Individual Concerns

Some health problems are related to a phenomenon called crossreactivity in which a person with environmental allergies also develops allergies to certain foods. In most of these cases, a small area on the surface of a food protein is exactly like a small area on a protein found in a plants pollen. If a persons immune system reacts to the pollen, it will react to the food as well. In the case of celery, researchers have identified a syndrome called birchmugwortcelery syndrome in which this exact type of cross reactivity occurs. (In technical terms, they have found that the Api g 1 epitope on some celery proteins is a homologue for the Bet v 1 epitope in birch pollen.) If you are a person with a known allergy to birch trees or mugwort, celery should definitely be excluded from your meal plan.