Why do walnuts hurt the tongue?

Many people complain that their tongues sometimes hurt when eating walnuts.  Some feel some kind of soreness in their tongues while others experience a burning sensation.  Different people also experience these symptoms either immediately after eating walnuts or a few hours later.  The basic reason for this is that some people may be allergic to walnuts and so develop a reaction that leads to some pain or burning sensation in their tongues.

Walnuts are common food items that are considered to be hyper-allergenic. Similar to other nut varieties, consumption of walnuts may trigger the body to generate an allergic reaction and present with symptoms.  For symptoms that involve soreness in the tongue or mouth area, this kind of allergic reaction may be classified as a mild allergic reaction.  For other people, they may also have more serious symptoms like swelling in the mouth, eyes, or the whole face.  Others may also have breathing problems, palpitations, or rashes all throughout their body.  All these symptoms depend though on a person’s sensitivity to food items such as walnuts. The quantity of the hyper-allergenic food item will also contribute to the severity of symptoms.

In the case of pain or soreness in the tongue secondary to consumption of walnuts, it may be the body’s first signal indicating the allergy to this particular food item.  What happens is that the body detects the substances and nutrients found in walnuts as some kind of infectious virus.  With this concern, the body will then release histamine in the system and this will cause allergy symptoms like soreness or pain in the tongue.  Along with the discomfort in the tongue, some people may develop mouth sores or swelling in the mouth area after consumption of walnuts.  Some will have the symptoms just a few minutes after eating while others will only develop them a few hours later.

If allergy to walnuts is suspected when one feels a sore tongue after eating them, it is always best advise to seek medical attention immediately.  As the health experts would say, it is always best that people seek professional advice when it comes to health concerns associated with allergies to food items like walnuts.