Strawberry Allergy Is Set Off By Red Color, Study Claims

STRAWBERRIES may be safer to eat for allergy sufferers if they were another colour, scientists have revealed. Researchers have pinpointed a protein thought to be responsible for strawberry allergies which is associated with the fruit's red colour. Vulnerable individuals can suffer itching and swelling in the mouth and throat when exposed to strawberries. But there have been reports that people with the allergy are able to eat white strawberry varieties with no ill- effects. Rikard Alm, a researcher from Lund University in Sweden, told Chemistry World magazine: "The allergen is in some way or other related to the red colour, but it is not clear exactly how. We need to investigate more proteins." The protein, one of thousands encoded by a strawberry's genes, resembles a known allergen in birch pollen, the study found.