Tag: diamine oxidase

  • Wondering why you react to EVERYTHING you eat?

    Wondering why you react to EVERYTHING you eat?

    Did you know that the act of digestion itself causes histamine release [1]? No, not many people do. I get so many emails from people who are convinced they have multiple amine, food intolerance or allergy issues because they react to everything they ingest. They explore salicylate, amine, oxalate, yeast and other issues obsessively, convinced that once they hit upon the right combination, food will magically be tolerable again.

    While some may be right, the simple fact is that if you have a histamine disorder (histamine intolerance, histaminosis, mast cell activation, mastocytosis), the very act of digestion requires histamine. So, the chain is: food in, histamine release, gastric acid rushed to the stomach to begin digestion. Then histamine release again from the food. If you’re on antihistamines, some of it will be blocked from attaching to the H1 or H2 receptor, so you’ll be having less respiratory or gastric symptoms. I’m always surprised that people seem to think that antihistamines somehow magically flush the histamine out from your body – that’s simply not the case. They just stop the histamine from binding to those receptors only, leaving it free to run around in your body causing inflammation and damage to your internal organs [2].

    You’ll find recipes full of foods with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties my books Anti-Recipes and The Anti-Cookbook

    CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALISED HEALING HISTAMINE PLAN. 

    Unfortunately, the receptors commonly not addressed with meds, H3 and H4, are the ones responsible for (among other things) modulating pain [3] and our mast cells/immune system [4], respectively, which explains why many people with histamine issues and mastocytosis still suffer from debilitating bone pain, depression, immune system dysfunction and others, in part (in my opinion) because they are not lowering their overall histamine burden – they’re relying on antihistamines to do the job for them. But of course antihistamines open the appetite [5], leading to more histamine roaming the body causing damage, except a little less damage to the H1 and H2 receptor areas. So you feel less respiratory and gastric issues (maybe) and are encouraged to eat “normally”, use cosmetic products like nail polish that are mast cell degranulation/histamine triggers [6], but continuing with life as you know it, learning to live with the fall out of flooding your H3 and H4 receptor controlled areas (pain and immune system), which then leads to more dysfunction and pain!

    Ok, I’m off the soapbox. Here’s the truly shocking bit.

    Just THINKING of food is enough to trigger histamine release!

    It was a complete surprise to me that for some reason that part never occurred to me: that digestion begins with the nerve impulses in the brain [7], which sometimes has a hard time distinguishing between fantasy and reality. I don’t mean that in a psychotic way, just that to the brain, intention is sometimes the same as action. That’s why visualization techniques are now being used to preserve motor skills in paraplegics [8].

    How to make this information work for you.

    The greatest relief I’ve experienced this last year is by making my peace with the fact that pretty much every food I put into my body will cause a reaction (thanks to the digestive process itself). By accepting this, I have taken the fear out of mealtime and allowed myself to focus on getting nutrition back into my body, rather than continuing to deprive my body of the nutrients needed for proper histamine metabolism, and creating an environment of fear at mealtime.

    I use food prep as an opportunity to practice a little mindfulness meditation. I observe my  food fears and then let them go. I experience the textures, the colours, and imagine the good they’re going to do for me. I visualise my enjoying sitting down to the meal, how it’s not going to bother me, and how this is all helping heal me. I imagine the food going down my oesophagus, into the stomach. I notice my mast cells not being disturbed by this process. And then I sit down to eat.

    And now for some practical advice!

    Rule out salicylate intolerance, mast cell activation disorder, and clean up your diet.

    The great Dr. Fuhrman passed on the most incredible advice to me via his forum. Juicing, smoothie’ing and souping it means you’ll need less enzymes to digest [9]. That should mean less need for gastric juices and histamine. Make the meals/juices low histamine and you’re on a roll.

    My personal approach is simply to include as many antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods as I can!

    You’ll find recipes full of foods with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties my books Anti-Recipes and The Anti-Cookbook

    CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALISED HEALING HISTAMINE PLAN. 

    Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet. 

