked my husband to go online to see if he could find ANYTHING, since Mylanta wasn’t working, and he found this website. It’s nice to read all these entries, since everytime I mention it to doctors they look at me a little strangely. Have never tried avacados – never will after reading other posts! Not a single allergy of any other kind – just this one. Not to be gross, but I actually forced myself to vomit because the pain was so intense. It helped a lot, but I’m not condoning it. I was just really desperate.
Interestingly I just determined I have a banana allergy. I’m 34, but I can remember having my first banana-causing stomach pains at age 27. I’m not allergic to any other foods (that I know of) but at the age of 33 developed definite allergies to mold and dust.
The only reason I know I have a banana allergy is because I’ve done much research on my 1-yr olds food allergies and know the signs. Oh, the food allergies my kid has– all dairy, eggs, turkey, chicken, and nuts. And we suspect environmental allergies too. My first child has no allergies, food or environmental.
I find it very interesting that the great majority of the people who have responded to this board developed the banana allergy in their 20s. Sounds like a great research project topic!
I too have had a hard time finding any helpful information on the internet regarding banana sensitivity/allergy. I suspect my 22 month old is allergic after ruling out other obvious allergins. I believe he gets quite an upset stomach, cramping and pretty bad bowel movements (warning: TMI – he gets frequent soft stools, sometimes diarrhea, as often as 3-5 times per day rather than the usual once a day BM). We are now going to cut out bananas and see what happens. But already in the last 2 days he seems much better. And along with the above woman who’s child turns from “sweet to devil”, my child also becomes quite difficult, whining and crying often. I feel horrible being a part of that and not having figured it out sooner. He LOVES bananas and would eat one a day. Well, no more. thank you to the gentleman who’s blog we’ve crashed and allowed us to comment on the most in depth info on banana allergies I’ve found on the web.
I like most of you have had bad reactions to banana’s and also Broccoli. OMG, everytime I eat them, I feel as if my stomach is being ripped apart. My doctor tells me that my body is not absorbing the potassium fast enough which is causing gastointestianl problems and has told me to keep those items out of my diet. I’ve had this problem since age 10, so it’s definitely not an age factor. Being the idiot I am, made my son a chocolate, peanut butter, banana smoothie a couple hours ago. I figured one little sip of it wouldn’t harm me. “YEA RIGHT” I feel as if my stomach is being ripped in half, have the sweats, nausea and watery stools. So now I know I can’t even taste banana’s without getting these horrible pains!
after reading an article on the positive affects on the body from eating bananas I decided to give them a try,probably 20 plus years since I last ate one I’m now aged 54.Within a couple of days I had most of the symptoms described by the other sufferers,not recognising an associated problem I continued to eat one banana a day for a little over a week.My symptoms were,stomach and gut pains,tiredness,heartburn,burping and sickly feeling,itchy eyes and leg cramps at night and unlike the others I had a dry feeling in the mouth and sore tongue.It’s three days since I last ate one and thankfully I feel almost right,still got dry mouth.Unfortunately no more bananas for me.
Sorry to hear other deal with the same issues regarding the “devil fruit” banana. After years of no issues eating bananas both raw and cooked I experience the stomach pressure described above. This started at about age 25 and has gotten worse, now at 42 any small amounts of banana will have me out of service for @ 2 hours.
I am in my 60’s. Had no problem with bananas till about 6 months ago. Now I have serious rashes, boils etc. on my back and legs. I just realized it may be the bananas which I eat every day. To-day I will stop and see what happens. Anyone else had this happen to them?
My husband ALWAYS gets bad pain in the stomach after eating a banana. I was glad to find your info. & see that he’s not the only one who has this problem. Thanks- Tonya
Wow! Over a year now and this blog is still helping people… awesome.
I too have the banana stomache aches. I also get alot of gas after too, but mostly it’s the tummy aches that have me doubled over in pain for about 2 hours. I went to the doctora few weeks ago after already have suffered with this for way too long (I’ll guess in my late twenties, and I’m 34 now) and I was misdiagnosed as being lactose intolerant.
I stuck with that and changed the way I ate shortly before Christmas; but during the break I couldn’t stay away from the things I couldn’t have, especially chocolate. I pushed further and further, and I was fine.
Well I returned to work this week (still making my coffees with rice milk) and I started eating bananas, one a day at second break, and then there they were, my horrible stomach aches. I never put the two together.
THANK YOU for this post! I’ll be doing more research on this but I’m very satisfied it has to do with the way bananas are processed. I’m going to try organic ones next week to see what happens.
