What is Histamine Intolerance

In a healthy person, histamine is broken down by two enzymes: DAO and HNMT. Histamine intolerance symptoms may occur when one of these enzymes isn’t working correctly. DAO is made in the intestines and Histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT) is an enzyme expressed in the central nervous system.(*)

Diamine oxidase (DAO) supplements can help replenish the diamine oxidase enzyme in your gut.  These supplements help break down foods that contain high levels of histamine. Research shows that ingredients in these supplements  can provide natrural relief from headaches, digestive issues, and skin reactions.

If you have poor gut health you are more prone to histamine intolerance. If you have gut issues, I recommend spending some energy and time at improving the health of your gut.

Histamine Intolerance Symptoms

If you have too much histamine in your gut and it’s released from your cells, you can end up with too much histamine collecting in your blood. This causes symptoms including:

• Migraines
• Bloating
• Feeling sick
• Gas
• Stomach pain
• Throwing up
• Constipation
• Fullness
• Muscle aches
• Pain
• Stuffy nose
• Asthma
• Hives
• Dizziness
• Psoriasis

Take the Histamine Intolerance/MCAS quiz here 

Treating Histamine Intolerance- Going Beyond a Low Histamine Diet

What can you do if you have histamine intolerance besides following a low histamine diet?  The Key to naturally addressing High histamine is to address your histamine bucket.

The “histamine bucket” is a conceptual model used to explain the cumulative effect of histamine exposure and its potential to trigger symptoms when the total histamine load exceeds an individual’s tolerance threshold. The idea is that each person has their own capacity to handle histamine, and this capacity varies among individuals based on factors like genetics, lifestyle, and overall health.

Root Causes Of Histamine Intolerance

You naturally produce histamine along with the enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO). DAO is responsible for breaking down histamine that you take in from foods you eat.

If you develop a DAO deficiency and are unable to break down histamine, you could develop histamine intolerance.

When we about the cause of histamine intolerance and MCAS, keep in mind that there is no one singular cause or reason. There are many things filling up your histamine bucket. These things filling your histamine bucket may include.

1. Genetic SNP in the DAO or HNMT enzyme– this is where the enzyme doesn’t work the way it should- you have a mutation in the gene
2. Gluten intolerance or Celiac Disease- due to the damage it causes to intesinal mucosa.
3. Mold biotoxins
4. Gut Dysbiosis, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO- Here are some of the Best Ways To Address Histamine Intolerance/MCAS when you have SIBO
5. DAO-blocking foods
6. Reheating foods that increase amount of Histamine
7. Foods that are High in Histamine
8. Inflammation- Maybe you have Crohn’s, Ulcerative colitis, and inflammatory bowel disease.
9. LPS bacteria- LPS bacteria can also cause a Leaky gut.  Heres a video on my YouTube Channel
10. Medications: these may be from medications like Anti-inflammatories such (ibuprofen, aspirin),
    1. Anti-depressants (Cymbalta, Effexor, Prozac, Zoloft)
    2. Anti-histamines (Allegra, Zyrtec, Benadryl) H1 blockers
    3. Immune suppressants such (Humira, Enbrel, Plaquenil)- these are mediations people who have Rheumatoid arthritis, or inflammatory bowel disease (UC or often are taking)
    4. Histamine (H2) blockers (Tagamet, Pepcid, Zantac)- Many of these medications will either release excess histamine or will block the enzyme that breaks down histamine. Either way- you end up with excess histamine.
11. Food Additives that contain High Levels of Histamine
12. Nutritional status- Several vitamins and minerals serve as enzymatic cofactors. These vitamins activate the DAO and HNMT enzyme. If the enzyme fail to be activated, we cant break down histamine and it accumulates. Learn more about Natural Ways to Incrase DAO enzyme Activity here
13. Hormones-The complexity of histamine intolerance extends to the interaction between histamine receptors and hormones like, estrogen,  progesterone, testosterone and DHEA. Estrogen can also influence endogenous histamine levels by down regulating DAO activity. This ultimately leads to high histamine levels in the body.Learn more about the connection between histamine and hormones here.

