Histamine Intolerance
Histamine is a chemical found naturally in the body.
Many people think that histamines are a sensitivity to certain foods - this is incorrect.
Histamine is also a natural component of many foods, a vital part of the immune and nervous systems, and plays an important role in inflammation and digestion.
What is Histamine Intolerance?
Histamine intolerance occurs when there is an imbalance between the body's histamine levels and its ability to break down and eliminate histamine. This imbalance can result from a deficiency in the enzymes responsible for breaking down histamine or from consuming foods high in histamine, which overwhelms the body's capacity to process it.
It Is Not A Food Allergy
Food allergies are an IgE reaction to a protein found in a food, which is almost immediate occurring within 2-3 minutes. With allergies, mast cells activate, releasing histamines and other chemical mediators.
There are certain foods that can trigger histamine intolerance symptoms, but this is due to a build up of histamine. This occurs any time your histamine “threshold” is reached. Histamine intolerance is often difficult to pinpoint or diagnose due to the resemblance of common allergy symptoms.
Causes of Histamine Intolerance
Enzyme Deficiency: Histamine is broken down by two enzymes: diamine oxidase (DAO) and histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT).
Histamine intolerance can occur with reduced levels of these enzymes, when one of these enzymes isn’t working correctly or too much histamine is being produced and not broken down and eliminated.
Gastrointestinal Condition: DAO is produced by the lining of the intestines. If the intestinal lining is not healthy, there may not be enough DAO to break down histamine normally.
This can explain why symptoms are more common in persons with gastrointestinal conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, IBS, celiac, and SIBO. In addition, certain foods and medications can also block DAO activity such as alcohol, black tea, energy drinks, green tea, and mate tea.
Histamine Foods
High histamine foods includes alcohol, fermented foods, vinegars, cured foods, cheese and dried fruit, smoked foods, some nuts and vegetables like walnuts, peanuts, avocados, tomato, and spinach.
Histamine food levels can fluctuate depending on the food’s age and storage methods e.g. a food might be low in histamine initially but increases as it ages, and some storage methods such as freezing stop histamine development.
Some foods do not have high histamine levels but contain compounds that provoke histamine release like bananas, pineapple, shellfish, chocolate, cow’s milk and papaya.
Histamine Intolerance Relief
Histamine intolerance is a symptom, not a root cause. The key to overcoming symptoms is to identify the root cause of the issue; which is oftentimes caused by a gut health issue. Healing your gut is one way to achieve long-term relief, improve your systemic inflammation and immunity, and eliminate histamine reactions.
For immediate relief:
Minimize dietary histamine - Do this by eating a low-histamine diet and avoiding foods that block DAO for 30 days and reassess histamine tolerance (keep a food journal easy tracking)
DAO Supplement
Cooking with antihistamine herbs like thyme and tarragon
Remember…
A “low histamine diet,” does not mean “no histamine diet.” The goal is to decrease histamine levels because it’s impossible to eliminate histamine completely.
It’s important to understand that the effect of histamines can be cumulative, like a bucket filling until it overflows and then symptoms appear. This is a combined effect of natural histamine and the histamine consumed in food. The body’s natural source of histamine is difficult to control, but the dietary intake is manageable.
