Chemical Intolerance, Mast Cells, and Histamine: What’s the Connection?

Are you experiencing eczema, congestion, sinus issues, coughing, frequent headaches and migraines, fatigue, brain fog, joint and muscle pain, digestive issues, or mood changes? Are you still using conventional products filled with chemicals and toxins? You may have chemical intolerance.

Chemical intolerance (CI) or multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a chronic and complex health condition characterized by widespread symptoms related to chemical exposure, often at a level that is seemingly not problematic for most people. Chemical intolerance can lead to physical, psychological, emotional, social, and economic consequences. It can disrupt and limit your daily life, job performance, school work, family life, social activities, and mental health. It may even lead to disability.

So I just have to remove all chemicals from my life, right?! It’s not that simple. You have to look at the root cause of your issues. While chemicals trigger your symptoms, you have to understand the mechanism behind chemical intolerance to address the real problem. New research has found that your mast cells may play a role in chemical intolerance. Today, I want to talk about the connection between chemical intolerance and mast cell activation, and how to address them.

In this article, you will learn about chemical intolerance. You will learn what chemical intolerance is, what are the symptoms of chemical intolerance, and what triggers it. You will learn about mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) and histamine intolerance. You will understand their symptoms and what’s the difference between the two. Then I will discuss the connection between chemical intolerance, mast cells, and histamine. Finally, I will offer some strategies to address chemical intolerance and MCAS and regain your health and well-being naturally.

What Is Chemical Intolerance?

Our world is full of chemicals and toxins. And they are not good for us. Coming in contact with chemicals through touch, air, food, or water, can have detrimental health effects. Though you may not notice any issues right away, long-term or high exposure to certain chemicals and toxins can lead to a variety of health issues, including allergies, asthma, birth defects, infant brain development issues, reproductive issues, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and behavioral health issues (1).

These are serious enough issues to make you feel concerned. But what if, on top of these long-term health risks, chemical exposure makes your day-to-day life intolerable?
Most of us don’t experience serious immediate reactions to chemicals. Some of us are allergic or sensitive to a few things. But some people have a serious issue with chemical exposure due to chemical intolerance. 

Chemical intolerance (CI) is often referred to as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). It is a chronic health condition characterized by a long list of complex chronic, recurring, and possibly severe symptoms due to low-level chemical exposure. When I say low-level exposure, I mean a level that is seemingly unproblematic for most of the population (at least in the short run) (2, 3, 4). 

Symptoms of chemical intolerance can affect various tissues and multiple organs across your body. This also means that symptoms of chemical intolerance can be widespread. You may experience symptoms that are seemingly unrelated or that you can’t explain.

Chemical intolerance can lead to physical, psychological, emotional, social, and economic consequences. It’s not unusual for symptoms of chemical intolerance to become so problematic to seriously affect or limit your daily life, school work, job performance, family life, social life, and mental health. In the most severe cases, chemical intolerance may lead to disability and other serious health issues. 

Symptoms of Chemical Intolerance

Chemical intolerance can affect multiple organs across your body and can lead to widespread symptoms. You may notice that symptoms of chemical intolerance can resemble or overlap with symptoms of histamine intolerance or mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). I will get into the connection between chemical intolerance, mast cells, and histamine later. But first, let’s look at the symptoms of chemical intolerance.

If you have chemical intolerance, you may experience any or all of the following symptoms:

• Headaches or migraines
• Rashes, eczema, or other skin problems
• Congestion, runny nose, sore throat, coughing, sinus pain, or other respiratory symptoms
• Dry, sore, or watery eyes
• Ear aches
• Symptoms of asthma
• Breathing problems, including chest pain and coughing
• Brain fog 
• Confusion, memory problems, trouble concentrating
• Fatigue and sleep issues
• Muscle aches and pain
• Joint pain or stiffness
• Bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, or other digestive issues
• Changes in heart rhythm
• Mood changes
• Mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity

Triggers of Chemical Intolerance

There are so many chemicals in our world. You may not be surprised that a long list of chemicals can trigger chemical intolerance. 

Potential triggers of chemical intolerance may include but are not limited to the following:

• Auto fuel and exhaust
• Tobacco smoke
• Smoke from a wood-burning stove
• Forrest fire and volcano ash
• Asphalt pavement
• Chlorine
• Body wash
• Shampoo
• Soaps 
• Perfumes or cologne
• Aftershave
• Deodorant
• Hair spray
• Nail polish and nail polish remover
• Makeup
• Other conventional personal hygiene, body, and beauty products
• Varnish
• Tile cleaner
• Window cleaner
• Toilet cleaner
• Bleach
• Drain cleaners
• Other conventional cleaning products
• Paint
• Plastics
• New carpet
• Air fresheners
• Restroom deodorizers
• Insecticide
• Pesticides
• Herbicides
• Food additives
• Plastics
• Markers

Mast Cells and Histamine

As you’ve noticed, symptoms of chemical intolerance can be similar to symptoms of MCAS and/or histamine intolerance. There is a good reason for that. Your mast cells play a role in chemical intolerance. I see many patients with histamine intolerance and MCAS who also struggle with chemical intolerance. But before I get into the connection between chemical intolerance and your mast cells, I want you to understand some terms around mast cells and histamine.

What Is Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

Your mast cells are white blood cells found in your digestive tract, respiratory tracts, skin, reproductive organs, surrounding nerves, and blood. They store inflammatory mediators, including histamine, which means that they play an essential role in your immune health and immune response. When your body encounters allergens, toxins, or other foreign invaders, your mast cells will trigger an allergic response. This allergic response triggers the release of histamine and other chemicals to protect your body.

This mast cell activation is there as a protective mechanism to help fight allergens and foreign invaders. However, overactivation of your mast cells and other mast cell activation issues can become a problem. 

Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) is a complex health issue. It involves and affects a number of different systems in your body. By affecting so many parts of your body, it can lead to a variety of widespread symptoms (5, 6, 7, 8).

Symptoms of MCAS

Symptoms of MCAS will impact more than one part or system of your body. Symptoms may vary from person to person. They may be anywhere from mild to severe. Symptoms of MCAS may include:

 

• Rashes
• Hives
• Itching
• Heart palpitations
• Low blood pressure
• Headaches
• Chest pain
• Weight changes, including rapid weight loss or weight gain
• Digestive trouble, including diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting
• Loss of appetite or low appetite
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• Vision changes
• Weakness
• Dizziness

Triggers of MCAS

Triggers of mast cell activation may include:

• Allergens
• Mold
• Toxins
• Heavy metals
• Chemicals
• Medications
• Infections
• Viruses
• Food 
• Alcohol
• Physical and psychological stress

Common Causes of MCAS

There are 3 types of MCAS (12, 13):

• Primary MCAS: Primary MCAS may develop due to a genetic mutation called the KIT D816V mutation. People with this type of MCAS often have mastocytosis, which means that your body is making too many mast cells. Mastocytosis is a very rare condition.
• Secondary MCAS: Secondary MCAS may develop because of an IgE-mediated food or environmental allergen, another immunologic problem, or hypersensitivity to a trigger.
• Idiopathic MCAS: Idiopathic MCAS is a term used when the exact cause of MCAS is unclear or cannot be determined.

