Why Allergies To Eggs But Not Chicken Meat?

[Jeepster]

I've tested positive to egg allergy (both whites and yolks) and I really feel dizzy if I eat anything with egg in it, but I'm fine with chicken meat. Why is this? What is going on chemically between the two that makes my body react differently to them?

[tarnalberry]

  Jeepster said:

I've tested positive to egg allergy (both whites and yolks) and I really feel dizzy if I eat anything with egg in it, but I'm fine with chicken meat.  Why is this?  What is going on chemically between the two that makes my body react differently to them?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The protein found in eggs is different from the protein found in chicken muscle. That's the difference.

[nettiebeads]

  Jeepster said:

I've tested positive to egg allergy (both whites and yolks) and I really feel dizzy if I eat anything with egg in it, but I'm fine with chicken meat.  Why is this?  What is going on chemically between the two that makes my body react differently to them?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I love this forum because now I KNOW I'm not crazy! (had a CT of my head not too long ago. It was normal. My husband wants a 2nd opinion ) Anyhow, I can't eat raw egg yolks, but cooked solid I can. Albumin hasn't ever bothered me, or at least not that I noticed. I absolutely cannot have chicken fat. Period. But white chicken meat is no problem. I know there is a protein I cannot handle, but don't know what it is. I just live with it.

[skoki-mom]

Alright nettiebeads, why on earth would you even want to eat a raw egg yolk??

I have similar issues with some fruits. Any sort of fruit that has a pit in it (think cherries, peaches, nectarines, etc) gives me hives all over my mouth and makes the mucosa of my mouth very itcy and feel weird if I eat them raw. However, I can eat any of these fruits if they are cooked. Go figure!

[nettiebeads]

  skoki_mom said:

Alright nettiebeads, why on earth would you even want to eat a raw egg yolk??

Well, undercooked as in sunnyside up, and in egg nog.

[Rachel--24]

  skoki_mom said:

Alright nettiebeads, why on earth would you even want to eat a raw egg yolk??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lots of people eat raw eggs. They just dump em into a glass and drink them just like that. Suppossedly its really healthy but I don't know...I thought you could get salmonella from raw eggs??

Personally...I always stick to eggs that are cooked.

[skbird]

I eat raw egg yolks in hollandaise sauce... mmmmm....

Actually, about salmonella - if you clean the eggshell before you crack it, the egg will be ok. Salmonella exists on the outside of the shell, not in the egg itself. Also, if you know where your eggs come from (IE you or a friend have chickens) and you know they don't have salmonella, then you are set.

I'm not much of a runny egg person so I don't eat much that way, but when I have the opportunity for some hollandaise sauce... I go for it!!! (oh yeah, the dogs love to clean up my plate, too!)

Stephanie

[Hennessey]

  skoki_mom said:

Alright nettiebeads, why on earth would you even want to eat a raw egg yolk??

I have similar issues with some fruits.  Any sort of fruit that has a pit in it (think cherries, peaches, nectarines, etc) gives me hives all over my mouth and makes the mucosa of my mouth very itcy and feel weird if I eat them raw.  However,  I can eat any of these fruits if they are cooked.  Go figure!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My oldest son has the same fruit allergy (sounds the same), he is allergic to apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, apple cider. The allergist said it is actually the "tree" that he is allergic to and not the fruit, but said why bother eating the fruit since he will still have the bad reactions like you talked about. The allergist said if he cooked the fruit he would be ok. He also mentioned that people with this allergy often have trouble with raw carrots and celery.

[nettiebeads]

  Hennessey said:

My oldest son has the same fruit allergy (sounds the same), he is allergic to apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, apple cider.  The allergist said it is actually the "tree" that he is allergic to and not the fruit, but said why bother eating the fruit since he will still have the bad reactions like you talked about.  The allergist said if he cooked the fruit he would be ok.  He also mentioned that people with this allergy often have trouble with raw carrots and celery.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I vaguely remember studying the immune system in biology 101 and found it was a most interesting topic. Advanced medicine and research still can't figure out why people get allergic reactions to some things, but not others, and allergies do run in families, but the different members will have different allergies. My instructor said that if the why of allergic responses was ever discovered, that the person probably would get a nobel prize for medicine.

[tarnalberry]

  skbird said:

Actually, about salmonella - if you clean the eggshell before you crack it, the egg will be ok. Salmonella exists on the outside of the shell, not in the egg itself. Also, if you know where your eggs come from (IE you or a friend have chickens) and you know they don't have salmonella, then you are set.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

About a decade ago, salmonella mutated enough to be able to find its way *into* unbroken eggs as well, so the "wash the shell and it's good" advice no longer holds. BUT, the incidence is very low (I think it's something like 0.000003% of eggs have salmonella) AND those with normal immune systems are likely to clear it out of their systems.