Mast cells, histamine, inflammation and obesity

yasmina ykelenstam reporting from baghdad

My “before” lifestyle changes picture

Citations always at bottom of post

Mast cells are key players in immune system generated inflammation. You know, the stuff that heals you when you’re sick, but makes you sick if inflammation happens when you’re not. Mast cell activation (as it’s called) is also involved in allergic reactions of the lungs and nasal passages, gut and skin, like as in asthma, hay fever, eczema and food allergies, but also in pretty scary things like cancers, IBS, kidney damage and heart disease. And now, obesity and diabetes. Mast cells release histamine and many other inflammatory molecules as needed for healing.

Me now

Research over the last few years points to mast cell related inflammation contributing to obesity. Mast cells are thought to “participate” in these conditions by affecting the rate at which we burn calories and other really painfully complicated ways. A study published in Inflammation Research: Official journal of the European Histamine Research Society tells us that fat is one of the main sources of inflammatory mediators, with Interleukin-6, released by mast cells, directly linked to obesity. Interleukin-6 testing is one of a number of tests used to diagnose mast cell activation and inflammation generally.

Here’s my post on tests required for histamine intolerance and mast cell activation.

A study published in Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews finds that mast cell stabilising medications like sodium cromolyn and ketitofen reduce (pre-established) obesity and diabetes in an animal study. What’s unclear is whether this applies, firstly to humans at all, and secondly to folks who are overweight and suffer from diabetes generally, or those who have mast cell activation and these conditions are the result of it.

I’ve personally found that not ingesting inflammatory foods at all (nearly impossible) kept me incredibly skinny. At times this was because I ate almost nothing (did I mention it’s nearly impossible to eat no inflammatory foods?) but at others it seemed I could eat whatever I wanted and still stay rake thin.

The latter phenomenon (which people write to me about all the time) may be due to histamine affecting metabolism and appetite. The crazy thing is how it can swing from one extreme to another. I spent years scoffing at pseudo medical conditions claiming weight loss or gain, low energy or high energy (I do please ask readers not to point out the work of Carl Pfeiffer – I am well aware of it), and yet there I was, eventually suffering from a medically validated condition whose seesawing symptoms make it nearly impossible to diagnose.

Other factors in inflammation and weight gain are that stimulation of the H1 receptors in the brain causes a decrease in appetite, one that study authors dubbed “adaptive anorexia”. I’ve certainly experienced that. This may be why I suffered my most massive weight gain when taking antihistamines like Claritin and Zyrtec that block the H1 receptor.

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.

A brain “histamine high” is what I called it when my brain burned warm like the sun was beating down on it and I would run around cleaning my house from top to bottom, rearrange the furniture and paint every other door a fetching powder blue. Doctors called it bipolar disorder and gave me antipsychotics to sleep, mood stabilisers to stop the midnight painting, and antidepressants to even out the inevitable crash. “What goes up must come down,” I was once told. Sadly those meds set off even more mania which thankfully resolved, along with the depression, once I changed my diet.

It’s all so confusing because we have opposing factors at work here. Histamine can both cause weight gain or loss, appetite loss or increase, and impact our metabolism. Histamine is found both in foods and mast cells. Mast cell related inflammation generally seems to be implicated in weight gain.

Please don’t forget, this is all mostly in animal studies.

Brain histamine release is linked to learning, fear aversion (associating certain behaviours, places or foods with pain/sickness for example) and just generally keeping us in a high state of alert in case we need to get moving quickly (this is an oversimplification). The “Danger Hypothesis” (Brown et al.), proposes that brain histamine is released during feeding, perhaps in a dangerous environment, or having to hunt for food, or because the animal has to eat and run, or run the risk of being eaten themselves.

An animal study published in the Journal of Pharmacology tells us brain histamine is released when the animal is trying to work out how to access food that has been placed in a closed container, or by learning that pressing a lever gets them a meal. But when the animal was given free access to food, there was no brain histamine release.

It’s really tempting to draw some conclusions here, but rather than engage in completely unscientific speculation, I will share my experience as a patient. Eating while stressed or stressing about eating causes more of an inflammatory/histamine response than being totally chill about the whole thing. When you factor in that just thinking about food is enough to release histamine (which is needed for digestion), it seems like a good idea not to engage in extreme restriction, eating a diet that makes you stressed and unhappy, or living a life that does the same.

That’s no easy task when you’ve felt your throat close up on you thanks to a seemingly harmless carrot, or ended up in the ER after enjoying a glass of red wine. Of course, being sick makes anyone depressed. It’s a daily fight to live beyond sickness and make our peace with wherever we happen to find ourselves.

I believe in eating a lightly restricted diet that rules out unhealthy higher histamine foods while keeping things like avocado, tomato and natural soy (edamame beans for example) on a long rotation. My diet is primarily anti-inflammatory (as you will find in my newer books The Anti-Cookbook, the all liquid Anti-Detox and Man Food) and made up of as many foods with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties that I can squeeze in.

Inflammation is very obvious to me when overweight, I feel bloated and burn hot, so I do an hour and a half of high intensity yoga daily as well as walk uphill whenever I have the opportunity to beat it. I also now sometimes use a calorie tracker to check in once in a while – I’m always surprised to see I eat more than I think. Denial does trip me up at times.