What Is Histamine Intolerance

Histamine is a chemical produced by your body, which plays an essential role in your immune health and other areas of your body. Most people have only heard about histamine from taking antihistamines for allergies. The anti part of antihistamines can be confusing. Many people think that histamine is bad when in fact, histamine is critical for your health and well-being.

Histamine helps your body to get rid of allergens. It also supports your digestion by releasing hydrochloric acid to break down food and bacteria. It serves an essential role in your brain health by serving as a chemical messenger between your brain and the rest of your body.

Even though histamine is necessary for your health, you don’t want too much of it. Too much histamine can turn into a serious problem. f your body is releasing too much histamine, but it’s unable to break down all the excess histamine, histamine build-up occurs. 

Histamine intolerance means that there is too much histamine in your body. In a healthy body, there are enzymes, including the DAO enzyme, to break down excess histamine and prevent build-up. But if you have too much histamine due to high-histamine foods, mast cell activation issues, the lack of DAO enzyme, stress, or other reasons, your body won’t be able to break everything down. This can lead to histamine intolerance. 

Histamine intolerance means that your body has too much histamine. Histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, including your gut, brain, lungs, and cardiovascular system. Because histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, it can cause widespread symptoms that don’t seem to connect at first glance (9).

Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance

Symptoms of histamine intolerance may include:

• Headaches and migraines
• Fatigue
• Congestion and runny nose
• Hives
• Rashes, eczema, psoriasis, and other skin symptoms
• Asthma attacks
• Crawling skin sensation on skin or scalp
• Flushing
• Diarrhea and other digestive issues
• Low blood pressure
• Hypertension
• Racing heart rate
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Abnormal menstrual cycle and premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
• Sleep issues
• Brain fog and forgetfulness
• Irritability and mood imbalances
• Anxiety or panic attacks

Are MCAS and Histamine Intolerance the Same?

Though the symptoms of MCAS and histamine intolerance can be similar and may overlap, they are not the same. Having histamine intolerance means that your body has a histamine build-up from high-histamine foods, environmental toxins, stress, and other histamine-promoting factors that your body is unable to handle and break down effectively. Having MCAS means that your mast cells get triggered and activated by allergens, mold, toxins, chemicals, medications, infections, stress, pain, or other triggers leading to an immune response and histamine release.

MCAS and histamine intolerance can co-occur. MCAS can also cause histamine intolerance. In fact, I’ve found that MCAS is one of the most common driving factors for histamine intolerance. I personally have MCAS and had histamine intolerance as a result. I see patients all the time with both MCAS and histamine intolerance. 

However, you can develop histamine intolerance without MCAS. You may also have MCAS without symptoms of histamine intolerance. Though you may have both conditions, it is absolutely possible only to have one.

The Link Between Mast Cells and Chemical Intolerance

Now that you understand how your mast cells and histamine work, it’s time to discuss the connection between chemical intolerance and your mast cells. A 1996 research paper published in Toxicology has discussed how chemical intolerance develops (10). Claudia Miller, MD, a tenured professor at the Occupational and Family Medicine department at the University of Texas and author of this paper, has explained that chemical intolerance is a two-stage disease process. This two-stage process is called toxicant-induced loss of tolerance (TILT). 

Chemical intolerance first begins with exposure to chemicals. This can be one acute serious exposure or a series of lower-level exposure. A series of low-level is a more common experience for most people. This chemical exposure can cause a loss of tolerance to the chemicals and result in the multi-system symptoms of chemical intolerance.

You may develop chemical intolerance if you have never had a reaction to chemicals or toxins before. In fact, chemical intolerance most commonly develops after repeated low-level chemical exposure or one specific, acute, serious chemical exposure in people who never had an issue with chemicals before. 

Practitioners and researchers have connected chemical intolerance to allergies and chemical toxicities. However, until a more recent study, we didn’t have a good understanding of the mechanism of chemical intolerance. A 2021 study published in Environmental Sciences Europe has found that there may be a link between chemical intolerance and mast cell activation, explaining the potential problem behind your symptoms.

Researchers used the Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI). This is a 50-question validated questionnaire and international reference standard used for chemical intolerance screening and diagnosis by both researchers and clinicians. It may also be useful as a self-assessment tool. For this study, researchers use the QUEESI to uncover the connection between chemical intolerance and mast cell activation.

In the study, they looked at 345 patients with reported chemical intolerance, 147 subjects with MCAS, and 76 healthy control participants. Considering how chemicals are one of the main triggers behind MCAS, the results may not be surprising. They found that 59 percent of the patients with MCAS also met the diagnosis criteria for chemical intolerance. Researchers also found that MCAS may increase the likelihood of having chemical intolerance and the risk of developing chemical intolerance in the future. They also noted that the symptoms and characteristics of chemical intolerance and MCAS overlap to a great extent. 

Exposure to chemicals can activate but also play havoc with your mast cells. This may lead to mast cell activation problems, chemical intolerance, or both. Since MCAS is a common driving factor of histamine intolerance, MCAS and MCAS-related chemical intolerance can lead to histamine intolerance as well.

This research is a really important step in the right direction allowing healthcare practitioners to uncover the root issues behind chemical intolerance and MCAS and offer effective solutions for complex health issues and multisystem symptoms. Moreover, it helps to understand the potentially dangerous health effects of environmental toxins and chemicals better.

My Recommendations for Chemical Intolerance, Histamine Intolerance, and MCAS

If you are experiencing symptoms of chemical intolerance, MCAS, and histamine intolerance, I have a few recommendations to improve your health naturally.

Reduce Your Triggers

Avoiding exposure to chemicals is the first step if you have chemical intolerance. Avoiding chemicals, heavy metals, and other environmental toxins is also critical for reducing the risk and symptoms of MCAS. Stop using conventional, chemical-filled cleaning, personal hygiene, body, and beauty products, and any products that you find triggering. Choose organic, natural, and homemade alternatives instead. Reduce the use of plastics as much as possible and choose glass, wood, bamboo, silicone, and organic cotton alternatives instead, depending on the product. Drink purified water instead of tap. Buy a high-quality air filtration system to avoid indoor air toxins. Choose organic food or grow your own organic food to avoid exposure to pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics.

Detoxify Your Body and Support Your Liver

Supporting your body to cleanse itself from chemicals, toxins, heavy metals, mold, and other triggers is an important step for recovering from MCAS. Drink plenty of purified water, move your body and use an infrared sauna to support detoxification through sweating. Try dry skin brushing and rebounding to support lymphatic cleaning. Support your gut health through an anti-inflammatory, gut-friendly diet and probiotics to support the digestion and absorption of nutrients and elimination through bowel movements.

Support your liver. Your liver is an important detoxifying organ. However, having too much histamine can cause liver enzyme changes and liver dysfunction compromising your entire health. This is why I recommend you support your liver with a variety of strategies, including castor oil packs, that I go over in my book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan: Getting to the Root of Migraines, Eczema, Vertigo, Allergies and More. I also recommend a liver-supporting supplement, such as Optimal Reset Liver Love.