    ——— REFERENCES ———-

    [1] www.physiol.med.uu.nl/…/ipweb/misc/…/digestive/secretion.doc

    [2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14530789

    [3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3014298/

    [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histamine_H4_receptor

    [5] https://dev.healinghistamine.com/is-your-anti-histamine-making-you-fat/

    [6] https://dev.healinghistamine.com/my-top-10-histamine-non-food-triggers-and-how-i-deal-with-them/

    [7] www.physiol.med.uu.nl/…/ipweb/misc/…/digestive/secretion.doc

    [8] http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/flourish/200912/seeing-is-believing-the-power-visualization

    [9] http://www.drfuhrman.com/faq/question.aspx?sid=16&qindex=4

     

  • These probiotic strains help fight allergies (rather than causing them)

    These probiotic strains help fight allergies (rather than causing them)

    Baby bacteria lowers histamine levels
    Baby bacteria lowers histamine levels

    I’ve been exploring the catch-22 of probiotic supplementation for some time now. The dilemma? Probiotics are necessary for proper intestinal function – the histamine lowering enzymes diamine oxidase and monoamine oxidase live there, so fixing up our poop tube seems like a good idea right?

    Not so simple.

    Probiotic supplements are fermented (a no go for histamine intolerance/histamine related disorders) and some strains actually raise histamine and tyramine in the body. The good news is that strains commonly found in babies can actually lower histamine, helping us fight allergies and lower our overall histamine burden.

    Lactobacillus casei (TISTR 389) andLactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus (TISTR 895) were found to produce BA (biogenic amines). The highest levels of histamine (1820.9 ± 3.5 mg L−1) and tyramine (5486.99 ± 47.6 mg L−1) formation were observed for the TISTR 389 strain, while TISTR 895 produced only histamine (459.1 ± 0.63 mg L−1) in the decarboxylase broth. Biogenic amine potential was not observed for the Lactobacillus acidophilus,Lactobacillus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, and Lactobacillus plantarum strains studied. This study confirmed that BA formation is strain dependent and not related to the species. Read the full study here.

    English translation…

    The BAD

    Lactobacillus casei was shown to produce histamine and tyramine, while Lactobacillus Bulgaricus increased histamine alone.

    The NEUTRAL

    Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus Lactis, Lactococcus Lactis, and Lactobacillus plant arum did not have any effect on biogenic amines like histamine and tyramine.

    And now for…The GOOD

    One of the perks of being the member of a highly educated online community who are incredibly proactive in their own healthcare, is that they often help fill in the missing links. Today I was reminded of studies I found last year which talked about the histamine-lowering effects of two strains of probiotic bacteria, Bifidobacterium infants, Bifidobacterium longum, commonly found in infant intestines. The studies also noted that the longum species had significant IgE mediation action. This means it could prove helpful to those with allergies. Read the full study here.

    Does this mean you can cure your histamine intolerance/histaminosis/mastocytosis with a histamine-lowering probiotic? Doubtful. Could it be helpful? Possibly. Why the cautious optimism? Because I have experienced a variety of reactions to supplements over the years. But if you’re going to try probitic supplementation, this might be a good place to start.

    I would not recommend starting this, or any supplement, without consulting your doctor. If you do try, please go slowly. If you prefer to go the nutritional route, a diet low in histamine is a good place to start – check out my post on pre-bioitic foods here.

  • Tasty antihistamine hot beverages.

    I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my top hot beverages…

    As you can see from my picture here, the detox is going great! Ok, busted, that’s not me in the picture! But as you can see from plenty others on the site – I’m not looking too shabby!

    My natural antihistamine beverages…

    Valerian root

    Valerian extracts may have direct inhibitory effects on the contractility of the human uterus and this justifies the traditional use of this plant in the treatment of uterine cramping associated with dysmenorrhoea….Valerian extract reduced the maximal contractile response induced by acetylcholine, phenylephrine and histamine [1].

    When I was high histamine it was literally impossible to sleep. I would be up for days at a time. Very handy when I was a journalist working in war zones, but not so great when I have a 9am meeting to go through someone’s digital strategy. Generally when people tell me they’re very low histamine I ask how their sleep is. It’s a great indicator of how you’re doing diet-wise. I’m not discounting stress, but we know that also causes mast cell degranulation too!

    Now while the studies I read on valerian took great pains to stress that it’s not a hypnotic which knocks you into sleep, it’s an anxiolytic that reduces stress, helping you drop off. Ever wondered why antihistamines make you sleepy? There are a number of reasons – among them is that histamine controls your cicadian rythm/wakefulness hormones, so taking an anti-histamine would naturally make you fall asleep. Given that we know antihistamines make us fat and can cause toxicity syndrome, exploring natural antihistamine herbs could help lull you to sleep.

