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Top Tips
- Tell your date about your food allergy up front.
- Ask your date not to eat the foods you’re allergic to for at least 4 hours before your date.
- While on a date ask your date not to eat the food you are allergic to.
- Don’t kiss on a first date!
More about Dating with allergies
Dating is fun and an important part of life. Having said that, going on a date can be scary enough without having to tell them about your allergy too.
However, it’s important that you do tell your date so that they know up front. It may even be worth mentioning before your date. And remember, if they’re worth dating, they should be fine about it.
Advice from 250K daters
- Spill the beans about your food allergy early in the date so you don’t have to broach it as you’re about to embrace.
- If your date is the friend of a friend, ask them to bring up the conversation before the date.
- Don’t let your mum near them! She’ll ruin the ‘spontaneous’ moment!
- Your allergy can be a great way to get out of a bad date.
- If a potential date won’t take your allergy seriously, it might be time to find a new date.
The Kissing Study
Kissing can cause allergic reactions in people with food allergy.
A peck on the cheek is highly unlikely to lead to anaphylaxis (maybe just a hive or an itch on the cheek) but passionate kissing certainly can.
Mostly these kissing-related reactions happen shortly after the food allergen has been eaten.
A “kissing study” published in 2006 showed that the best way to completely remove peanut residue from the mouth was to:
- Wait a few hours (at least 4) after eating peanut
- Then consume a peanut-free meal
This study was specifically related to peanuts, and although we don’t have studies on other allergens, we can use these findings across other allergens until we have more information.
Warning!
Brushing teeth straight after a meal containing the allergen was not found to prevent the risk of an allergic reaction.