Try a Low-Histamine Diet and Reduce Your Histamine Bucket

To improve your health by addressing histamine intolerance, I recommend that you follow a nutrient-dense and low-histamine diet. Remove all histamine foods for one to three months, then slowly re-introduce them one by one following The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan. If you want to go a step further, you should join my Histamine Reset Online Program.

Remove inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined oils, canned and processed meat, artificial ingredients, junk food, and highly processed foods. Avoid high-histamine foods, such as fermented food (eg. sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented vegetables, kombucha, etc), aged food (eg. aged cheese, processed meat, canned fish, etc), over-ripe fruits and vegetables, leftovers, and foods that are naturally high in histamine (eg. avocadoes, eggplant, spinach, dried fruits, etc). Avoid foods that may trigger histamine releases, such as tomatoes, most citrus, bananas, most nuts, and dairy. Avoid foods that may block the DAO-enzyme, including black tea, green tea, alcohol, and energy drinks.

Eat a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet rich in greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits, healthy fats, and organic meat. Low-histamine foods include most fresh leafy greens and vegetables, non-citrus fruits, such apples, pear, papaya, and grapes, fresh grass-fed meat, pasture-raised poultry and eggs, and wild-caught fish, olives, extra-virgin olive oil, ghee, coconut oil, leafy herbs, and herbal tea. My book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan includes an extensive list of foods that you can eat and should avoid on a low-histamine diet.

 In addition to these recipes, I recommend all the low-histamine recipes in my other two low histamine cookbooks,  Low Histamine Cooking in Your Instant Pot and Fifty One Low Histamine Air Fryer Recipes. They are all simple, easy to make, low-histamine, gluten-free, Paleo-friendly, and super healthy.  The instant pot and air fryer are amazing tools to help cook food quickly so that it does not release a lot of histamine. The longer you cook food, the more histamine it releases.

Additionally, improve your lifestyle to reduce your histamine bucket. Stress, poor sleep, environmental toxins, and other poor lifestyle habits can increase histamine intolerance. I’ve already covered the importance of reducing your toxin load. Additionally, I recommend that you reduce your stress levels, improve your sleep, and move your body regularly. 

To reduce stress, I recommend meditation and breathwork. Get 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Move your body and stretch regularly, and exercise at least 5 days a week. I highly recommend resistance training if possible and aiming for about 10K steps in each day.

Try Neural Retraining

You may develop chemical intolerance due to an imbalance in your limbic system. Your limbic system refers to a part of your brain that affects your behavioral and emotional responses. It plays a role in feeding, reproduction, caring for our children, and the fight-or-flight response. Toxins, infections, physical or psychological trauma, stress, inflammation, and other issues can create a limbic imbalance and related health issues, including chemical intolerance. Repeated low-level chemical exposure or acute high-level chemical exposure can create condition trauma in your amygdala, insula, and your limbic system leading to a conditioned limbic system response causing your symptoms. 

Fortunately, you can retrain your limbic system using the principle of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity helps to change your brain and create new neural networks to recreate homeostasis, safety, health, and well-being. Though this is a relatively new field without enough research evidence, plenty of anecdotal evidence suggests that it works. If you are interested in limbic retraining, I highly recommend the Gupta Program™ Brain Training. We also interviewed Ashok Gupta, the creator of this program, on our Health Babes podcast. You can watch it here or listen to it here to learn more about your limbic system and retraining your brain.

Final Thoughts

Chemical intolerance is a chronic and complex health condition characterized by widespread symptoms, including eczema, congestion, sinus issues, coughing, frequent headaches and migraines, fatigue, brain fog, joint and muscle pain, digestive issues, or mood changes, related to chemical exposure, often at a level that is seemingly not problematic for most people. Chemical intolerance can seriously disrupt your physical, psychological, emotional, social, and economic well-being and may even lead to disability. 

Research suggests that your mast cells may play a role in chemical intolerance. This means that you have to address underlying mast cell activation issues and histamine intolerance to address and recover from chemical intolerance and its symptoms effectively. I recommend that you follow my tips to repair your body from chemical intolerance and MCAS. Since chemical intolerance, MCAS, and histamine intolerance are complex health issues with a list of potential underlying issues, you may benefit from scheduling a consultation with a functional medicine practitioner (hint: us!).

If you are dealing with chemical intolerance, MCAS, or histamine intolerance, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. We can help identify the root cause of your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here.  I also recommend that you check out my Histamine Online Program.

Sources:

1. Health effects of chemical exposure. CDC. Link Here

2. Dantoft TM, Andersson L, Nordin S, Skovbjerg S. Chemical intolerance. Curr Rheumatol Rev. 2015;11(2):167-84. doi: 10.2174/157339711102150702111101. PMID: 26088215

3. Multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome. American Family Physician. 1998. Link Here

4. Azuma, K., Uchiyama, I., Tanigawa, M. et al. Chemical intolerance: involvement of brain function and networks after exposure to extrinsic stimuli perceived as hazardous. Environ Health Prev Med 24, 61 (2019). Link Here

5. Afrin LB, Self S, Menk J, Lazarchick J. Characterization of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Am J Med Sci. 2017;353(3):207-215. Link Here

6. Frieri M, Patel R, Celestin J. Mast cell activation syndrome: a review. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2013;13(1):27-32. Link Here

7. Akin C, Valent P, Metcalfe DD. Mast cell activation syndrome: Proposed diagnostic criteria. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Dec;126(6):1099-104.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2010.08.035. Epub 2010 Oct 28. PMID: 21035176

8. Petra AI, Panagiotidou S, Stewart JM, Conti P, Theoharides TC. Spectrum of mast cell activation disorders. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2014;10(6):729-739. Link Here

9. Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules. 2020 Aug 14;10(8):1181. doi: 10.3390/biom10081181. PMID: 32824107

10. Claudia S. Miller, Chemical sensitivity: symptom, syndrome or mechanism for disease?, Toxicology, Volume 111, Issues 1–3, 1996. Link Here

11. Miller, C.S., Palmer, R.F., Dempsey, T.T. et al. Mast cell activation may explain many cases of chemical intolerance. Environ Sci Eur 33, 129 (2021). Link Here

12. Valent P, Akin C, Bonadonna P, Hartmann K, Brockow K, Niedoszytko M, Nedoszytko B, Siebenhaar F, Sperr WR, Oude Elberink JNG, Butterfield JH, Alvarez-Twose I, Sotlar K, Reiter A, Kluin-Nelemans HC, Hermine O, Gotlib J, Broesby-Olsen S, Orfao A, Horny HP, Triggiani M, Arock M, Schwartz LB, Metcalfe DD. Proposed Diagnostic Algorithm for Patients with Suspected Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2019 Apr;7(4):1125-1133.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2019.01.006. Epub 2019 Feb 5. PMID: 30737190

13. Final diagnosis, Mast cell activation syndrome. Link Here

 

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by Peter Saydak

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS): Symptoms, Causes, and Solutions

Did you know that fatigue, headaches, hives, rashes, digestive symptoms, and anxiety are all common symptoms of mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)? Mast cell activation syndrome is a complex health issue that can affect a number of different systems in your body leading to a list of symptoms. The good news is that once you receive the correct diagnosis, you can take some empowered steps, support your body naturally, and regain your health.