    Please do remember that many of us with histamine issues don’t do great with herbs and that they thin the blood, but I still find these herbs a great substitute for my once ubiquitous nightly glass of red wine. I find that the best way to get a good night’s sleep is to not eat too late.

    Olive Leaf tea

    Yet another traditional ayurvedic treatment. Olive leaf tea has been shown to exhibit “significant mast stabilizing activity”.

    “According to Ayurveda, Olea europea is used in treatment of leprosy, dysentery, vaginal and uterine complaints, inflammation,burning sensation, fatigue, asthma, leucoderma etc. In the present study the histamine induced dose dependent contraction of goat tracheal chain and guinea pig ileum preparation was significantly inhibited (p< 0.01) by the aqueous extract of leaves of Olea europea (800 ug/ml and 100 ug/ml). Olea europea at the doses of 100and 200 mg/kg,i.p.,exhibited significant (p< 0.01) mast cell stabilizing activity against clonidine induced peritoneal mast cell degranulation in rats. Thus the present study revealed that the extract of olives of Olea europea has significant antihistaminic (H1 receptor antagonist) activity.” [2]

    Green/White tea

    I was told I could drink up to two green teas daily, because they would help lower my histamine level. Thing is, too much caffeine can aggravate symptoms, as can pretty much any dried herb. So I just dunk the bag a couple of times and then toss it.

    The bioactive compound epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major component of green tea, has been shown to target histamine-producing cells producing great alterations in their behavior, with relevant effects on their proliferative potential, as well as their adhesion, migration, and invasion potentials. In fact, EGCG has been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory, anti-tumoral, and anti-angiogenic effects and to be a potent inhibitor of the histamine-producing enzyme, histidine decarboxylase [3].

    I have actually found that I do better with white tea, which is basically the same, just unfermented, but I have now cut all caffeine out of my diet (I just don’t need it anymore).

    Guava leaf tea

    I’m really loving this stuff. Not for the taste really, but because guava leaf tea has been proven to inhibit mast cell degranulation (histamine release) in rats. I seem to tolerate it much better than the fruit itself.

    Holy Basil tea

    I’m not a big fan of aniseed/licorice. But this tea rocks my world! As I mentioned in my post “Holy basil! Anti-inflammatory and antihistamine superstar” – holy basil is as effective as Zantac/Rantidine at treating gastrointestinal upset. You can also find green tea/holy basil blends.

    You’ll find a collection of all liquid high nutrient antihistamine and anti-inflammatory rich recipes for days when my histamine bucket overflowed in the new Anti-Detox book. 

    The Anti-cookbook, while it doesn’t treat any conditions, due to its high nutrient, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory ingredients, has been instrumental in helping me feed myself on a limited diet. It features a six page list of antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods. It comes in regular and Paleo. 

    The Low Oxalate Cookbook features antihistamine and anti-inflammatory rich recipes. 

    Don’t miss the Low Histamine Beauty Survival Guide for non-toxic beauty tips, the skinny on histamine releasing (mast cell degranulating) beauty ingredients, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory beauty alternatives and the top brands natural brands I’ve found.

    Take a peek at my other low histamine and antihistamine cookbooks for more high nutrient recipes.

    If you’ve found this information useful I’d appreciate your support (at no extra cost to you!) – please check out my online store for your health foods, supplements, kitchen items and beauty product purchases. Affiliate sales through my online store go towards maintaining the website, funding travel to interviews and purchasing all the lovely foods for my free online recipes. You’ll find these items in the “Shop with us” drop down menu on my homepage.  

    Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet. 

    ———-REFERENCES———

    [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19178774

    [2] http://jpronline.info/index.php/jpr/article/download/223/187

    [3] http://www.springerlink.com/content/18480505ht4q2228/

    [4] http://www.springerlink.com/content/n1426040742tn4r8/

  • The Histamine Detox

    The Histamine Detox

    Fotolia_43424524_XS-1-287x287

    THIS IS AN OLD POST, BUT RELEVANT TO PEOPLE STARTING OUT.

    CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW I MOVED PAST THE ELIMINATION.

    THE LOW HISTAMINE DETOX WEEK 1

    BLOOD. I NEED BLOOD!

