Foods That Affect Your Seasonal Allergies

April 6, 2009 — -- Nine-year-old Lilah Schwartz gets a funny reaction when she eats fresh cherries. And the same thing happens when she puts cantaloupe, carrots, celery and bell peppers in her mouth.

"My throat gets scratchy and starts to close up. And I feel like I can't breathe," said the fourth-grader from Hoboken, N.J.

As her mother recalled, Lilah had no problems eating these foods when she was younger. But not long after Lilah learned she suffered from hay fever, she felt uncomfortable whenever she ate certain fresh fruits and raw vegetables.

Yet, if the foods are cooked, Lilah can enjoy these very same foods without any problems at all.

This strange cluster of symptoms seen in hay fever sufferers when eating particular foods is called food-pollen allergy syndrome, or oral allergy syndrome. It's sometimes referred to as fruit-pollen syndrome -- although it's not just fruits that trigger the response.