In our private facebook group, we were talking about fruit making up a large part of a pro metabolic diet. However about 25% of the group advised they suffered histamine intolerance with fruit, so this is a big problem.
To help everyone out, here is summary of notes I have taken on histamine from various sources including Ray…
Histamine is broken down in the body by an enzyme called Diamine Oxidase.
If you develop a DAO deficiency and are unable to break down histamine, you could develop an intolerance—which is where all the symptoms come in.
Some of these include:
- headaches
- bloating
- abdominal pain
- nausea
- flushing, especially of the head and chest
- a congested, runny, or itchy nose
- red, itchy, or watery eyes
- dizziness
- heart palpitations
Some reasons your DAO enzyme levels could be affected include:
- medications that block DAO functions or prevent production
- gastrointestinal disorders, such as Leaky Gut and IBS
- histamine-rich foods that cause DAO enzymes to function improperly
- foods that block DAO enzymes or trigger histamine release
- Bacterial overgrowth is another contributing factor for developing a histamine intolerance. Bacteria grows when food isn’t digested properly, causing histamine overproduction. Normal levels of DAO enzymes can’t break down the increased levels of histamine in your body, causing a reaction.
- Ray Peat advised: “And one of the things that turns on the production of more mast cells or the secretion or leakage of histamine from the mast cells is prostaglandins produced from the polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially prostaglandin E 2. Besides making the prostaglandins in themselves, they cause changes in cells that disrupt their functions. In fact every function of the cell can be disrupted by too much of the polyunsaturated fats.
And one of the worst things they do is to interrupt oxidative metabolism and the energy deficit I think is ultimately the thing that leads to really serious allergy problems.”
Things that help Diamine Oxidase production & therefore histamine intolerance …
- T3
- Vitamin E
- Magnesium
- Vitamin C
- Calcium & Vitamin K
- Vitamin D
- Copper
- Progesterone
- Less protein (as undigested protein in the gut raises histamine. Or you can improve your digestion!)
On Histamine, Ray Peat advises…
“T3, the active form of thyroid hormone… does several things that prevent overproduction of histamine. It’s been known for anti-inflammatory for a long time but one of its mechanisms is to stabilize mast cells so they don’t secrete serotonin, histamine and other inflammatory things.”
“Yes, the calcium and vitamin D are two of the things that are very strongly anti-allergic. Magnesium is the most famous because of magnesium deficiency, they found caused terrific range of inflammatory diseases in animals and they would cure skin diseases, heart disease, nerve disease, liver disease and so on just by correcting a magnesium deficiency. With vitamin D and calcium working with magnesium are very important so that some people cure their allergies just by supplementing vitamin D or vitamin K which is the other major calcium regulating vitamin.”
“…the real thing I think is to adjust your thyroid and progesterone. Progesterone has broad variety of antihistamine effects. Estrogen turns on both the multiplication of mast cells and their tendency to release histamine and serotonin. And so getting your thyroid to a good level will reduce your estrogen and increase your progesterone and shift the balance in histamine production. Aspirin is another anti – histamine that works indirectly by reducing prostaglandin production and nitric oxide production.”
I hope this summary helps you find the answers, if you suffer histamine intolerance symptoms.
Always learning,
Kristy