    I’ve just had my blood work done. Not only will your test results tell you it’s safe to embark on a high nutrient low histamine diet, checking in with your doc is a must before changing something as crucial as your diet. Lay out your plans for the next few weeks and ask for his blessing. When you bring back your test results to him, he’ll have to eat a number of his words. I usually like to squeeze an “well if you manage to do that through diet I’ll eat your test results.”

    It has happened.

    Honest.

    Not that they actually went through with it, but for them eating their words is just as hard.

    DETOX YOUR KITCHEN

    I’m blessed to live with a man who is as healthy an eater as I am. More so even. Luckily he loves my tasty low histamine food – when I’m whipping up new recipes for the low histamine recipes books or blog anyways. Otherwise I’ll sometimes just skip real food and brew up whatever’s in the fridge, zap it in the blender and call it soup! Here’s the thing. I wasn’t always able to live with marmalade or gingerbread cookies lurking in the cupboard. The idea of Ben and Jerry’s languishing in the freezer, unattended, forlorn, made it impossible for me to sleep without a midnight skulk into the kitchen for “one last” spoon, till not a scraping was to be had.

    At that point I just said “Stop the insanity.” Yes, I watched a lot of 80s informercials and lusted after Susan Powter’s incredible charisma! But that’s what I did. I cleared out EVERYTHING that was on the high histamine lists. Nothing remained but a pack of rye crackers, two measly carrots and a shaker of himalayan sea salt.

     STOP LUSTING

    The supermarket was my next challenge. I found myself lingering in the naughty aisles, having nervous breakdowns over whether I should take home a box of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. After all, they were the first brand in over a year (compulsive label reader right here) that didn’t have soy (which I’m allergic to). But I was in TOTAL denial. Really, the minute amount of  soy lecithin in those cookies was the least of my worries. For despite being organic, sugar was the first ingredient on the list (meaning it’s the main ingredient), and white sugar makes me degranulate faster than a bag of demerara being attacked by cannabinoid receptor testing rodents.

    The answer was simple. Yes I could have the cookies as long as I was prepared to spend the next few days in a histamine induced coma, hugging the toilet like my long lost war buddy. Eventually I was not ok with that. So now I order my groceries online. I have a regular low histamine shopping list and I run out for fresh foods or get an organic seasonal box delivered right to my door. I do still love going to the supermarket, and occasionally bad stuff still does happen, but now my poison is usually dried mango, olive oil rice crackers, or other such tasty treats. It’s funny how taste buds adapt so quickly…

    FIND YOUR CRACK

    Ok, I’ll say it. Histamine is addictive. That’s why it’s so hard to say goodbye to the foods we know hurt us. Our bodies tremble with desire, every neuron in our brain cries out, feed me histamine! It’s funny how the foods we crave the most are usually the most harmful. I ate soy sauce obsessively at almost every meal, for years, till finding out that I was allergic to it. How about that. It would make me tremble, making it almost impossible to work the chopsticks I insisted on using at almost every meal. You try picking up cornflakes with those suckers, I was almost there. Yup that’s how devoted I was to the ‘sticks.

    I started small, choosing 10 high histamine foods that I knew would make a huge difference in my quality of life. They were soy products – and believe me I was tempted to split them up: tamari, shoyu, edamame, tofu etc – but I managed to restrain myself, shellfish, processed foods, canned foods, leftovers, tomato paste, white sugar, chocolate, balsamic vinegar. I saved the rest for another day. This whole journey I’ve found that setting myself small, realistic goals helps me feel a sense of acheivement and excitement on this path.

    CUT OUT THE CUTTING

    If I knew then what I know now…darn it I would have healed a hell of a lot faster! Cut cut cut was all I did. I needed some nutrients in my low histamine life, but I was just too scared to add anything new. What I wasn’t taking into consideration was that my body was running out of ammo. It desperately needed reinforcements but I was too clueless to know how. The histamine-lowering diamine oxidase enzyme doesn’t just make itself you know. DAO requires a steady supply of nutrients.

    In the last three years I have learned so very much about natural antihistamines and the role of inflammation in histamine disorders. I’ve been steadily adding natural antihistamines to my diet. Fresh thyme, oregano, holy basil, sweet basil, coriander, parsley, peppermint, mint, sweet potato, butternut squash, chickpeas, lentils. Ok, so some of them bothered me a little, especially when I introduced them, but in the long run I kept the ones my immune system finally accepted, and just kept the other ones on a long rotation. I’ve tried to add more foods from the part of the world that I’m from – the idea being that I was born with enzymes for those foods – and it’s definitely working. Before you go running out to buy a sackful of Big Macs, let me just add that I mean indiginous, natural foods.

