Alpha-Gal Syndrome, the tick-borne “Red Meat Allergy”

878. A tick bite you may not even remember getting can leave you unable to eat a hamburger, a slice of pizza, or a bowl of ice cream. That's alpha-gal syndrome, and it's turning up far outside its original range.

Alpha-gal is a sugar molecule found in the cells of most mammals but not in humans. When a lone star tick injects it under the skin, the immune system can start treating it as a threat. After that, beef, pork, lamb, venison, and sometimes dairy or gelatin can trigger a reaction three to six hours later, which is a big part of why this food allergy goes undiagnosed for years.

Today, Monica breaks down what the research actually shows:

• Why the lone star tick's range is expanding into the Midwest, the Northeast, and eastern Canada
• How alpha-gal syndrome differs from Lyme disease, and why they get confused
• What the CDC's estimate of 450,000 cases means, and why the "1 in 4" figure circulating on social media isn't measuring the same thing
• What a diagnosis means for your diet, including collagen, gelatin, organ meats, and why tolerance varies so much from person to person
• Why symptoms can be worse on some days than others
• Whether the condition is permanent, and what happens to antibody levels over time
• How to lower your risk of tick bites, per the CDC
• Where gene-edited GalSafe pigs fit into the picture

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References

About Alpha-gal Syndrome | Alpha-gal Syndrome | CDC 

Nearly One in Four Adults in High-Risk States Have Alpha-gal Antibodies Linked to Tick-Borne Meat Allergy | Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases 

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