OMG this post is the best! I thought I was a freak with the old Banana Belly (as I call it!) – now I know i’m not, and it definitely IS the bananas and will try the organic alternatives!
Thanks everyone!
I am so glad that i had found this site! I used to eat bananas all the time, but around 4years ago, i linked my stomach cramps and pain to eating bananas.I even done a bit of a test to prove it by one day eating nothing but 1 banana, and about 1hour after, the cramps started.
I am 23 now too, it seems too weird that all the people on here have developed this during the last 5years or so.
I every now and again try a banana to see if it will stop, but it doesnt. I ate one about 3hours ago today to see if they have stopped, and now i am in constant pain! I am glad that i am not alone on this one!
I have a 15 month old daughter who stopped sleeping through the night at six months when we started giving her solid foods. The only foods that I can pin point that she has had almost every day since then are bananas and green beans. I too thought it might be the bananas but my husband found an article about how great they are supposed to be so I let it go. Until today… One of my friends said that she gets a terrible stomach ache from eating bananas. It was one of those A HA! moments. I’m so sad to hear all of you have this same problem but so glad to hear that this could be the cause of my daughters sleep disturbances. The poor girl is probably waking up with gas, stomach aches or leg cramps!
I, too went searching for an explanation to these banana cramps. I am 28. They started after having my first kid at 23. My first born loves bananas without consequences, but the youngest takes one bite and spits it out.
I have never had such paralyzing abdominal pain that lasts for hours!It doesn’t matter what stage of ripening, they always put me out for a few hours. I made myself throw up today, just to get rid of half the pain. I’ve tried TUMS, GasX , Maalox…nothing works.
I get bad stomach cramps from bananas, too. It started when I was about 7, and I figured out what it was when I was 8 (why didn’t my mum notice?). It also happens with melons (watermelon, honey doo, and cantelope). I’ve heard of allergies to potasium, but can’t find much information on it. I asked my dad (a doctor) what he thinks it couuld be, and he says that some people are intolerant of the kind of sugars that’s in bananas and melons (it’s the same kind of sugar). For the people who say they have trouble with avacados too, both bananas and avacados are high in potasium, so you might want to check that out.
I just noticed that every time I eat bananas..especially on an empty stomach I get a slight stomach ache. I also get flushed and slightly light-headed and tingly feeling on my skin.
This is kind of the same feeling I get from MSG but MSG is much worse. I used to not have a problem with bananas.
I have an allergy to bananas as well as melons and selected tropical fruites. My doctor told me that I have a reaction to these foods because I have hayfever! Apparantly (and keep in mind this is what the immunologist said, so I might not have really understood everything she said) the molecule that causes people with hayfever to react to ragweed is very similar in shape to a molecule found in bananas. Or something. Basically, whenever people with my affliction eat bananas or melons, their body thinks that they’re ingesting ragweed. Nuts, I tell you. I’m actually very interested to see how many people there are who react to this type of food. I usually get very weird looks when I tell people that I’m allergic. I’m glad I stumbled on this blog – I don’t feel so alone.
Wow – I can’t believe I am not the only one out there with banana pains! My husband thinks I am crazy w/all of these weird food allergies, so I am glad to find that I am not the only one. For the past several years (I am 25 now) I get varying degrees of stomach pains every time I eat a banana. Sometimes it’s not that bad – hence I continue to eat them. I think that today may be the last straw though – I ate one with lunch and have felt like I was punched in the stomach ever since. It is a strange pain b/c it doesn’t feel like I am going to be sick – it literally hurts – it’s very distinct from any other stomach pain I experience.
Also, I too have developed the melon / hay fever allergy. I was at a brunch about a year ago and ate a lot of canteloupe (something I don’t eat on a regular basis) and I also had been eating watermelon at home. I broke out in a rash inside my mouth that itched like crazy. I had experienced it before, but it always went away after a day or so, so I never really paid attention to the cause. However b/c I kept eating watermelon for a few days after the canteloupe I think it just continued to aggravate it so I suffered with it for several days before I searched for the cause. I came across the melon / hayfever allergy and put two and two together. I won’t be eating canteloupe again, which is fine b/c I don’t care for it that much any way, but I LOVE bananas!
It’s confirmed to me– bananas have been the cause of intense stomach cramps. I’ve figured it out (the hard way) and after cutting out the fruit, I haven’t had bad stomach aches. Also reading other people’s experiences help because they’re exactly what I went through. I also felt a dull sort of head ache, body temperature increased (especially in my face), and a slightly nauseous feeling. I just stay away from it. It’s too bad, I loved bananas– satisfying snack when you’re hungry and need something healthy with substance!
