Quorn asthma cause?

[Palette]

Have been trying to trace why I developed asthma late on life. Recently had a really bad bout of stomach pains and violent sickness after eating Quorn and on looking back realised I only really developed asthma after giving up meat. Soy products seem fine but I think I may have bad reaction to the Quorn main constituent which is a mould. Anyone else had any similar experiences?

[twinkly29]

No because I haven't tried it but will be avoiding it based on that because I am sensitive to some molds, react to sourdough (which apparently everywhere needs to use 🙄) and last week I had a reaction to dates which apparently can be a thing if one has issues with mold. So I'll be avoiding Quorn legitimately now 😁

[elanaoali in reply to twinkly29]

Hi I eat Quorn sausages regularly as I not able to eat processed meat such as sausages. This is because I have another health condition called painful bladder sydrome.

I have never had a reaction with my asthma so obviously don't have an issue with mold. So it's obviously not a trigger for me.

A question to twinkly 29 has a doctor confirm that the cause of your asthma is because you have eaten Quorn for many years?

I have no idea why I developed asthma as an adult. Mine has worsened in the last 4 years. I have developed an allergy to house dustmite and I have many other triggers.

It is an interesting post and gives something to think about.

[twinkly29 in reply to elanaoali]

Hi, do you mean me or Palette? My asthma definitely wasn't caused by eating Quorn but I suppose if someone has an underlying issue with any food it will have an impact in some way, or might have an impact.

[elanaoali in reply to twinkly29]

Hi I meant palette not you sorry for the confusion.

[Palette in reply to elanaoali]

No didn't mean I had eaten Quorn for many years, I had a recent serious bout of sickness after eating it and on researching (on the admittedly sometimes unreliable internet ) found an article suggesting a connection between stomach problems from Quorn, a meat substitute made from a mould, and also asthma. So I just wondered if I had developed asthma due to a change in diet, and trying substitutes. Anyway I haven't eaten substitutes for a few days and my asthma has improved. So who knows, but we must try what suits us best, we have different biological make-ups so it is never a one size fits all thing.

[TuckBox2]

Hi Palette,

I too have trouble whenever I eat Quorn. I had a bad reaction to penicillin 40+ years ago and after that I couldn't eat mushrooms any more, I am violently sick, projectile vomiting and diarrhoea, cannot keep anything down. 1st time it happened I lost 3 stone in 5 weeks.

I tried Quorn when it 1st came on the market as one of my daughter's went veggie. I was always ill after eating it, when I contacted the manufacturers they informed me it is made from a mushroom based micro protein. (They sent me a £20 voucher to spend on Quorn!!!).

Although my family do not have any problems with it, I still have to avoid it and mushrooms in any form.

I was diagnosed with asthma in my mid 20's, (am now 65), although looking back at my childhood days, I was probably misdiagnosed as I was always poorly with coughs & chest infections.

My asthma got worse over the years and was classed as chronic brittle eosiniphilic asthma, I am on maximum medications and have been on biologicals since 2013, I was swapped to Mepolizumab (Nucala) in 2017 and this has helped me tremendously.

I have also suffered GORD since my early 20's for which I have had a fundoplication (2009) and I am still on meds for this too

[Poobah]

Hi Pallette. Sounds like it could be the Quorn, which apparently also uses egg as a binder. As a fungus you could be tested for this. I believe that allergies are diagnosed with a blood test these days.

I switched to soya milk as a way to avoid dairy. My asthma crashed. I gave up soya and felt better within a week.

I'm unsure if allergy testing has kept up with modern food choices but it may prove helpful if you had an up to date test run.

EU regs should mean our meat is not fed antibiotics, but soya is widely used as animal feed. Even though we try to avoid these products they still end up in the food chain.

As farming and other food production becomes more industrial it will be harder to avoid all manner of allergy triggers.

[ChrissieMons]

I don't think anyone knows why people develop asthma late in life - they just do. Historically people did too - it isn't a recent thing. If you can link it to a definite allergen that's ideal, as you can just avoid it, but I suspect it'll be more than that. However, many people have it quite mildly and manage well with it.