Courgette and a rare gut allergy reaction in one child
What it found
A six-month-old child had repeated vomiting and tiredness three hours after eating courgette.
Doctors confirmed the allergy with feeding tests, and the child outgrew it by age three.
What they found
Studies in people
First reaction in infancy
At six months old, the child vomited repeatedly and looked pale three hours after eating courgette. Blood tests showed raised white blood cells. The child needed fluids through a drip and stayed in hospital.
Allergy tests were negative
Skin prick tests for courgette and onion came back negative. Blood tests for typical allergy markers were also very low. This fits with FPIES, which does not use the usual allergy pathway.
Reaction at 18 months
During a supervised feeding test at 18 months old, the child ate courgette and vomited again four hours later. The child also had diarrhea but recovered after drinking rehydration fluids without needing a hospital bed.
Outgrown by age three
At three years old, the child passed a second feeding test. The child ate a small portion of courgette on the first day and the full 100 g amount two days later with no problems.
Other findings
Vegetables rarely cause FPIES
In Europe, vegetables are an exceptional trigger for this type of gut allergy. One Australian group found vegetables caused only 8% of cases, and UK doctors reported less than 6%.
What the authors conclude
- They say any food can trigger this type of delayed gut allergy, even ones not usually suspected like courgette.
- The authors advise doctors to keep a high level of suspicion to reach the right diagnosis.
- They note that supervised feeding tests were essential both to confirm the trigger and to show the child had outgrown the problem.
How it was done
FPIES is a delayed food allergy that causes vomiting and diarrhea, usually starting 1 to 4 hours after eating. Vegetables are a very rare trigger for this condition in Europe, so doctors wanted to report this unusual case to help others spot it.
Doctors followed one child who became ill at six months old after eating mashed vegetables including courgette. They carried out two supervised feeding tests, one when the child was 18 months old and another at age three, to check if the allergy remained.
What it can’t tell you
- This report describes just one child, so it cannot show how often courgette causes this reaction in other people.
- It also cannot prove courgette will always cause this allergy in children who react to it once.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
- Authors work at
- Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Spain; Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute (IiSGM), Spain
The paper
- Title
- An unusual case of food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome due to zucchini
- Type
- Case report
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- de la Fuente AG, Fuentes-Aparicio V, Infante S (2021). An unusual case of food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome due to zucchini. Allergologia et immunopathologia. doi:10.15586/aei.v49i6.462Free full textPubMed 34761654DOI
Summary written 1 Oct 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error