    In total I decided to add five new, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods to my diet.

    HERE’S HOW I MOVED PAST THE ELIMINATION. 

     ANALYSE THIS!

    One of the most important steps I took in the cutting and re-nutritioning phase was to track my diet. I’m talking nutrients, calories, moods and symptoms. The best tool I’ve found for this is www.fitday.com. You can add your moods/reactions in the journal section. This diary proved invaluable in my recovery. See I’ve not only eliminated high histamine foods, but also anything that has really bothered me. I can’t tell you the relief nowadays that I can consult my diary and see that rye causes bloating, which in turn causes UTI/IC symptoms, which drive me up the freaking wall. See, thing is, there’s a lot to keep track of. And despite my seemingly reletntless work ethic and encyclopedic medicinal herb reference of a brain, I can’t remember everything. I might stop eating rye for a few months, then eat it every few days for a week and then freak out trying to work out why on earth I’m running to pee every five minutes. Now I just look it up, and order is restored in my universe. It sounds exhausting, but you know what, so is not knowing that the hell is wrong with you and then spending weeks suffering and chasing your tail. Organisation is the way to do it! I’ve found that setting up a few basic processes helps me lead a normal life. Well, as normal as it’s gonna get!

    The diary/nutrient count allowed me to write up a plan of which nutrients I needed to get back into my diet. I then held onto this list till the second week…

    So that’s my round up of all the logical stuff I did in week one of my detox. Next up will be a list of my hardcore meal choices for the week!

    Don’t forget to check out the low histamine cookbooks for more information on food preparation and plenty of recipes.

     

  • 5 top tips to kickstarting your histamine intolerance recovery

    Tropical Fruit Cup
    Tropical Fruit Cup – On the Go Cookbook

    A lot of people ask me how I’ve got from total histamine intolerance breakdown to where I am. While I do believe my recovery is still a work in progress, I thought I’d share how a combination of militant food planning, 30 minutes of inflammation fighting yoga and daily chanting (OM!) have allowed me to reach a far better place than I have ever been.

    Thanks to my years studying nutrition (unofficially) through the teachings of Drs Fuhrman, Weil, Oz and others, I was well aware my new low histamine diet had the potential to be unhealthy and counter-productive, if applied strictly, and blindly.

    To acknowledge something and to implement it are two very different things. It took me a while to get my sea legs. I floundered around for some time, terrified to add new foods or even entertain the idea of being proactive in my recovery. But I knew I had to take action when I began to approach meal time with fear and hatred, focusing on the food rather than the state of my broken body and mind. I was now eating the same five foods every single day, usually in large amounts, not understanding why I wasn’t “recovering”.

    (more…)

  • There’s more to the low histamine lifestyle than elimination!

    UPDATE: there is a ton of misinformation flying around on the internet. I’m constantly flummoxed by how people will attribute feeling awful to chickpeas or a banana rather than the taco bell, potato chips or chocolate they also had. I have yet to see any scientific study showing high histamine content in chickpeas. On the contrary, sprouted chickpeas are high in DAO, the histamine degrading enzyme. Even a high histamine food can lower or raise histamine, because different parts of the plant have varying properties. Raspberry fruit for example is listed as high histamine, but it also contains antihistamine quercetin. Raspberry leaves meanwhile are scientifically proven to have antihistamine properties.

    I have over the last few years called a number of labs to ask how histamine testing is done, and trying to get an accurate list made. But I haven’t been able to.

    You know why?

    Because according to the labs I have spoken with, it is impossible to measure histamine accurately in vegetables and fruits, because the level is too LOW for the tests to pick it up correctly. Most of the lists you find on the internet were put together by polling readers on what they feel is high histamine, or just copied from other incorrect sources.

    So here’s a tip, please stop worrying about whether chickpeas are high histamine, and a little more effort into avoiding processed foods full of gut damaging emulsifiers, stop roasting foods because this oxidising cooking method causes histamine release, and definitely do not go gunning after healthy foods while you’re still indulging in potato chips. Fixing a histamine problem is all about fixing the body as a whole, and eating junk food and worrying about the histamine status of vegetables, beans and pulses isn’t going to get us anywhere.

    All scientific references to the statements I just made can be found in this post.

