5mo ago

Is it normal for high sugar contents like in cake icing to make my uvula tickle?

This has been going on since I was a child and at first I thought it was a texture thing but sometimes I go by the bakery in a grocery store while they're making cakes or doughnuts and just the SMELL of it makes it tingly and tickly. Am I still human?

15 comments

I swear to God I read that as vulva
- Indeed, was about to make a batch of cream cheese frosting....
- That’s nvts.
- Me too and then I was like, have I been missing out on some sugar-related sexual experience this whole time!?
  
  UTIs FTW!
  Not what I thought I'd be thinking about today, but we're multi-track drifting these days so I'll enjoy it.
- I read it and thought: "weird kink, but okay" 🤣
i'm way less concerned since i read the question correctly the second time.
- I'm way more disappointed.
You're probably mildly allergic to one of the ingredients.
There are foods that will make my mouth/throat feel itchy on occasion. I'm pretty sure I'm mildly allergic to a few things, but not enough for it to be a safety issue.
- Could be palm oil.
Well, as others have said, it's more likely to be a mild allergy with that specific presentation. Check with a doctor if you can, food allergies are no joke.
However, sugar can cause an unusual sensation in high concentrations.
First, it's hygroscopic. It pulls water to itself. Second, it can absorb through mucous membranes. Third, even in baked goods, it has a crystalline structure.
When it's mixed in at low concentrations, it would be unusual to have any sensations associated with the product being sweet from sugars (as opposed to artificial sweeteners).
But at high concentrations like in icing? Yeah, you can have lingering sensations just from sugar doing its thing to the cells at the surface of your mouth.
I wouldn't think to describe it as itchy, and never tingly, but I've experienced a tickly, kind of irritated sensation before, enough so that I went looking for what it might be.
You can test it by creaming a small amount of sugar in a small amount of butter and eating it. If it produces the effect, it's likely the culprit. If it doesn't, talk to your doctor because you really don't want food allergies going undiagnosed.
Maybe it's an ingredient that you're intolerant/allergic to? Your nose is connected to your pharynx after all, so maybe an ingredient that's prevalent in bakeries or pastries triggers a reaction with you? Do you experience any other symptoms?
I don't know if it's normal, but I have something similar where if I eat chocolate my temples start to tingle. It's been that way for as long as I can remember and I'm not allergic since I was tested for that. I'd recommend that you get an allergy test done though, just to be on the safe side!
I get that too.

15 comments