Alpha-gal Syndrome
- Alpha-gal (galactose-α-1,3-galactose) is a sugar molecule found in most mammals.
- Alpha-gal is not found in fish, reptiles, birds, or people.
- Alpha-gal can be found in meat (pork, beef, rabbit, lamb, venison, etc.) and products made from mammals (including gelatin, cow’s milk, and milk products).
How do I make the alpha-gal go away?
You can take antihistamines or another type of allergy medicine to manage your symptoms if you have a reaction. However, if you are having an extremely severe reaction, you will need to be injected with epinephrine or even go to the emergency room. Many people with alpha-gal even carry around an EpiPen.
Can people with alpha-gal eat dairy?
Most alpha-gal allergic individuals tolerate gelatin and moderate, lean dairy products. Avoidance of these items is not routinely recommended. In general, if someone is able to tolerate dairy, they are very likely to tolerate vaccines and medications with mammalian-based ingredients.
Can you drink alcohol with alpha-gal?
Drinking alcohol or exercising may reduce the time until a reaction occurs. Exposure to alpha-gal by injection (from a medication or vaccine) may also result in a more rapid allergic reaction.
What foods is alpha-gal found in? – Related Questions
Does exercise make alpha-gal worse?
Exercise, alcohol, recent tick bites, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may increase risk and/or severity. For patients with alpha-Gal Syndrome, there are several co-factors that may further increase the risk for a reaction or the severity of symptoms upon exposure to alpha-Gal.
How does alpha-gal make you feel?
Alpha-gal patients often to have digestive symptoms, such as severe abdominal cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, along with skin symptoms like hives, itching, or flushing. Unlike most food allergies, these symptoms typically occur 3-6 hours after eating red meat.
What should you avoid with alpha-gal?
Once alpha-gal allergy is diagnosed, all mammalian meats and by-products should be avoided. Again, this includes, beef, pork, lamb, venison, mutton, goat, and bison, plus any food that contains red meat extracts.
How long until alpha-gal goes away?
In most cases, alpha-gal syndrome is a lifelong condition. However, it does go away from some patients, sometimes after a few years. Allergists can do an annual blood test to look at antibody levels against the alpha-gal sugar molecule to determine whether a patient continues to be allergic to red meat.
How long does it take to get rid of alpha-gal?
Symptoms of alpha-gal syndrome may lessen or even disappear over time if you don’t get any more bites from ticks that carry alpha-gal. Some people with this condition have been able to eat red meat and other mammal products again after one to two years without additional bites.
Can alpha-gal go into remission?
Spontaneous remission of alpha gal allergy can occur, but a recent systematic review of 236 post-tick exposure AGS cases reported in 79 case report and series studies found only 7 cases (3%) of alpha-Gal de-sensitization through consumption of small amounts of animal-based foods during follow-up.
Does Benadryl help with alpha-gal?
Treating and preventing alpha-gal allergy
Allergic reactions to alpha-gal can be treated with an over-the-counter antihistamine such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl). Stronger reactions provoked by alpha-gal might need to be addressed with epinephrine.
What does alpha-gal do to your body?
It causes mild to severe allergic reactions to red meat, such as beef, pork or lamb. It also can cause reactions to other foods that come from mammals, such as dairy products or gelatins.
Can alpha-gal cause heart problems?
Immunoglobulin E Sensitization to Mammalian Oligosaccharide Galactose-α-1,3 (α-Gal) Is Associated With Noncalcified Plaque, Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease, and ST-Segment–Elevated Myocardial Infarction.
Does alpha-gal make you tired?
Alpha-gal syndrome causes many troubling symptoms, including; potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis, itching, hives, severe stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, arthritis, and chronic fatigue.
Does alpha-gal affect your joints?
Arthritis and other forms of joint pain seem to be under-recognized manifestations of alpha-gal syndrome (6,57,60).
What else causes alpha-gal?
Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) (also called alpha-gal allergy, red meat allergy, or tick bite meat allergy) is a serious, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. AGS symptoms occur after people eat red meat or are exposed to other products containing alpha-gal.
Does yogurt have alpha-gal?
Additional foods that may pose a risk for those with alpha-Gal syndrome include soup-stock cubes, gravy packages, flavor ingredients in prepackaged products, meat extracts used in flavoring, dairy products (e.g., milk, cheese, yogurt, butter), canned tuna (which can be contaminated by dolphin or whale), chicken or fish
Can you have alpha-gal without Lyme disease?
Alpha-gal does not appear to be related to Lyme disease, except that both are caused by tick bites. Lyme disease occurs after people are bitten by a blacklegged tick carrying a specific bacterium. Alpha-gal syndrome is an immune reaction to the sugar from the Lone Star tick.
Can you eat jello with alpha-gal?
People with alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) can react to gelatin derived from mammals, like bovine or porcine gelatin.
