Itchy lips after a fresh tomato salad, or hives after pizza night? Tomato is in sauces, soups and ketchup across Europe, so it is hard to pin down. Our test checks your blood for IgE antibodies to a whole tomato extract and to a single tomato seed protein, as part of 300 allergens and allergen components including grass pollen and peach.
Tomato belongs to the nightshade family, with potato, pepper and aubergine. It contains several kinds of allergens, and which one matters depends a lot on where you live. In northern and central Europe, tomato sensitisation is often linked to pollen, through profilin or birch-like proteins, and tends to cause mouth-only symptoms.
In southern Europe, lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) play a bigger role. LTPs survive heat and digestion, so cooked tomato sauce can matter too. Sola l 6, the component on our panel, is a small LTP found mainly in tomato seeds. Italian researchers found IgE to it both in people who react to tomato and in people who eat tomato without trouble.
People describe itching of the lips and mouth after fresh tomatoes, hives, stomach cramps and, less often, swelling or breathing trouble. A red rash around a child's mouth after tomato is very common and is often skin irritation from the acidic fruit, not IgE.
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.
A positive tomato result shows that your blood has IgE that recognises tomato proteins. It does not tell you that you will react, or how strongly. Many people with grass pollen hay fever show tomato IgE and eat tomatoes daily.
That is why the pattern matters. If the extract is positive but Sola l 6 and peach LTP are not, a pollen-related pattern is one common explanation. If Sola l 6 and peach LTP (Pru p 3) both show up, a doctor will look at an LTP pattern.
Your finger-prick sample goes to the lab, which measures IgE to a whole tomato extract and to one single tomato protein (molecular component). The extract shows whether you are sensitised to tomato as a whole. Sola l 6 shows whether your antibodies recognise the seed LTP. Your lab report gives each a measured value and class, from Negative to Very high, on the same report as potato, grass profilin and peach. 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.
Some people report that, usually when pollen-related proteins are behind it, since these break down with heat. Lipid transfer proteins survive cooking, so with that pattern tomato sauce can matter too. The test measures the extract and the seed LTP Sola l 6.
Often not. Tomato is acidic and commonly irritates the skin around a child's mouth without IgE. A spreading rash, hives elsewhere, swelling or breathing trouble is different. Talk to a doctor, and treat breathing trouble as an emergency.
In northern and central Europe, often. Tomato sensitisation is common in people with grass or birch pollen sensitisation. The test checks tomato and grass profilin in the same sample.