Vitamins and Minerals Required for DAO and HNMT Enzyme Activity

So we have talked about the foods that cause excess histamine, we have talked about some of the conditions that causes excess histamine, we talked medications that liberate excess histamine or interfere with the enzyme that breaks down histamine. What else could be filling up your histamine bucket?

We know need to understand the importance of certain vitamins and how they “turn on” these histamine degrading enzymes.

Because a low histamine diet is so restrictive, its not something one can do for months on end. The Key to naturally addressing High histamine levels is to address two very important components–

1- Histamine Production histamine- You can learn more about cause of histamine here

2- Histamine Degradation (Breakdown) You can learn more about Histamine Breakdown here

As a reminder, HNMT is the key enzyme that breaks down histamine in the Nerve system and DAO is the primary enzyme that breaks down ingested histamine as well as histamine originating from allergies. As you can see in this illustration-

The DAO enzyme is dependent on Iron, B12, B6, Copper and vitamin C . Remember in order for DAO to break down Histamine we need these vitamin cofactors.

Histidine and Histidine Decarboxylase

Histidine is an amino acid. People use histidine as medicine. Some people take histidine for health problems related to metabolic syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, allergic diseases, diarrhea caused by cholera infection, ulcers, and anemia caused by kidney failure or kidney dialysis. But if you take a look at the above image you will also notice that histidine is broken down into histamine.

The enzyme that converts histidine into histamine is called Histidine decarboxylase. This enzyme is the key member of the histamine synthesis pathway.(*) What this means is that Histamine cannot be generated by any other known enzyme.

Magnesium and B6 are important enzyme activators needed for conversion of histidine to histamine. B6 is also needed to activate DAO enzyme. When vitamin B6 deficiency exists, DAO cannot be produced effectively, as B6 plays an important role in the process of DAO formation(*)

Some Final Reminders About Finding The Cause of Your Histamine Intolerance or MCAS

So as I bring this video to a close, there are few closing points I want to summarize.

#1- There are many reasons you or a loved in is suffering with Histamine intolerance or MCAS- while we talked about many aspects of histamine intolerance today, please understand that if at any time you are dealing with a GI problem, you may need to do a bit more than a low histamine diet- you need to also empty your histamine bucket.

You may need to dig a bit deeper into why. Your “Why” may be rooted in one or many of the problems you see below.

1. You may have gluten sensitivity/Celiac
2. You may have a gut infection with H.pylori, morganella, enterbacter species, etc
3. You may have a leaky gut
4. Might have a yeast overgrowth
5. You might be sensitive to oxalates
6. Overgrowth of Histamine producing Gut bacteria
7. You may have bile acid malabsorption
8. You may have food allergies IgE immune reaction
9. You may a delayed food sensitivity (IgA and IgG immune reaction)
10. You may have hormone imbalances that affect Mast Cell Stability 
11. You May dealing with Mycotoxins and Mold Biotoxins
12. You may have SIBO or SIFO

#2 Identify the Causes of histamine intolerance– Low histamine diets are only one piece of a much bigger picture. Work with A Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner who has experience on this condition. Working with a less experienced provider can be a costly mistatke.

#3 support the DAO and HNMT enzymes by taking the minerals, vitamins and cofactors that will help ensure the enzyme works correctly and finally at a minimum, take supplements that contains DAO, Quercetin, NAC, and stinging nettle stabilize the mast cells. Read this article on Supplements

#4- Naturally treating Histamine intolerance needs a multipronged approach that looks at all the things filling up your Histamine Bucket.

I hope you enjoyed today’s video (If watching on my Youtube channel) or todays blog if you are reading it on my website.  – I hope you learned a few things, if you did be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Comment below and share this video with someone you care about.  I will be doing another video where I will talk about some of the additional strategies for addressing histamine intolerances.

Here is my Histamine Support Pack that can provide some intial relief to the symptoms of histamine intolerance.

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