In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about mast cell activation syndrome. You will understand what mast cell activation syndrome is and what symptoms, causes, and risk factors it has. I will explain the difference between MCAS and histamine intolerance. You will learn about diagnosis and most importantly, I will share my top natural solutions to help your recovery from mast cell activation syndrome.

What Is Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

Your mast cells play a very important role in your immune system. They are white blood cells found in tissues throughout your body, including your skin, digestive tracts, urinary tract, respiratory tract, reproductive organs, and surrounding nerve. They may be found in your blood as well due to certain infections and diseases that your mast cells may try to repair once the health threat is gone. Your mast cells store inflammatory mediators, including histamine inside granules. When you have an allergic reaction, it will activate your mast cells triggering an allergic response that will lead to the release of histamine and other chemicals.

Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) is a complex health issue that involves a number of different systems in your body leading to an array of symptoms. MCAS may develop due to a variety of triggers, including mold, chemicals, toxins, heavy metals, allergens, medications, infections, viruses, food, and alcohol. If you have MCAS, some or all of these triggers can cause your mast cells to release inflammatory mediators, including histamine resulting in unwanted symptoms (1, 2, 3, 4).

Symptoms of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

Symptoms of MCAS will impact more than one part or system of your body. Symptoms may vary from person to person. Symptoms of MCAS may include:

• Rashes
• Hives
• Itching
• Heart palpitations
• Low blood pressure
• Headaches
• Chest pain
• Weight changes, including rapid weight loss or weight gain
• Digestive trouble, including diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting
• Loss of appetite or low appetite
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• Vision changes
• Weakness
• Dizziness

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome vs Histamine Intolerance

You may notice the similarity between the symptoms of MCAS and histamine intolerance. While the effects of the two can be very similar due to increased histamine in your body, MCAS and histamine intolerance are not the same. 

So what is the difference? Let me break it down for you. Histamine intolerance happens due to adding more histamine to your body than it can handle, usually through a high-histamine diet. Because your body has trouble breaking down the extra histamine, it causes histamine build-up leading to histamine intolerance, which simply means that you have too much histamine in your body.

If you have MCAS, your mast cells get triggers from mold, allergens, viruses, chemicals, toxins, heavy metals, or other triggers, and spill chemicals into your body. One of these chemicals is histamine. This leads to too much histamine in your body resulting in a wide range of symptoms that are very similar to the symptoms of histamine intolerance.

While MCAS is often the primary cause of histamine intolerance, it is not the cause for everyone. Not everyone with histamine intolerance has MCAS, however, I see patients who have both conditions regularly. If you have both conditions, your body will not be able to properly break down the excess histamine, leading to histamine build-up and increased symptoms. If you have histamine intolerance or MCAS symptoms, it is critical that you work with a healthcare professional who can help you with testing, diagnosis, and treatment.

Causes and Risk Factors of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

Scientists are not fully clear on what causes MCAS. However, a 2013 study has found that about 74 percent of those with MCAS have a first-degree relative with the same condition suggesting that genetics may play a role in developing MCAS (5). 

There are also a variety of conditions that go hand in hand with MCAS meaning that if you have one, you may be more likely to develop another. Allergies, asthma, autoimmune conditions, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Celiac disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, eosinophilic esophagitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are some conditions that are commonly linked to mast cells activation and MCAS.

MCAS symptoms and episodes are always triggered by something. Common MCAS triggers include:

• Mold
• Allergens, including insect bites and certain foods
• Viruses and infections
• Medications, including antibiotics, ibuprofen, and opiate pain relievers
• Chemicals and other toxins, including conventional beauty, body, and cleaning products
• Heavy metals, including mercury from dental work
• Smells, such as perfumes and other conventional beauty products
• Stress-related triggered, including anxiety, pain, exercise, lack of sleep, and rapid temperature changes
• Hormonal changes, including those related to your menstrual cycle
• Mast cell hyperplasia, a rare condition that may occur with certain chronic infections or cancers

Diagnosis of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

Because MCAS has so many symptoms that overlap with other conditions, diagnosis can be difficult. It is important that you work with a healthcare practitioner that’s well-versed in MCAS and histamine intolerance. Functional medicine practitioners, such as myself are usually a great choice when dealing with MCAS, histamine intolerance, or any chronic condition or symptoms. 

Your healthcare practitioner will go over your health history and perform a physical exam. They may order diagnostic lab tests that help to diagnose MCAS, including serum tryptase, plasma histamine, PGF2a, and N-methylhistamine. A 24-hour urine test can check for higher levels of markers for mediators during symptomatic episodes. This may be challenging as predicting the future and setting up a doctor’s visit during episodes can be difficult. Some doctors may use medications that block off the effects of mast cell mediators to see how they affect your symptoms. 

You can also expect other blood and urine tests to help to rule out other causes of your symptoms or to identify other health issues. They may recommend avoiding high-histamine foods and trying an elimination diet to watch your body’s reactions and narrow down your triggers. I must emphasize that since diagnosing MCAS can be tricky, it is important that you work with a highly-qualified healthcare practitioner with expertise in MCAS (6, 7).

Solutions for Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

Traditional treatment for MCAS usually includes medications, such as H1 or H2 antihistamines to block histamines, mast cell stabilizers that prevent the release of mediators from mast cells, antileukotrienes to block a certain mediator called leukotriene, and corticosteroids in case of serious edema or wheezing. While medications may help, they don’t consider the entire picture and don’t address potential underlying causes of your condition. 

I offer a natural solution for MCAS through dietary strategies, lifestyle changes, and supplementations to help eliminate your symptoms, allow your body to recover, and regain your full health. Here is what I recommend:

Eat a Low-Histamine Diet

If you have MCAS, I recommend that you follow a low-histamine diet high in nutrients. Begin by eliminating all histamine foods for one to three months. After this Elimination phase, slowly re-introduce them one by one following The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan. To understand each step of this simple yet refined system, I recommend that you read my book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan: Getting to the Root of Migraines, Eczema, Vertigo, Allergies and More where I explain everything about histamine intolerance and MCAS and each phase of the plan in detail and offer my favorite low-histamine recipes to nourish your body. 

Gently Support Detox Pathways

MCAS is often triggered by mold, heavy metals, chemicals, and viruses. Remove toxic chemicals from your life and choose natural, organic, or DIY beauty, body, and cleaning products. Make sure that your home is free of mold and invest in a high-quality air-filtration system like this. Support detoxification by sweating through exercise and infrared sauna sessions. Hydrate well to support detoxification through urine. 

Support Your Gut 

Addressing potential underlying gut health issues including yeast overgrowth and microbiome imbalance is critical to support your recovery and set your body up for success. If you are dealing with both mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) and gut health issues, I recommend working with a functional medicine practitioner (like me) to test your gut and see if opportunistic bacteria, yeast overgrowth, parasites, H. pylori and/or leaky gut can be what is driving your histamine issue. 