Retraining my brain to prevent overeating in times of unhappiness has really helped, cognitive hypnotherapy and other methods I’ll share tasters of in my upcoming Healing the Brain to Heal the Body two hour online workshop on June 11th – book your spot here. Don’t worry if you can’t make it live, there’ll be a recording of the workshop available to you for viewing as many times as you like, as often as you like.

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.

CITATIONS

Wang, Jing, and Guo-Ping Shi. “Mast Cell Stabilization: Novel Medication for Obesity and Diabetes.” Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Web. 21 May 2016.

“The Major Inflammatory Mediator Interleukin-6 and Obesity.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Web. 21 May 2016.

Passani, M. B., P. Blandina, and F. Torrealba. “The Histamine H3 Receptor and Eating Behavior.” Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 336.1 (2010): 24-29. Web.

7 responses to “Mast cells, histamine, inflammation and obesity”

Philip Clax

May 21, 2016

This is so interesting, I was nodding along as I read this post. I definitely get the hot headed feeling when I’m overdoing any histamine foods. The changes in my mental perceptions are profound, I’m like a different person sometimes.
Dianna Suslo

May 21, 2016

I definitely feel like Claritin and Zyrtec cause me to gain weight, which seems to oppose the mouse study. Hard to decide between making my nose stop running so I can sleep, vs weight gain! So far diet alone has not done the trick for me, but I will keep trying.
Sherry R

May 21, 2016

So is this a catch 22? I take inhibitors so I’m less likely to go ana but then gain back a ton of weight… SO frustrating!!!
I’m taking so many inhibitors (OTC and supplements) lately and have now gained over 20 lbs in the last year!! 🙁
If I’m not SUPER strict (meat and veggies only) and very low calorie, I keep gaining.
Bummer since I had lost 80 lbs 5 years ago and now up a total of 30 lbs!!
I guess 5 years ago when I lost the weight I wasn’t as sensitive to all this mast cell stuff as I am now and wasn’t taking all the anti-allergy meds/supplements.
Where’s the happy medium???
Catherine Hollingsworth

June 14, 2016

I was tested and found to be allergic to my own histamine and I have one copy A1298C MTHFR. I am doing antigen therapy for the allergic reaction to histamine, on a rotation of 4 days for this, taking glutathione, hydroxyl B12, magnesium and other supplements. Question: can this be a good thing to go on a low histamine diet or is that never going to resolve. I did detox and found I lost 45 #, then had tons of family stress…3 deaths, a domestic violence issue that put me into severe poverty to get away from abuser, often finding myself without food or only high protein diet…now one year later I am at 45# gained, tired all the time, very depressed, unable to get away from severe stress of poverty, emotionally abusive family, and really don’t have a doctor due to Medicare/Medicaid. I know I need help and don’t know if doing antigens is good or if I should be avoiding histamine producing foods, or what to do. HELP! Thanks, Catherine
Sedary

June 18, 2016

Searching even further, a friend pointed me to a neuro-scientist, Angela Stanton PhD. I still try to avoid foods which inspire a heavy histamine release but my main problem was that the electrolytes that my brain needed were severely out of balance or, in the case of sodium chloride, barely there at all. I’d already read that salt was an antihistamine but I didn’t know it was also my friend — especially my brain’s friend. We’re so ingrained to think of it as something to be avoided but the brain and our bodies demand it. Not having enough puts the body under STRESS. Balanced with potassium is the key. 97% of the symptoms are gone when I keep up the supply. I do not do grains at all, another key she said. However, as for the other 3%, if I eat a food that inspired high histamine release, it does hit my thyroid and my basal body temp is then too low the next day. (It should be about 97.4 degrees F, according to my alternative M.D.) That’s the only symptom left but that is the one that affects whether my body puts on weight. I mix my own electrolyte blend, drink all the raw milk I want (nature’s own electrolyte mix), or use a high end sports drink that contains a 1:1 ratio of sodium to potassium. I feel totally different and full of energy when I do.
Susie

July 3, 2016

I am just learning about all of this from searching and searching for answers to why I’m so sick. My questions revolve around a rattlesnake envenomation that happened to me as a child. There are not very many studies about the long term effects, however, one I read links the antibodies the body produces and from antivenom to the blocking of potassium absorption. Not absorbing potassium puts me into a chronically high histamine state. Due to a lot of high intensity exercise and losing sodium as well as potassium has led to severe illness. I am so chronically fatigued that I put myself on a ton of stimulants to be able to function. This also causes too much histamine! How do I get out of this cycle? How do I get better? Any, all and every opinion is greatly appreciated!
Susie

July 3, 2016

I am just learning about all of this due to searching and searching for answers to why I’ve been so sick. My questions stem from a rattlesnake envenomation in my childhood. There are not very many studies about the long term effects of this, but one study I have read links the anti bodies produced by the body and antivenom to malabsorption of potassium. From what I understand, this puts me into a chronic high histamine state. Add to this, high intensity exercise where I lost so much sodium and potassium, other factors and I became so I’ll and fatigued that I could no longer function. I then put myself on a ton of stimulants to maintain some kind of lifestyle which makes histamine levels high as well! How do I get out of this cycle? Without stimulants, I cannot function, but they are killing me? Any, all and every opinion is very much appreciated!

Welcome!

Yasmina was an award-winning broadcast journalist with a decade of experience covering war zones for CNN and the BBC. She devoted her journalism skills to researching and writing about histamine. Click here to learn about her. Each post is carefully and fully referenced with the latest scientific research. Not sure where to start? Here’s a four week meal plan and overall Histamine Reset.