    I spend a lot (a LOT) of time on the net chatting with people who are in various stages of eliminating high histamine foods. While going low histamine does mean binning a number of high histamine foods, eliminate too many and you could end up worse off in the long run. I know because I spent a number of years doing it myself. Cut cut cut was all I did, but I soon became reactive to the “safe” foods and I just wasn’t getting any better overall.

    A little dabbling in supplements showed me they’re (mostly) out. I just don’t tolerate them. So I eat them instead. I’m quite convinced that their magical qualities, in balance with other nutrients, renders them effective, thought I do realise I’d have to wear a trough around my neck to ingest a therapeutic dose (100mg per kilo??) of some herbs.

    Why this emphasis on nutrition rather than antihistamines? Well, antihistamines only work on one or two of the four (known) histamine receptors. Is that bad? Depends – do you enjoy eating obsessively till obesity? How about suffering from chronic infections, liver damage, heart failure or antihistamine toxicity? I personally don’t. Also, my experience on them was, ok, I can eat more – well – I don’t have a choice really – I’m desperate to fill every minute of my day stuffing my face (read is your anti-histamine making you fat). Oddly, if you eat enough, you’ll need more antihistamines! It’s a vicious cycle of filling your bucket, then instead of emptying it, fooling your body into thinking it’s ok to fill it even more.

    Take these examples:

    SWEET POTATO is high not only in quercetin, but also in histamine-lowering rutin, and has anti-ulcerative properties.  And if that’s not enough for you, sweet potato extract has recently excited scientists by suppressing the growth of stomach cancer, colon cancer and leukemia cells.

    OREGANO contains polyphenols with antihistamine properties.

    CHICKPEAS…amongst their many nutritional benefits, they’re a particularly good source of plant-based diamine oxidase (DAO – this is the histamine degrading enzyme)

    Recently, it has been found that DAO from pea seedlings shows higher activity compared to commercial porcine kidney diamine oxidase (PKAO).  Read the full study here.

  • Low histamine recipes in 20mins (or less!)

    Do you spend hours roaming the supermarket in search of a quick meal? Are you bored with eating the same five foods over and over? Would you like to whip up nutritious, low histamine recipes in 20 minutes (or less)? Then make sure you’re signed up to my  newsletter for an exclusive 10% discount on the 60+ page Low Histamine ‘On the Go’ Cookbook!

    The Low Histamine ‘On the Go’ Cookbook takes you on a whirlwind tour of Vietnam, Lebanon, Italy and India, via the good ol’ US of A. Eating healthy’s NEVER tasted so good, or this easy.

    WHO AM I?

    YASMINA YKELENSTAM – THE LOW HISTAMINE CHEF

    The fridge and fields are my medicine cabinet. I’ve managed to withdraw from all pharmaceuticals including: anti-histamines, anti-anxiety meds, antidepressants, migraine, nausea, and dizziness meds. I’m now the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been. I’ve learned to harness the positives that high histamine bestows (appetite suppression, higher metabolism, energy) and make them work for me!

    Who the hell am I to give dietary advice? My cookbooks reflect the incredible amount of research into histamine and other biogenic amines in food that I’ve obsessively collected over the last two years since my histamine intolerance diagnosis. As a former journalist with over 10 years research and international news production experience for 60 Minutes, CNN and the BBC, I know how important the facts are. Not only do I back up each claim on my site with numerous studies, I’ve even used myself as a guinea pig, taking myself from washed up medical mystery to successful 21st century businesswoman.

    (more…)
  • The surprising link between allergies and migraines.

    The surprising link between allergies and migraines.

    woman with head on fire

    I suffered daily migraines for many years. At some point I finally came to the conclusion that my headaches, which made me bang my head against the wall on occasion, had something to do with my diet. I was vindicated by the person who diagnosed me with histamine intolerance in London, and now by the growing number of studies clearly spelling out the allergy/histamine migraine link.

    I cannot even begin to properly thank my lucky stars for curing me of this blight. I was about six weeks into the low histamine diet when I was able to trash the 600mg ibuprofen that I had been scarfing daily by the handful for most of my adult life. Not to mention the migraine injections. Youch! You truly haven’t experienced hell till you’ve had a constant migraine for six months.

    CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW I WORKED OUT MY TRIGGERS AND FIGURED OUT A HISTAMINE-BALANCED DIET THAT WORKED FOR ME. 

