The Surprising Link Between Mango and Poison Ivy
How a compound called urushiol can lead to ‘mango mouth’
When I moved from studying as a graduate student into the corporate world of Silicon Valley, perhaps the most surprising discovery was the variety of free snacks available.
Our workplace, like many others that I visited, offered a “snack wall” with myriad options for peckish employees. We had granola bars, cereal, yogurt, and chips, of course, but I found myself gravitating towards dried fruit — and one dried fruit in particular.
Mango is that perfect combination of sour and sweet — which has earned it many fans worldwide. It’s the national fruit of India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, and humanity has been consuming them for more than 5,000 years. That means that we’ve been growing and eating mangos since before the Egyptians built the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids. We were snacking on mangos long before we built the Great Wall of China.
But for some individuals, mango isn’t a delicious treat. Instead, it’s a food to avoid, along with cashews and pistachios. Sufferers experience contact dermatitis, due to the presence of a compound called urushiol.
Many of us, especially camping enthusiasts, have likely encountered urushiol before. It’s an oily mixture of organic compounds, and it’s most often…
