Histamine intolerance - Goodbye to enjoyment?

In a histamine intolerance, there is an imbalance of the messenger substance histamine in the body. Histamine is a natural substance that performs several important functions in the body. Our organism can produce histamine itself for this purpose.

However, histamine is also present in foods. Histamine that we ingest through our food is usually neutralized in the intestine, so that no imbalance can occur. In people with histamine intolerance, however, there is a deficiency in one of the enzymes necessary for neutralization - diamine oxidase, or DAO for short, or histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT). DAO is a copper-containing enzyme produced in the intestine, placenta, or kidneys.

Histamine intolerance is not an allergy, but rather an enzyme deficiency. However, since the symptoms of a true allergy and histamine intolerance are very similar, it is referred to as a pseudoallergy.

Histamine intolerance - high number of unreported cases possible

Up to three percent of the Central European population suffer from the symptoms of histamine intolerance. However, the actual number could be significantly higher. Women are affected much more frequently, with 80 percent compared to men. Histamine intolerance usually appears later in life, often from the age of 40 onwards. Interestingly, histamine intolerance almost always disappears during pregnancy. During this time, the body produces up to three times more DAO than usual. However, histamine intolerance usually reoccurs after pregnancy.

Histamine - important messenger substance with a dark side

Histamine is present in every human and animal organism. Many plants, bacteria, and yeast produce histamine as well. As an important messenger substance, it performs various functions in the body. For example, it helps to defend against foreign substances, increases blood flow, and triggers pain and itching. At the same time, histamine regulates stomach acid production and intestinal movements. In the brain, the messenger substance also has an effect. There, histamine provides an appetite-suppressing and antidepressant effect.

However, histamine also has a "dark side". It acts as a crucial messenger in allergies and is responsible for the typical symptoms and complaints during an allergic reaction. These include skin rashes, itching, swelling, and asthma.

Histamine intolerance: Symptoms can be diverse.

If the body is unable to properly break down histamine from food, it can lead to the typical symptoms and complaints of histamine intolerance. These include headaches and migraines, a runny nose, respiratory problems up to asthma attacks and palpitations. Other symptoms may include stomach and intestinal complaints, itching, skin redness, and wheal formation. The symptoms usually occur 1-2 hours after a histamine-rich meal or after consuming alcohol.

These foods contain a lot of histamine.

Almost all foods contain a certain amount of histamine. People with histamine intolerance should therefore carefully choose their foods and avoid those with a high histamine content.

Matured and fermented foods such as aged cheese, cured meats, or yeast-containing baked goods are high in histamine. Nuts and red wine are also rich in histamine. The levels can vary greatly depending on the maturity and storage of the products.

Especially in the period after the diagnosis or with a justified suspicion, you should strictly follow a low-histamine diet. This is important so that the body can recover, the symptoms and complaints can subside, and the diagnosis can be confirmed. During this time, you should avoid the following foods:

• Sausage and smoked meat

• Not fresh fish, canned fish, and pickled seafood

• Mature cheese such as Parmesan or aged Gouda

• Tomatoes, eggplants, avocado, and pickled vegetables

• Citrus fruits, kiwi, strawberries, and bananas

• Nuts and mushrooms

• Wheat products and yeast products

• Legumes

• Chocolate, marzipan, cookies, and jam

• Alcohol, especially beer and red wine

• Black and green tea

After the recovery phase, which is individual for each person, you can gradually try out what and how much you can tolerate.

LaVita for Histamine Intolerance

LaVita is also well tolerated and recommended for histamine intolerance. It provides the body with all the important vitamins and trace elements. This is especially important when the diet needs to be restricted. Due to the numerous ingredients contained, it is not entirely impossible that LaVita may contain small traces of histamine, however, an independent testing agency from TÜV Rheinland has analyzed that the histamine content in LaVita is well below the detection limit. Nevertheless, we recommend starting slowly with LaVita if you have known food intolerances: Take LaVita drop by drop with your meals. If this is well tolerated, the dosage can be slowly increased. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!

Diagnosis of histamine intolerance

Diagnosing histamine intolerance is not quite easy. An allergy test or a blood test alone is usually not sufficient for diagnosis. To confirm the suspicion of histamine intolerance, a strict low-histamine diet is necessary. Keeping a food diary can help during this time to record what you eat and how you feel. If the symptoms and complaints disappear during the exclusion phase, a provocation test can provide certainty. Under observation, you consume histamine-rich foods. If the symptoms reappear afterwards, the diagnosis can be made with relative certainty. Nevertheless, if you suspect histamine intolerance, you should always discuss the procedure with your doctor or therapist.

Tips for histamine intolerance

1. Take care of your gut

The key to better histamine tolerance is a healthy gut. For example, the cells that produce the histamine-degrading enzyme DAO are located in the mucosa of the small intestine. If the gut is inflamed or constantly irritated, these cells can also be affected. This results in less DAO being produced and less histamine being broken down from food. At the same time, fewer nutrients are absorbed, so the building blocks for enzymes and others may become scarce.

2. Low Histamine Diet

Avoid foods that are known to have high levels of histamine. On average, each person consumes around 4 milligrams of histamine daily through their diet. However, for people with histamine intolerance, just 20 micrograms can lead to symptoms. Nevertheless, histamine levels vary greatly, so no universally applicable values for foods can be established. A list of foods with high histamine levels can be found further up in the article.

3. Prefer fresh food

The fresher your food is, the less histamine it contains. So it's better to go shopping more often rather than buying in bulk. The longer the food is stored, the more histamine the bacteria living on it produce. And there is no such thing as sterile food.

4. Be cautious when thawing and reheating

The longer prepared meals stand, the higher their histamine content. Heat or reheating cannot destroy histamine either. Meals stored in the refrigerator should ideally be eaten cold and not reheated. In contrast to general recommendations to thaw frozen products slowly, people with histamine intolerance should accelerate the thawing process as much as possible. Depending on the food, you can put the products directly from the freezer into the pan.

5. No alcohol

Alcohol reduces the enzyme DAO, as it is used up for the breakdown of alcohol. This lowers the tolerance threshold for histamine even further. Alcoholic beverages such as red wine and wheat beer also contain a lot of histamine themselves. Therefore, you should definitely avoid them.

6. Avoid ready-made meals and canned foods

Ready-made meals are highly processed. This gives bacteria plenty of time to produce histamine. Canned foods also contain much more histamine than fresh foods. The less you rely on them, the better.

7. Choose low-histamine alternatives

There are good alternatives for many histamine-rich foods. For example, you can opt for young varieties of cheese (young Gouda instead of mature Gouda). Freshly caught fish is better suited than frozen products, and spelt products contain less histamine than those made from wheat.

8. No additives

Additives such as colorants, glutamate, sulfites, and nitrites increase histamine production in the body. That's why you should always study the ingredient list and ideally avoid additives altogether. Cooking for yourself is, of course, the best way to avoid additives.

9. Keep an eye on medications

Taking certain medications can have an impact on histamine intolerance. Some medications can inhibit the enzyme DAO, while others contain histamine themselves or trigger histamine release.

10. Sports in moderation

Physical exertion causes an increased release of histamine in the body. This is a completely normal reaction and not a problem for healthy individuals. However, if you suffer from histamine intolerance, this oversupply can already lead to typical symptoms. Nevertheless, experts do not generally advise against exercising. Instead, you should slowly approach your tolerance limit. Start your training slowly and gradually increase it step by step. You are the best judge of what is beneficial for you and what is not.