Support Your Liver

Support your liver which is a major detoxifying organ that’s critical for your recovery from both MCAS and histamine intolerance. I recommend Optimal Reset Liver Love, a powerful blend of botanical and mushroom extracts and N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC)  for optimal liver function, detoxification, hormonal health, and brain function (10).

Take HistoRelief

To support your body and reduce symptoms of MCAS or histamine intolerance, I recommend HistoRelief. This mast stabilizing supplement is a synergistic blend of nutrients including Tinofend®, quercetin, nettle leaf, vitamin C, and bicarbonate salts, that provides natural support to balance your immune response, inflammation reduction, and histamine release (11).

Final Thoughts

Mast cell activation syndrome can affect a number of different systems in your body leading to a list of symptoms, including hives, rashes, headaches, weight changes, digestive issues, weakness, fatigue, and anxiety. Working with a well-informed functional health practitioner and receiving the correct diagnosis is key to recovery. By following the steps I outlined you can take back the control and regain your health and happiness without symptoms of MCAS.

If you are dealing with symptoms of mast cell activation syndrome, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. I can help to identify the root cause of your problems and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here. You can also get started on your own with my Histamine Online Program.

Sources:

1. Afrin LB, Self S, Menk J, Lazarchick J. Characterization of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Am J Med Sci. 2017;353(3):207-215. Link Here

2. Frieri M, Patel R, Celestin J. Mast cell activation syndrome: a review. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2013;13(1):27-32. Link Here

3. Akin C, Valent P, Metcalfe DD. Mast cell activation syndrome: Proposed diagnostic criteria. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Dec;126(6):1099-104.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2010.08.035. Epub 2010 Oct 28. PMID: 21035176

4. Petra AI, Panagiotidou S, Stewart JM, Conti P, Theoharides TC. Spectrum of mast cell activation disorders. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2014;10(6):729-739. Link Here

5. Molderings GJ, Haenish B, Bogdanow N, Fimmers R, Northern MM. Familial Occurrence of Systemic Mast Cell Activation Disease. PLOS. September 30, 2013 Link Here

6. Molderings, G.J., Brettner, S., Homann, J. et al. Mast cell activation disease: a concise practical guide for diagnostic workup and therapeutic options. J Hematol Oncol 4, 10 (2011). Link Here

7. Lisa Klimas (2015). Initial diagnosis and treatment of mast cell activation disease: General notes for guidance.

8. Marí M, Morales A, Colell A, García-Ruiz C, Fernández-Checa JC. Mitochondrial glutathione, a key survival antioxidant. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2009 Nov;11(11):2685-700. doi: 10.1089/ARS.2009.2695. PMID: 19558212

9. Hope J. A review of the mechanism of injury and treatment approaches for illness resulting from exposure to water-damaged buildings, mold, and mycotoxins. ScientificWorldJournal. 2013 Apr 18;2013:767482. doi: 10.1155/2013/767482. PMID: 23710148

10. Rodriguez RR. Headache and liver disease: is their relationship more apparent than real? Dig Dis Sci. 2004 Jun;49(6):1016-8. PMID: 15309894 

11. Histamine intolerance. Vickerstaff Health Services. Link Here

 

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by Peter Saydak

Mast Cell Stabilizing Foods

Mast Cell Stabilizing Foods

Rashes, hives, itching, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, heart palpitation, and digestive issues. If you are experiencing these issues after encountering an allergen, chemical, toxin, mold, heavy metal, infections, or stress, you may be dealing with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS).
Your mast cells are white blood cells found in various tissues across your body. Though they are essential for your immune health, when your mast cells become dysregulated and overactive it can become a problem. Fortunately, with the help of some mast cell stabilizing foods and natural strategies, you can calm your mast cells and reduce mast cell-related symptoms. 

In this article, I want to talk about your mast cells and mast cell activation syndrome. You will learn about the symptoms, triggers, and common causes of MCAS. I will share the top mast cell stabilizing foods that can help to reduce mast cell activation and the risk of symptoms. I will also share some other natural strategies to reduce mast cell activation.

What Are Mast Cells

Your mast cells are white blood cells found in various tissues, including your digestive tract, urinary tract, respiratory tract, and skin, as well as, your blood. They play a critical role in your immune health. They help to store inflammatory mediators, including histamine. If you encounter an allergen or other trigger, it will activate your mast cells causing an allergic response and the release of histamine along with other chemicals (1, 2).

What Is Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

Your mast cells and mast cell activation are essential for your immune health, when your mast cells become dysregulated and overactive it can become a problem. Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) is a health condition in which your mast cells release too many chemicals into your body leading to a variety of symptoms. MCAS may develop due to a variety of triggers, including mold, chemicals, toxins, heavy metals, allergens, medications, infections, viruses, food, and alcohol. These triggers can cause your mast cells to release inflammatory mediators, including histamine resulting in unwanted symptoms. It is a complex health issue that involves many different systems in your body causing an array of symptoms (1, 2).

Symptoms of MCAS

Symptoms of MCAS will impact more than one part or system of your body. Symptoms may vary from person to person. Symptoms of MCAS may include:

• Rashes
• Hives
• Itching
• Heart palpitations
• Low blood pressure
• Headaches
• Chest pain
• Weight changes, including rapid weight loss or weight gain
• Digestive trouble, including diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting
• Loss of appetite or low appetite
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• Vision changes
• Weakness
• Dizziness

Triggers of MCAS

MCAS symptoms and episodes are always triggered by something. Common MCAS triggers include:

• Mold
• Allergens, including insect bites and certain foods
• Viruses and infections
• Medications, including antibiotics, ibuprofen, and opiate pain relievers
• Chemicals and other toxins, including conventional beauty, body, and cleaning products
• Heavy metals, including mercury from dental work
• Smells, such as perfumes and other conventional beauty products
• Stress-related triggers, including anxiety, pain, exercise, lack of sleep, and rapid temperature changes
• Hormonal changes, including those related to your menstrual cycle
• Mast cell hyperplasia, a rare condition that may occur with certain chronic infections or cancers

Common Causes of MCAS

There are 3 types of MCAS (26, 27):

• Primary MCAS: Primary MCAS may develop due to a genetic mutation called the KIT D816V mutation. People with this type of MCAS often have mastocytosis, which means that your body is making too many mast cells. Mastocytosis is a very rare condition.
• Secondary MCAS: Secondary MCAS may develop because of an IgE-mediated food or environmental allergen, another immunologic problem, or hypersensitivity to a trigger.
• Idiopathic MCAS: Idiopathic MCAS is a term used when the exact cause of MCAS is unclear or cannot be determined.

To learn more about the triggers and causes of MCAS, I recommend reading my book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan: Getting to the Root of Migraines, Eczema, Vertigo, Allergies and More. 

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome vs Histamine Intolerance

I believe that MCAS is the primary cause of histamine intolerance, but it may not be the cause for everyone. But considering the similarities between the symptoms of MCAS and histamine intolerance, you may feel confused. 

Are these two conditions the same? No, they are not the same. Though symptoms of MCAS and histamine intolerance can be similar and are both caused by high levels of histamine, MCAS and histamine intolerance are not the same.