Wow! Never realized this was an issue for so many people.
The first time I had a “fruit reaction” was when I was 19. I had eaten kiwis all my life and loved them without a problem. I had a fruit tart and had a terrible reaction, hives all around my mouth, inside, down my throat, difficulty breathing and TERRIBLE stomach cramps for a few hours. I thought it was the glaze on the tart, and just swore not to eat fruit tarts any longer. A few weeks later I had a small slice of kiwi and had the same reaction. I mentioned it to my doctor and he asked if I had ever had a similar problem with bananas or avocados, at that point I had not. He told me to avoid them because it was a classic food allergy to kiwis and those other foods tend to cause similar reactions. I was a vegetarian college student at the time, bananas were a quick breakfast and avocados had many valuable benefits and also were great in sandwiches. I kept eating them without problem. Two years later I started dating a guy (now my fiancé :)!) that was really into sushi and got me into it. I was starting to eat fish again but still liked to stick to the veggie based rolls. I had a dragon roll one night (eel and lots of avocado); I ended up having terrible stomach cramps and was extremely nauseous all night (makes for a great date!). I thought I had bad fish and didn’t think anything of it. A similar reaction happened shortly thereafter and it dawned on me what my doctor had said a few years prior. My avocado allergy was here! For some reason guacamole in small quantities doesn’t bother me, but straight avocado produces terrible stomach aches and nauseous ness. I am now 24 and up until recently I was still eating a few bananas every week, suddenly I noticed the weird stomach aches starting with them too. I mentioned it to someone at work who said that his wife couldn’t eat raw bananas that her stomach was too sensitive to potassium and caused heartburn and cramping. Banana bread is still ok though. I thought it was strange that my food allergies are taking so long to form. And it really stinks that I love to eat healthy foods and 3 really good ones are off limits unless I want to feel terrible for a few hours.
I have yet to have a bad reaction to latex, I fear this is coming and I think I am going to request that medical personal use latex free gloves to hopefully avoid a future reaction.
I guess you learn something new every day!
Wow! I couldn’t believe my luck to find a posting like this! I have been intolerant to bananas since around the age of 20 ( iam now 26). I get really terrible cramping for about an hour or two after eating a banana….though not from banana bread like some people have commented. For the past 4 years or so I have chalked it up to IBS (irritated bowel syndrome)however I am starting to think otherwise. I also have intoerances to fruit juice (exept citrus), vodka, sometimes milk, and the most recent is eggs -especially duck eggs. the egg intolerance showed up just a year a ago…though if the egg is cooked in something I am fine. I have been prescribed various types of IBS medication… none of which worked. Lately I have been trying to link it all together and i am going to make an appointment with a doctor to see if I have certain sugar intolerances….like to fructose, lactose ect. or even fructose malabsorbtion…. don’t know how the eggs will fit in there though. I will be sure to post if I get some answers about banana pains from the doc!
wow! i love the internet!
if i could sum up from what i’ve read here and elsewhere on the web, we seem to be talking about a few different types of banana intolerances / allergies:
1. intolerance causing severe cramping, starting in early 20’s. seems to be caused by lack of tolerance either to chitinase activity in some fruits (like avocado and bananas) activated by the use of ethylene gas for ripening – and/or – lack of tolerance to high levels of potassium. these type of intolerances can be linked to latex allergies, but not always.
2. anaphylaxis banana allergy… likely lifelong, involving respiratory distress.
3. childhood intolerance causing hives and discomfort, resulting in cranky, uncomfortable babies/kids.
my son will be turning 1 next month and falls into the third category (so far). just prior to 6-months, we started him on solids and banana was the first thing we gave him. it took a couple days, but then he broke out in so many hives all over his back, belly and legs that we thought he had chicken pox!
a friend saw him and related to us that her son had the same reaction to bananas when he was young and was told by her doctor that it was too much potassium. we also have another friend (now in her 30s) who says she had the same reaction as a child but is fine now.
i held off on giving my son bananas until now and after giving him banana a couple days ago, he is now again covered in spots and miserable… though he cannot tell me where it hurts, his bad mood definitely points to discomfort beyond the spots.
my husband works in organic produce and we only buy organic. ethylene gas occurs naturally in bananas and other fruit and is used to speed up ripening… the only difference with organically ripened fruit is that the ethylene is organic from natural sources. BUT, if you get non-organic fruit, especially bananas, you’re ingesting all manner of nasty pesticides etc, and you don’t know if it’s GMO or not. and the organic bananas taste way better! :)
thanks to everyone who’s posted here for the helpful info and good luck!