    Interestingly, in Spain (and France), it’s commonly acknowledged that migraines are caused by a lack of the histamine-lowering enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO). Seems that the US and UK are way behind the curve on this one.

    But histamine can also cause migraine in “healthy” people:

    Headache can be induced dose-dependently by histamine in healthy persons as well as in patients with migraine (53, 61). Histamine-induced headache is a vascular headache caused mainly by nitrate monoxide (62). Histamine releases endothelial nitrate monoxide upon stimulation of H1R, which is also expressed in the large intracranial arteries (63). In migraine patients, plasma histamine concentrations have been shown to be elevated both during headache attacks and during symptom-free periods. An increase in the number of brain mast cells is associated with pathologic conditions such as migraine, cluster headache, and multiple sclerosis (64). Many migraine patients have histamine intolerance evidenced by reduced DAO activity, triggering of headache by food rich in histamine (eg, long-ripened cheese or wine), and the alleviation of headache (ie, disappearance of symptoms) under a histamine-free diet (57, 65) and therapy with antihistamines (66). Maintz and Novak.

    Meanwhile, for those of us presenting with histamine intolerance, histaminosis, mastocytosis or mast cell disorders…

    This study colludes that: “Thus, the avoidance of allergic conditions in migraine patients may be a simple, helpful way for prophylaxis or their treatment.”

    Although migraine affects about 15% of population and many studies have been performed to find the mechanism and a successful management, the physiopathology of migraine is still largely unknown. The possibility of an immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated allergic mechanism and the role of histamine remain controversial. The aim of the present study was to evaluate serum total IgE and histamine levels in migraine patients and the influence of allergy on them. Seventy patients (18-58 years) with migraine without aura were divided into two groups according to their history of allergy (60% with and 40% without allergy). Serum samples were collected during fasting without allowing any premedication during the two periods of attack and remission. There was a control group containing 45 healthy volunteers. Serum total IgE and histamine levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and fluorimetric methods, respectively. Mean and standard errors of serum histamine (ng/ml) and total IgE (IU/ml) levels were found in the control group to be 48.16 +/- 2.70 and 38.31 +/- 3.20, in the migraine with allergy group 159.11 +/- 4.60 and 303.30 +/- 42.50 and in the migraine without allergy group 105.01 +/- 8.50 and 79.07 +/- 2.70, respectively. Total IgE levels in migraine with allergy group were found to be significantly (P < 0.0001) above that in the control and another group, suggesting an influence of an IgE-mediated mechanism on migraine. Although the plasma histamine levels, which were significantly elevated (P < 0.0001) in patients with migraine, both during headache and symptom-free periods, when compared with the control group, indicate that there is an increased susceptibility to histamine in allergic conditions, this molecule has also an unrelated role in migraine. The relationship between allergy and migraine can be based, in part, on an IgE-mediated mechanism, and histamine release plays an important role. Thus, the avoidance of allergic conditions in migraine patients may be a simple, helpful way for prophylaxis or their treatment.

    Has a low histamine or tyramine diet helped your migraines? As always, I’d love to hear from you and don’t forget to check out my diamine oxidase boosting recipes.

    You’ll find a collection of all liquid high nutrient antihistamine and anti-inflammatory rich recipes for days when my histamine bucket overflowed in the new Anti-Detox book. 

    The Anti-cookbook, while it doesn’t treat any conditions, due to its high nutrient, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory ingredients, has been instrumental in helping me feed myself on a limited diet. It features a six page list of antihistamine and anti-inflammatory foods. It comes in regular and Paleo. 

    The Low Oxalate Cookbook features antihistamine and anti-inflammatory rich recipes. 

    Don’t miss the Low Histamine Beauty Survival Guide for non-toxic beauty tips, the skinny on histamine releasing (mast cell degranulating) beauty ingredients, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory beauty alternatives and the top brands natural brands I’ve found.

    Take a peek at my other low histamine and antihistamine cookbooks for more high nutrient recipes.

    If you’ve found this information useful I’d appreciate your support (at no extra cost to you!) – please check out my online store for your health foods, supplements, kitchen items and beauty product purchases. Affiliate sales through my online store go towards maintaining the website, funding travel to interviews and purchasing all the lovely foods for my free online recipes. You’ll find these items in the “Shop with us” drop down menu on my homepage.  

    Please don’t forget antihistamine, pain killing foods can still hurt us, so please always check with your doctor before adding new foods to your diet. 