If your body has too much histamine and it can’t handle it, you may develop histamine intolerance. This usually happens due to a high-histamine diet. However, stress, poor sleep, environmental toxins, certain medications, and other factors may add to your histamine bucket as well. If your body has trouble breaking down the extra histamine, it will lead to histamine build-up and histamine intolerance. 

While histamine intolerance simply means you have too much histamine in your body, you develop MCAS if your mast cells get triggered all the time. If you have MCAS, your mast cells get triggered by mold, allergens, or other triggers, they will release histamine and other chemicals into your body. Increased histamine release from mast cell activation can lead to too much histamine in your body. This can lead to a wide range of symptoms that are very similar to the symptoms of histamine intolerance. 

As I mentioned before, MCAS is one of the primary causes of histamine intolerance. However, it is not the cause for everyone. You can have histamine intolerance without MCAS. You can also have MCAS without histamine intolerance. But you may have both MCAS and histamine intolerance. I see patients who have both conditions regularly (1, 2, 3). 

If you have both conditions, your body will have increased difficulty breaking down the excess histamine. This can lead to widespread symptoms of MCAS and histamine intolerance. To figure out, whether you are dealing with symptoms of MCAS, histamine intolerance, or both. I recommend working with a functional medicine doctor who is well-versed in both conditions. (Tips: My team and I would love to help you with your diagnosis and treatment. Schedule your consultation here.)

Top Mast Cell Stabilizing Foods

Fortunately, you can stabilize your mast cells naturally and reduce the risk of symptoms of MCAS and MCAS-related histamine intolerance. You may not be surprised to hear that the first step is nutrition. Here are the top mast cell stabilizing foods I recommend:

Quercetin-Rich Foods

Quercetin is a plant flavonol that helps to reduce histamine and allergic response while also supporting your immune system. A 2012 study published in PLoS One, quercetin can effectively block mast cell activation (4). It may be more effective for mast cell-related dermatitis and photosynthesis than Cromolyn, a medication for mastocytosis. Quercetin-rich foods include blueberries, black plums, cherries, black currants, cranberries, grapes, apples, broccoli, other cruciferous vegetables, peppers, red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, chicory greens, raw kale, cabbage, raw asparagus, raw red onion, snap peas, sprouts, and many herbs. Since quercetin-rich foods are so diverse, you can easily use them in any of your salads, smoothies, green juices, and cooked dishes.

Onions

Raw red onions are high in quercetin. But onions have more benefits. They are known for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects that may reduce the risk of inflammation and symptoms. According to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, onions may offer anti-allergic, anti-histamine, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties (5). I recommend adding raw onion to your salads, wraps, and sandwiches, and cooked onion to your frittatas, scrambled eggs, stir-fries, baked vegetables, and other dishes.

Turmeric

Turmeric is an Indian spice that is now used all over the world. The benefits of turmeric come from its active ingredient, curcumin. It’s well-known and well-researched for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and pain-relieving properties. According to a 2003 study published in Clinica Chimica Acta, curcumin may help to reduce mast cell activation (6). I recommend using turmeric in your kitchen regularly. You can add it to your soups, curries, vegetable dishes, dressings, salads, and smoothies. You may also make turmeric golden tea or turmeric-ginger tea to reduce inflammation, mast cell activation, and pain. You may also add curcumin supplements to your daily regimen.

Apples

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. There is something to this. Apples are rich in quercetin which help to reduce histamine. They are also rich in prebiotics, which are fibers that feed probiotics, or good bacteria, in your gut. By helping to balance your gut flora, apples may help to reduce the risk of inflammation and chronic health issues. According to a 2006 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology, apple polyphenols may act on mast cells, reduce histamine response, and lower the symptoms of persistent allergic rhinitis (7). Apples are a great snack. You can also add them to your green juices, smoothies, or salads. My book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan has a great apple crisp recipe. You may also add it to any low-histamine sweet bread you are baking.

Brazil Nuts

Brazil nuts are mainly known for their selenium content. Did you know that only two pieces of Brazil nuts a day can help you meet your day's selenium needs? According to a 2013 study published in Biological Trace Elements Research, selenium may reduce mast cells mediator release and degranulation (8). Brazil nuts serve as a great snack, but you may also add them to your salads, breakfast bowls, or smoothies.

Chamomile

You’ve probably heard about chamomile before. Chamomile tea is well-known for its sleep-promoting benefits. But chamomile is more than just a stress-relieving natural sleep aid. It may be a great option if you have MCAS and histamine intolerance. According to a 2011 study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, chamomile may reduce mast cell-mediated allergic reactions (9). The best way to use chamomile is by drinking chamomile tea regularly, ideally closer to bedtime. However, you can also find chamomile essential oils to mix things up.

Nettle

Nettle is a medical plant with white to yellowish flowers and pointed leaves. It has been used as a remedy for joint pain, muscle pain, gout, anemia, eczema, and urinary issues. It may also offer some great properties for mast cell activation and histamine reactions. According to a 2009 study published in Phytotherapy Research, nettle extract may help to reduce allergic rhinitis (10). One of the best ways to use nettle is by making nettle tea. But you can also find it in a supplement form.

Ginger

Ginger is similar to turmeric and offers similar properties. It is well known for its anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving benefits. It may also relieve digestive issues and morning sickness. Ginger may also help to reduce mast cell activation and histamine reactions. According to a 2020 randomized controlled trial published in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, ginger may help to reduce mast cell reaction and allergic rhinitis (11). I recommend adding ginger to your soups, green juices, green smoothies, dressings, salads, stir-fries, and vegetable dishes. You may also make ginger tea or try some ginger supplements.

Peaches

Peachers are delicious, sweet, fiber-rich, hydrating fruits. They may help to support your immune health, digestion, skin, and heart health. They may also help to reduce mast cell activation and histamine reactions. According to a 2010 study published in Food and Chemical Toxicology, peaches may help to reduce mast cell-mediated allergic reactions and inflammation (12). You may eat peaches as a snack or add them to your breakfast bowls or smoothies.

Watercress

Watercress is an anti-inflammatory, fiber-rich leafy green. It may help to calm your mast cells and reduce histamine release and reactions. According to a 1999 study published in the Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, watercress may help to reduce histamine release and related symptoms (13). You may add watercress to your salads, juices, and smoothies.

Pomegranates

Pomegranates are very high in antioxidants and help to fight inflammation. They may also help to reduce mast cell activation and histamine reactions. According to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Inflammation, pomegranates may also help to reduce mast cell activation (14). I recommend adding pomegranate to your salads, fruit salads, and smoothies. Pomegranate juice is also delicious and great for your health.

Peppermint

Peppermint is a well-known herb. Among its many benefits, it may be helpful during allergy season. According to a 2001 study published in the Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin, peppermint may help to reduce histamine release from your mast cells and reduce symptoms of allergic rhinitis (15). Peppermint tea is a fantastic way to enjoy peppermint. You may also add it to your tabbouleh, vegetable dishes, salads, smoothies, or green juices.

Fiber-Rich Foods

Fiber has many benefits to your health, especially for your digestion. Fiber-rich foods may also help to improve your health if you have mast cell activation issues. According to a 2018 review published in Frontiers in Immunology, a fiber-rich diet may help to reduce mast cell activation and lower the risk of mast cell-related health issues (16). I recommend eating plenty of fiber-rich greens, vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

 

Other Tips for Stabilizing Your Mast Cells

Beyond consuming these mast cell stabilizing foods, you can try some other dietary and lifestyle strategies and supplementation to reduce mast cell activation and histamine intolerance. Here are my top tips for stabilizing your mast cells, reducing histamine intolerance, and improving your symptoms.

Low Histamine Diet

I recommend following a low-histamine, anti-inflammatory, nutrient-dense, whole foods diet. Remove inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined oils, canned and processed meat, artificial ingredients, junk food, and highly processed foods. Remove high-histamine foods. Follow a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet rich in greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits, healthy fats, and organic meat. If you are dealing with symptoms of histamine intolerance, I recommend that you follow my 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan outlined in my book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan: Getting to the Root of Migraines, Eczema, Vertigo, Allergies and More. Try new recipes. I recommend all the low-histamine recipes in The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan and my recipe books, Fifty One Low Histamine Air Fryer Recipes and Low Histamine Cooking in Your Instant Pot. If you want to go a step further, you should join my Histamine Reset Online Program. 

Remove Your Triggers

Removing your triggers for mast cell activations is, of course, an important way to reduce your symptoms. Remove or reduce your exposure to anything that may be triggering for you, including mold, chemicals, environmental toxins, heavy metals, and viruses. Avoid tap water and drink purified water instead. Remove conventional cleaning, hygiene, body, and beauty products, and choose organic, natural, and DYI options instead. Invest in a high-quality air filtration system for better indoor air quality. Buy organic food instead of conventional ones to reduce exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and hormones. Stop smoking (or don’t start) and avoid second-hand smoke. Reduce your stress levels. Move your body regularly. Get 7 to 9 hours of sleep at night. 

Detoxify Your Body

Once you remove your triggers, it’s time for detoxification. Daily detoxification practices can help you remove toxins that you encounter daily. Drink plenty of purified water, move your body and use an infrared sauna to support detoxification through sweating. Follow a gut-friendly, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet and take some probiotics to support digestion and elimination through a bowel movement. You may try gentle binders to absorb and remove toxins from your intestines (17). You may also try glutathione supplements to reduce oxidative stress and support mitochondrial health (18).

Try Some Mast Cell Stabilizing Supplements

You may also try some supplements that help to stabilize your mast cells and reduce your histamine levels naturally. Some of the best natural mast cell-stabilizing and histamine-reducing supplements include quercetin, curcumin, nettle leaf extract, and vitamin C (4, 6, 10, 19, 20). I also recommend using a DAO enzyme supplement (bovine kidney) to improve DAO enzyme activity and support the breakdown of excess histamine (21).

Try Supplements for Histamine Intolerance

I recommend my Optimal Reset HistoRelief to anyone with histamine intolerance. This is a synergistic blend of nutrients, such as quercetin, nettle leaf, and vitamin C, and Tinofend® that provides natural support to help balance the immune response during allergy season. As I discussed earlier, quercetin is a plant flavonol that helps to reduce histamine and allergic response, effectively block mast activation and reduce symptoms related to histamine intolerance and mast cell activation while also supporting your immune system (4). 

Nettle is another potent medicinal plant for mast cell activation, histamine intolerance, and histamine reactions. It may be great for joint pain, muscle pain, eczema, urinary issues, allergic rhinitis, gout, and other histamine or mast cell-related issues (10). Though nettle tea is a great way to benefit from the power of nettle, HistoRelief offers a convenient option to receive support from nettle while benefiting from other herbs too.

Vitamin C is an important vitamin that may support healthy histamine signaling and immune health and reduce mast cell activation and histamine intolerance-related symptoms (22). Though eating foods rich in vitamin C is important, supplementing with vitamin C-containing HistoRelief can optimize your vitamin C levels.

Potassium is an electrolyte that may help to support your immune health and keep histamine at bay. Unfortunately, many potassium-rich foods, like bananas, avocados, and tomatoes, are high in histamine. With the help of this supplement, you can keep your potassium levels normal to support your health (23).

Bicarbonate salts may help to reduce histamine and mast cell reactions. According to a 2000 study published by the Fundamental & Clinical Pharmacology, bicarbonates may help to inhibit mast cell histamine release (24).

Tinofend® or standardized Tinospora cordifolia extract contains active polysaccharides. This supplement is clinically shown to reduce histamine reactions, support immune health, offer adaptogenic support, and support your gut and digestive health. According to a 2007 review published in the Annals of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology, it may offer herbal properties for allergic rhinitis (25). Combined with the other ingredients for HistoRelief, it may help to reduce mast cell activation, histamine reactions, and histamine intolerance.

Final Thoughts

Your mast cells are white blood cells found in various tissues across your body. Though they are essential for your immune health, when your mast cells become dysregulated and overactive it can become a problem. You can calm your mast cells and reduce mast cell-related symptoms with the help of some mast cell stabilizing foods and other natural mast cell stabilizing strategies. Follow my tips to reduce mast cell activation, histamine intolerance, and related symptoms, and reclaim your health and well-being.

If you are dealing with symptoms of MCAS or histamine intolerance, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. We can help identify the root cause of your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here.  I also recommend that you check out my Histamine Online Program.

Sources:

1. Mast cell activation syndrome. NIH. Link Here

2. Mast cell activation syndrome. AAAAI. Link Here

3. Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules. 2020 Aug 14;10(8):1181. doi: 10.3390/biom10081181. PMID: 32824107

4. Weng Z. Quercetin Is More Effective than Cromolyn in Blocking Human Mast Cell Cytokine Release and Inhibits Contact Dermatitis and Photosensitivity in Humans. Plos One. 2021. Link Here

5. P. Kaiser, M.S. Youssouf, S.A. Tasduq, S. Singh, S.C. Sharma, G.D. Singh, V.K. Gupta, B.D. Gupta, and R.K. Johri.Journal of Medicinal Food.Apr 2009.374-382.. Link Here

6. Ok-Seon Baek, Ok-Hwa Kang, Yeon-A Choi, Suck-Chei Choi, Tae-Hyun Kim, Yong-Ho Nah, Dong-Yeul Kwon, Yun-Kyung Kim, Young-Ho Kim, Ki-Hwan Bae, Jong-Pil Lim, Young-Mi Lee,

Curcumin inhibits protease-activated receptor-2 and -4-mediated mast cell activation, Clinica Chimica Acta, Volume 338, Issues 1–2, 2003. Link Here

7. Enomoto T, Nagasako-Akazome Y, Kanda T, Ikeda M, Dake Y. Clinical effects of apple polyphenols on persistent allergic rhinitis: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled parallel arm study. J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2006;16(5):283-9. PMID: 17039666

