Itchy lips from peach skin, or hives after a fruit salad and no idea which fruit did it? Peach is the textbook example of lipid transfer protein (LTP) allergy, the most common pattern of plant-food allergy in southern Europe. Our test checks your blood for IgE antibodies to two single peach proteins, as part of 300 allergens and allergen components including apple, hazelnut and walnut.
The main peach allergen in Europe is Pru p 3, a lipid transfer protein (LTP). LTPs are sturdy. They survive heat and digestion, which is why reactions to them can go beyond the mouth. In peach, Pru p 3 sits mainly in the skin, so peeled fruit carries far less of it.
Pru p 7 is a different kind of protein, a gibberellin-regulated protein. Sensitisation to it has been linked to cypress pollen, mainly in southern France and Japan, and has been associated with marked facial swelling. Peach also contains a birch-like PR-10 protein that causes mouth-only itching in some people in birch regions, but that protein is not on the panel.
LTPs look alike across many plants. That is why people sensitised to Pru p 3 often show IgE to LTPs in apple, cherry, hazelnut, walnut, peanut and some vegetables and cereals too. This is sometimes called LTP syndrome. Peach is usually the first food in the list.
Some people with LTP sensitisation only react when a cofactor is added, such as exercise, painkillers like ibuprofen or aspirin, or alcohol around the meal. That makes reactions look random. A panel that shows several LTPs side by side helps a doctor connect the dots.
Reactions people describe range from itching of the lips and mouth, often when biting into the skin, to hives, swelling of the face, stomach cramps, vomiting and breathing trouble. They usually start within minutes to two hours.
Swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, trouble breathing or feeling faint after eating is an emergency. Call 112 (EU) or your local emergency number. Do not wait for a test.
Your finger-prick sample goes to the lab, which measures IgE to two single peach proteins (molecular components). There is no whole peach extract on the panel. Your lab report gives each a measured value and class, from Negative to Very high, next to the LTPs of apple, hazelnut, walnut, peanut and mugwort pollen. A positive result shows sensitisation, not a clinical allergy. Discuss the result with a doctor before you change what you eat.
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One finger-prick sample checks IgE to 300 allergens and allergen components, from birch and peanut to cat and house dust mite. Post it to the lab, and about 5 days after it arrives you get a value for every one. Our plain-English guide shows you how to read them. €399 in total, €1.33 per allergen.
LTP stands for lipid transfer protein, a sturdy protein found in many fruits, nuts, vegetables and pollens. Peach's Pru p 3 is the best-known example. Because LTPs look alike, people sensitised to one often show IgE to several. Heat and digestion do not break them down easily.
In peach, the LTP Pru p 3 sits mainly in the skin, so peeled fruit carries much less of it. That pattern is common but not a rule. A doctor can read your component result and history and tell you what applies to you.
With LTP sensitisation, cofactors such as exercise, painkillers like ibuprofen or aspirin, or alcohol can make a reaction more likely. The same food might cause nothing one day and hives the next. Tell your doctor about what else happened around each reaction.
Not necessarily. Sensitisation to LTPs in other fruits is common, but reacting to all of them is not. Your result shows each allergen separately so a doctor can see the full pattern.