  • Surfing the crimson wave make you crazy? Could be histamine…

    Surfing the crimson wave make you crazy? Could be histamine…

    A little insulting but still pretty funny…

    Tired of your man attributing every nuance of behavior to your menstrual cycle? Well, he could have a point, but you’d die before admitting it (yup that’s me I’m talking about).

    Well here’s a little nugget to wave under his nose. It’s not the menstrual cycle, it’s the histamine stupid!

    Japanese researchers have (re)confirmed that the histamine lowering diamine oxidase enzyme (DAO) is influenced by the menstrual cycle.

    “Serum DAO levels were influenced by the menstrual cycle. Furthermore, our findings suggest that serum DAO levels should be interpreted cautiously in premenopausal women.”

    This could explain why an allergy to food or environment seems to affect you differently each time, depending on where you are in your cycle and how much histamine-lowering diamine oxidase is available to you.

    We know from Maintz and Novak’s seminal histamine study, that DAO is at its highest during pregnancy (500% – 1000% higher) so it’s a not unreasonable to conclude that lower hormones = lower diamine oxidase? BUT, that’s not right…

    “estrogen can influence histamine action. A significant increase in weal and flare size in response to histamine has been observed to correspond to ovulation and peak estrogen concentrations (118).” Maintz and Novak.

    This would seem to point to diamine oxidase being lower during ovulation – though we’re now not taking the potential involvement of monoamine oxidase and HNMT (the other enzymes involved in histamine metabolism) into account. Phew, I’ve confused myself. What is certain is that high histamine mimics the symptoms of anxiety so if you have a histamine-related disorder, certain times of the month are going to be tougher than others.

    So, where does this leave your average diamine oxidase impaired lass?

    (more…)
  • Is your anti-histamine making you fat?

    Is your anti-histamine making you fat?

    In last week’s post “Histamine’s upside: I lost 35kgs in 6 months” I mentioned the role of histamine in appetite suppression. I recently had a  conversation with a friend whose family member suffers from anorexia nervosa. I felt compelled to share that in my teens I too was thought to be anorexic. Food was hurting me so badly that I was starving myself to make it stop. It was more than just a physical reaction, because as we know, histamine is a neurotransmitter and as such affects mood. Food made me crazy, depressed, anxious and manic but I had no clue what was causing it all, despite my raging allergy symptoms.I’ve spent the last few days doing some more research into what’s behind my suddenly stable weight these last two years:H1 receptor antagonists like loratidine (claritin) and cetirizine (zyrtec) make you fat. It’s just a fact. It’s in the medical inserts of both and my own personal hellish experience on them confirms it. At my worst, when I was taking one and a half to two pills daily, I became obsessive about food – to the point of dreaming about eating. I would get up several times a night to rummage through the fridge and spend almost the entire day absolutely ravenous. I would graze all day long. The most incredible benefit of having stopped them is the relief from my food fantasies. I can now easily go half a day without once thinking about food. Is that abnormal? Seems I have H3 receptor stimulation to thank for it. Studies show that H3 receptor agonists (the opposite of antagonists like Claritin and Zyrtec) suppress appetite.

     

    The H3 receptor is a pre-synaptic autoreceptor that inhibits the synthesis and release of histamine, and a heteroreceptor that inhibits other neurotransmitters such as serotonin (5-HT), noradrenaline (NA) and acetylcholine (ACh), which are also implicated in the regulation of food intake. Thus, the H3 receptor is in a prime position to regulate food intake, both through its control of histamine and its influence on other feeding pathways.Study

    Translated into English: as a neurotransmitter, histamine affects the brain chemicals that control hunger!

    Not just that, but the studies go on to say that histamine’s H3 receptor plays a part in how our body burns fat and what temperature your body runs at. I know from experience that my body runs very very hot when I’m in histamine overload. Interestingly I did some research into a diet pill I looked into in my teens – it worked by raising your body temperature.

    Nowadays I don’t take any antihistamines, choosing instead to control my histamine level through diet (check out my low fat high nutrient low histamine DAO Support Cookbook) and a great quercetin supplement called Neuroprotek.

    Next step would be finding out if certain foods affect just one of the histamine receptors, H3 in particular, in order to lose weight. Don’t worry, I’m on the case. Sign up to my newsletter for more info on this subject and others.

    (more…)

GET STARTED HEALING HISTAMINE

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HISTAMINE DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX