MensHealth
  • News
  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Sex
  • Nutrition
  • Style
  • Weight Loss
  • Life
  • Podcasts
  • Motoring
  • Video
MensHealth
  • News
  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Sex
  • Nutrition
  • Style
  • Weight Loss
  • Life
  • Podcasts
  • Motoring
  • Video
Subscribe
MH Challenge Week 3 – Khan Porter
Watch 0:59

MH Challenge Week 3 – Khan Porter

{headline}

{headline}

Mix Up Chest Day With This Wild Pump Workout

Mix Up Chest Day With This Wild Pump Workout

What's More Important For Weight Loss? Diet or Exercise?

What's More Important For Weight Loss? Diet or Exercise?

These Are The Top Fitness Trends For 2019

These Are The Top Fitness Trends For 2019

How Do You Rate Against Other Dudes at the Gym?

How Do You Rate Against Other Dudes at the Gym?

{headline}

{headline}

Chase An Epic Arm Pump With This Reverse-Pyramid Workout

Chase An Epic Arm Pump With This Reverse-Pyramid Workout

Our Legs Hurt Just Reading This Epic Lower Body Workout

Our Legs Hurt Just Reading This Epic Lower Body Workout

Halle Berry Reckons This Workout Leads To 'Increased Sexual Arousal'

Halle Berry Reckons This Workout Leads To 'Increased Sexual Arousal'

{headline}

{headline}

5 Fitness Experts Share Tips On How To Get Motivated To Exercise

5 Fitness Experts Share Tips On How To Get Motivated To Exercise

This Is How Long You Should Rest Between Sets, According To Science

This Is How Long You Should Rest Between Sets, According To Science

Do Couples That Train Together REALLY Stay Together?

Do Couples That Train Together REALLY Stay Together?

(Sponsor)

This Is What One Night's Bad Sleep Does To Your Body

This Is What One Night's Bad Sleep Does To Your Body

This Is The Minimum Amount Of Exercise You Need To Do To Live Longer

This Is The Minimum Amount Of Exercise You Need To Do To Live Longer

Too Much Exercise Can Actually Harm Your Mental Health

Too Much Exercise Can Actually Harm Your Mental Health

  1. Home
  2. Fitness

Is It Actually Possible to Be Allergic to Exercise?

The condition is not common, but it can be life threatening - by Christa Sgobba
  • 21 Sep 2017
Is It Actually Possible to Be Allergic to Exercise? Getty Images

After splitting a tomato and pepper-topped pizza for dinner, Joe O’Leary hit the gym and jumped on the elliptical for a workout.

But after about 30 minutes in, he started feeling strange, as he explained to Popular Science.

He ended up going to the emergency room, where doctors treated him with steroids and antihistamines. The diagnosis? Exercise-induced anaphylaxis.

There are two types: Exercise-induced anaphylaxis occurs when a triggering physical activity results in anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction involving the skin, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, and cardiovascular system. With food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis, you need to ingest certain sensitizing foods and exercise for the symptoms to be present, research in the Journal of Asthma and Allergy explains. 

RELATED: 6 Guys With Ripped Abs Tell You Why It's Not Worth It

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis is rare: A large study of over 76,000 adolescents in Japan estimated the prevalence of exercise-induced anaphylaxis and food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis at 0.048 percent.

Symptoms include itching, flushing, hives, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, or collapse.

As for the foods responsible? They vary, but reactions involving vegetables like tomatoes, cereals, nuts, fish, cow’s milk, beef, pork, chicken/turkey, snails, and mushrooms have been reported. The intensity of exercise varies—even among patients—but activities like jogging or brisk walking are often implicated, according to the research in the Journal of Asthma and Allergy.

RELATED: 4 Ways Your Brain Suffers When You Stop Working Out

For food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis to be diagnosed, neither the food by itself nor the exercise separately must cause any reaction—it’s the combo of the two that does it. Researchers aren’t exactly sure what causes the allergy to exercise, but it may be that the increase in blood flow may transport allergens from the gut around the body, possibly sparking an alternate reaction in those sites.

The treatment for exercise-induced anaphylaxis is just like that of anaphylaxis in general: Avoiding the allergens, and carrying an Epi-Pen. If you have food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis, you don’t need to avoid exercise, but you should make sure not to eat the triggering food before exercise or within one hour afterwards, the researchers write.

Think you have it? Talk to your doctor—since it’s a rare disorder, a thorough workup is necessary before coming to a diagnosis.

This article originally appeared on Men's Health

BIG SUMMER SALE - NOW ON

Just $15 for 6 issues

SAVE 74% Subscribe Now
BIG SUMMER SALE - NOW ON
  • Fitness
  • Exercise
  • Workout

Recommended to you

MH Challenge Week 3 – Khan Porter
Watch 0:59

MH Challenge Week 3 – Khan Porter

{headline}

{headline}

Mix Up Chest Day With This Wild Pump Workout

Mix Up Chest Day With This Wild Pump Workout

What's More Important For Weight Loss? Diet or Exercise?

What's More Important For Weight Loss? Diet or Exercise?

These Are The Top Fitness Trends For 2019

These Are The Top Fitness Trends For 2019

How Do You Rate Against Other Dudes at the Gym?

How Do You Rate Against Other Dudes at the Gym?

{headline}

{headline}

Chase An Epic Arm Pump With This Reverse-Pyramid Workout

Chase An Epic Arm Pump With This Reverse-Pyramid Workout

Our Legs Hurt Just Reading This Epic Lower Body Workout

Our Legs Hurt Just Reading This Epic Lower Body Workout

Halle Berry Reckons This Workout Leads To 'Increased Sexual Arousal'

Halle Berry Reckons This Workout Leads To 'Increased Sexual Arousal'

{headline}

{headline}

5 Fitness Experts Share Tips On How To Get Motivated To Exercise

5 Fitness Experts Share Tips On How To Get Motivated To Exercise

This Is How Long You Should Rest Between Sets, According To Science

This Is How Long You Should Rest Between Sets, According To Science

Do Couples That Train Together REALLY Stay Together?

Do Couples That Train Together REALLY Stay Together?

(Sponsor)

This Is What One Night's Bad Sleep Does To Your Body

This Is What One Night's Bad Sleep Does To Your Body

This Is The Minimum Amount Of Exercise You Need To Do To Live Longer

This Is The Minimum Amount Of Exercise You Need To Do To Live Longer

Too Much Exercise Can Actually Harm Your Mental Health

Too Much Exercise Can Actually Harm Your Mental Health

MensHealth
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Pacific Magazines
  • Partners
  • 7Plus
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Statement
MensHealth Magazine Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Pacific Magazines
  • Partners
  • 7Plus
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Statement

Brands

  • Women's Health
  • marie claire
  • Instyle
  • Beauty Crew

Pacific Network

  • Better Homes and Gardens
  • BHG Shop
  • New Idea food
  • New Idea
  • Who
  • Girlfriend
  • That’s Life
  • Home Beautiful
  • All Recipes
  • Practical Parenting
© 2019 Pacific Magazines