ps – a good site that explains the differences between allergies and intolerances: Surrey Allergy Clinic
Hi,
I am looking for people who get cramps in their feet after eating bananas. I remember that I started to get these foot and calf cramps immediately after eating a banana when I was about 30 and I’ve had them for 20 years. It’s so strange because I hear from other people that eating bananas prevents foot cramps. I can also get these foot cramps if I’m feeling very nervous and anxious. So the worst thing for me to do in that case is to eat a banana. It’s so frustrating because there is nothing I can think of to help my foot cramps because bananas make them worse.
I get the same violent stomach ache when I eat bananas too. I discovered though, that when I went to Jamaica, I was eating fresh ripened bananas with absolutely no troubles. As soon as I came back to Canada I got my bad stomach aches again after eating a banana. I assumed it must have been something in the ripening gasses. I haven’t tried the organic ones yet – maybe that will help me. I also get it when I eat eggs sometimes. Anyone else?
wow, i’m not the only one in this world. i just had some bananas and ice cream and my stomach is crazzzzzyy. it’s been doing this ever since i was aboot 10 or 11. I haven’t had bananas in awhile and I thought i’d try it out tonight…. and now my stomach is killer me, i didn’t think i could drive home even.
The first time I experienced the terrible Banana stomach pain was in my early twenties after eating banana pudding(fresh bananas). It was very severe pain all through my esophogus and stomach. My stomach also bloated and I would burp every couple of minutes.
Today I ate a banana after trying to change my eating habits to a more healthy lifestyle and the same thing happened. I ate the banana at 4:00 pm. It is now 8:00pm and I am still in horrible pain. I will probably not go away until midnight or so.
It is amazing how the medical community is clueless on this topic!
Since we are conducting our own clinical study I thought I would post my condition.
As stated before I ate the banana 3/17/2006 at 4:00 pm. The first sign of any trouble was a small pain just above the stomach. An hour later severe pain in the stomach occured as well as bloating and burping about every two minutes.
The severe pain continued until about 5:00 am on the 3/18/2006. Overall the pain is slowly subsiding. As of 8:00 am I feel quite a bit better, but I still burb occasionally and there is residual pain in the esophogus.
Many of the symtoms are the same as the other posts except in my case the pain seemed to last much longer. A total of 17 hours so far. I suspect it should be completely gone by 1 or 2 this afternoon.
Medications such as prilosec and coating agents such as pepto had no effect. When drinkin liquids, i noticed the pain increased as the liquid would wash over the area of the esophogus that had the most pain.
My guess is that it was an allergic reaction very much like the reaction to poison ivy only on the inside. The only way to find out exactly what is wrong would be to eat a banana wait an hour then have a doctor use an endoscope to view the esophogus and stomach.
My son is 13 and for years he has gotten sick if he eats banana. He eats just about anything and hardly ever is sick. He has not eaten any bananas for a few years but yesterday he had a smoothie that had banana in it. He was violently ill for at least 1 hour. He threw-up for at least 45 mins. and then slept for about 2 hours. He then seemed fine. Does anyone else throw-up from eating bananas? I wonder if I need to have his potassium levels checked.
Thank God, I thought I was the only one. Mine started around age 23. I used to eat them all the time- because the potasium helped with cramps in my legs from swimming. I can have cooked plantains and bananas and the pain isn’t as bad, but occasionally present. I have found that if I have eaten something prior, the pain isn’t as bad. I’m retesting that theory right now. Wish me luck.
OK, I’m another one who has just learned that I can no longer eat the fruit that I love. For the last couple of years I’ve noticed that every time I eat a banana, I’m down for the count. The stomach cramps are like nothing I’ve ever felt in my life. Even menstural cramps aren’t this bad. I am 29 now, and as a child I loved bananas. I’m so bummed. :-(
HEY EVERYONE JUST WANT TO LET YOU ALL KNOW THAT THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN BANANA AND AVOCADO ALLERGIES AND LATEX ALLERGIES. THERE ARE SIMILAR ENZYMES IN THEM. Bananas do not make me sick but avocados make me feel almost deathly ill. I like the way they taste and I like the texture. I love guacomole and decided I would make some to go with my tortilla chips a few nights ago, hoping that i would not get sick. A few hours later my stomach was hurting so bad, it hurts for hours, I was mesirable until I finally vomited.