8 Foods To Soothe Allergy Symptoms

With parts of the country slogging through what many experts are calling the worst allergy season ever -- yes, ever -- these past few weeks have just been brutal for a lot of people. (Although as "New York Magazine" points out, that is one superlative that gets thrown around a lot.)

Regardless, this has been a tough time for a lot of people who are dealing with constant sniffling, sneezing, wheezing and runny eyes while trying to go about their daily lives. Many find relief in topical or oral medications, but some experts say you can also find relief in natural remedies, including certain foods.

Experts caution, though, that research supporting a direct connection between nutrition and allergy relief is still limited. "Is there an immediate, direct correlation between eating something today and having allergy relief tomorrow?" asked Mike Tringale, vice president of external affairs at the Asthma and Allergy Foundation. "Probably not. There's not a whole lot of clinical evidence of that one-to-one, direct connection. But there's absolutely no doubt that what we put into our body affects our health, especially for people who have things like allergies and asthma."

With that in mind, take a look through our list of the foods you might consider eating or avoiding this allergy season to keep symptoms at bay. As always, consult your with your doctor to determine what course of action, if any, is best for you. You may also want to speak with your doctor about eliminating common food allergy triggers, which can make environmental reactions even worse.

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Eat: Pineapples

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"A lot of allergy problems can be narrowed down to inflammation," said Tringale. The immune system detects a foreign object that it responds to by creating an inflammation, which is why some sufferers can reportedly experience relief when they eat foods with anti-inflammatory properties, like pineapples, he explained.

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"A lot of allergy problems can be narrowed down to inflammation," said Tringale.

The immune system detects a foreign object that it responds to by creating an inflammation, which is why some sufferers can reportedly experience relief when they eat foods with anti-inflammatory properties, like pineapples, he explained.

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Comments

[Remmy28]

02:15 PM on 06/01/2011

I've heard good things about Wellmune. I have a co-worker that swears by it. His family has pretty bad allergies, and he said they all started taking the supplements this spring and it's helped a lot. I found some good information at wellmune.com.

[SkippyJiffy]

03:47 PM on 05/20/2011

Darn, I clicked on this article because I saw a picture of potato chips and I was hoping it would say potato chips are beneficial but no

[bmermaid]

06:42 AM on 05/16/2011

You left out the most important one. Local honey. It really works! I have had increasing terrible allergy symptoms for the last 10 years. I worked at a clinic, and they gave me samples of every allergy med there is. Nothing worked well, except benedryll, which of course makes you sleepy.
Then my husband read somewhere that you should take 1 teaspoon of local honey every day. That is the only thing that I did differently, and I have almost no allergy symptoms this spring, in spite of the fact that this is a terrible year for allergies; I've seen lots of people that have not had allergies before having "hayfever" symptoms.
Try it! Honey is cheap and it tastes good. I take a teaspoon every morning with my vitamins.

[alahnar]

04:03 PM on 05/17/2011

You're absolutely right. The key is, and you stated this, I'm just reiterating -- it *has* to be local, because the honey has properties that are directly related to the local environment. Eating honey sourced from Maine if you live in Minnesota is not going to have any benefits in fighting your allergies.