SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – For those living with Alpha Gal syndrome, avoiding red meat and dairy is often the starting point, not the finish line.
As the tick-borne illness becomes increasingly common, patients are raising questions about what else in their daily lives they should avoid.
Patients look beyond the dinner table
For aesthetician and owner of Laurel Spa and Lash Studio, Michelle Rose, a diagnosis with Alpha Gal brought more than a change in eating habits.
“My arms would constantly just break out in hives; my neck and my chest would break out in hives,” Rose said.
After her diagnosis, Rose said she began paying closer attention to the ingredients in skincare and other everyday products.
What the science says
Dr. Seth Knight, an allergist and immunologist with Cox Health, said the most serious symptoms remain tied to what patients eat.
“The more concerning symptoms that you see from Alpha Gal come from mammalian meat ingestion,” Knight said.
While some products and medications can contain mammal-derived ingredients, Knight said the evidence still points to red meat as the primary trigger. He cautioned against getting ahead of what researchers currently know.
“Careful to not outpace what the science world knows. To be quite honest with you, a lot of these reports — there’s just not enough evidence to confirm them,” Knight said.
Medications and other triggers
On the question of medications, Knight said the level of mammal-derived byproduct matters.
“Typically, medications that are given intravenously in hospitals, urgent care centers or emergency rooms — if they’re your routine oral medications, those typically don’t have high enough byproducts to elicit symptoms,” Knight said.
Knight said if a product is clearly causing a reaction, he recommends avoiding it.
Helping others navigate the condition
Rose said she remains committed to helping clients who are also managing the condition.
“I’m trying to educate them, especially with skincare. I feel like for a lot of people it’s hard enough,” Rose said.
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