Foods You Need to Avoid If You're Allergic to Latex

Latex allergy is a serious health risk and it can lead to disastrous results if not treated right away. Some people experience rashes upon contact with this substance while others experience something much more dire—anaphylaxis. Regardless of whether your allergy to latex is minor or severe it’s important to avoid any allergen that could trigger a reaction.

And though latex is often found in gloves, condoms and some clothing there are certain foods that can also trigger your latex allergy because they have proteins that are similar to latex’s proteins.

Here are the foods you should avoid if you’re allergic to latex:

• Apples
• Avocado
• Banana
• Carrot
• Celery
• Chestnut
• Kiwi
• Melons
• Papaya
• Raw potato
• Tomato

Now most of the foods listed above have nutrients that are good for you such as apple, which has antioxidants that could help you fight off cancer. But just because they can trigger your latex allergy it doesn’t mean that you’ll never be able to get the nutrients you need from them.

There are other foods you can try aside from the foods above that can provide you with the nutrients you need without triggering an allergic reaction and listed below are the alternative foods you can eat.

• Instead of apples try pear, grapes (any kind), cherries, blueberries or blackberries
• Instead of avocado try roasted vegetables
• Instead of bananas try pears or mangoes
• Instead of carrots try pumpkins, parsnip or winter squash
• Instead of celery try cucumber, zucchini, jicama
• Instead of chestnuts try jackfruit
• Instead of kiwi try mango, orange, tangerine, lime
• Instead of melons try peaches or nectarines
• Instead of papaya try peaches, nectarines, mangoes or butternut squash
• Instead of raw potatoes try cauliflower
• Instead of tomatoes try radish, red pepper, watermelon

If you’re allergic to latex it’s very important that you steer clear of any material or food that can trigger a reaction. Latex allergy can be severe and could even be a life-threatening condition, which is why some people who have this often bring along an epinephrine autoinjector in case they suffer from an anaphylactic shock.

But as with any allergy the simplest way to avoid an allergic reaction is to avoid the allergen and with the list above you now know what foods to avoid if you have latex allergy.