8. Safaralizadeh, R., Nourizadeh, M., Zare, A. et al. Influence of Selenium on Mast Cell Mediator Release. Biol Trace Elem Res 154, 299–303 (2013). Link Here

9. V.M. Chandrashekhar, K.S. Halagali, R.B. Nidavani, M.H. Shalavadi, B.S. Biradar, D. Biswas, I.S. Muchchandi,

Anti-allergic activity of German chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) in mast cell mediated allergy model, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 137, Issue 1, 2011. Link Here 

10.. Nettle extract (Urtica dioica) affects key receptors and enzymes associated with allergic rhinitis. 2009. Phytotherapy Research. Link Here

11. Yamprasert R, Chanvimalueng W, Mukkasombut N, Itharat A. Ginger extract versus Loratadine in the treatment of allergic rhinitis: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2020 Apr 20;20(1):119. doi: 10.1186/s12906-020-2875-z. PMID: 32312261

12. Tae-Yong Shin, Seung-Bin Park, Jin-Su Yoo, In Kyeom Kim, Hyun-Shik Lee, Taeg Kyu Kwon, Moon Kyu Kim, Jung Chul Kim, Sang-Hyun Kim, Anti-allergic inflammatory activity of the fruit of Prunus persica: Role of calcium and NF-κB, Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 48, Issue 10, 2010, Link Here

13. Constituents in Watercress : Inhibitors of Histamine Release from RBL-2H3 Cells Induced by Antigen Stimulation. Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 1999. Link Here

14. Rasheed, Z., Akhtar, N., Anbazhagan, A.N. et al. Polyphenol-rich pomegranate fruit extract (POMx) suppresses PMACI-induced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines by inhibiting the activation of MAP Kinases and NF-κB in human KU812 cells. J Inflamm 6, 1 (2009). Link Here

15. Inoue T, Sugimoto Y, Masuda H, Kamei C. Effects of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) extracts on experimental allergic rhinitis in rats. Biol Pharm Bull. 2001 Jan;24(1):92-5. doi: 10.1248/bpb.24.92. PMID: 11201253

16. Folkerts Jelle, Stadhouders Ralph, Redegeld Frank A., Tam See-Ying, Hendriks Rudi W., Galli Stephen J., Maurer Marcus. Effect of Dietary Fiber and Metabolites on Mast Cell Activation and Mast Cell-Associated Diseases. Frontiers in Immunology. 2018. Link Here

17. Zellner T, Prasa D, Färber E, Hoffmann-Walbeck P, Genser D, Eyer F. The Use of Activated Charcoal to Treat Intoxications. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019 May 3;116(18):311-317. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2019.0311. PMID: 31219028

18. Marí M, Morales A, Colell A, García-Ruiz C, Fernández-Checa JC. Mitochondrial glutathione, a key survival antioxidant. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2009 Nov;11(11):2685-700. doi: 10.1089/ARS.2009.2695. PMID: 19558212

19. Nakajima, S., Ishimaru, K., Kobayashi, A. et al. Resveratrol inhibits IL-33–mediated mast cell activation by targeting the MK2/3–PI3K/Akt axis. Sci Rep 9, 18423 (2019). Link Here

20. Kakavas S, Karayiannis D, Mastora Z. The Complex Interplay between Immunonutrition, Mast Cells, and Histamine Signaling in COVID-19. Nutrients. 2021 Sep 29;13(10):3458. doi: 10.3390/nu13103458. PMID: 34684460

21. Schnedl, W.J., Schenk, M., Lackner, S. et al. Diamine oxidase supplementation improves symptoms in patients with histamine intolerance. Food Sci Biotechnol 28, 1779–1784 (2019). Link Here

22. Kakavas S, Karayiannis D, Mastora Z. The Complex Interplay between Immunonutrition, Mast Cells, and Histamine Signaling in COVID-19. Nutrients. 2021 Sep 29;13(10):3458. doi: 10.3390/nu13103458. PMID: 34684460

23.Gombart AF, Pierre A, Maggini S. A Review of Micronutrients and the Immune System-Working in Harmony to Reduce the Risk of Infection. Nutrients. 2020 Jan 16;12(1):236. doi: 10.3390/nu12010236. PMID: 31963293

24. Joly F, Galoppin L, Bordat P, Cousse H, Neuzil E. Calcium and bicarbonate ions mediate the inhibition of mast cell histamine release by Avène spa water. Fundam Clin Pharmacol. 2000 Nov-Dec;14(6):611-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1472-8206.2000.tb00447.x. PMID: 11206712

25. Guo R, Pittler MH, Ernst E. Herbal medicines for the treatment of allergic rhinitis: a systematic review. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2007 Dec;99(6):483-95. doi: 10.1016/S1081-1206(10)60375-4. PMID: 18219828

26. Valent P, Akin C, Bonadonna P, Hartmann K, Brockow K, Niedoszytko M, Nedoszytko B, Siebenhaar F, Sperr WR, Oude Elberink JNG, Butterfield JH, Alvarez-Twose I, Sotlar K, Reiter A, Kluin-Nelemans HC, Hermine O, Gotlib J, Broesby-Olsen S, Orfao A, Horny HP, Triggiani M, Arock M, Schwartz LB, Metcalfe DD. Proposed Diagnostic Algorithm for Patients with Suspected Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2019 Apr;7(4):1125-1133.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2019.01.006. Epub 2019 Feb 5. PMID: 30737190

27. Final diagnosis, Mast cell activation syndrome. Link Here

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by Peter Saydak

Histamine Intolerance and ADHD: The Connection

Can histamine intolerance make my ADHD worse? Can histamine intolerance cause ADHD? Are histamine intolerance and ADHD connected? You would be surprised to know how often I get these questions. It’s time to address it.

Over the years, I’ve worked with many people who had both histamine intolerance and ADHD. I myself was diagnosed with ADHD. As you know, I also have mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). In my practice, I’ve often found that addressing histamine intolerance or MCAS helped to improve their symptoms of ADHD and other brain and mental health symptoms.

In this article, you will learn what ADHD is. You will learn about the symptoms of ADHD, the types of ADHD, and the diagnosis of ADHD. I will briefly go over histamine intolerance and its symptoms. Then we will dive deep into the connection between histamine intolerance and ADHD. You will learn about how histamine may play a role in the connection between food allergies and ADHD, food additives and ADHD, neuroinflammation and ADHD, pyrroles and ADHD, antihistamine and ADHD. Finally, I will offer my top natural solutions for histamine intolerance and ADHD.

What Is ADHD?

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopment and mental disorders in childhood. However, ADHD not only affects children but adults as well. ADHD is often first diagnosed during childhood. Symptoms and related challenges can often last well into adulthood as well. ADHD diagnosis during adulthood is also increasingly common (1, 2, 3, 4).

According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 8.4 percent of children and 2.5 percent of adults have ADHD (1). Many children and adults may also experience undiagnosed ADHD or experience several symptoms and challenges of ADHD without meeting the official criteria (2, 3, 4).

Symptoms of ADHD

Symptoms of ADHD are generally characterized by (1, 2, 3, 4): 

• Inattention: Being unable to stay focused
• Hyperactivity: Excess movement that is not appropriate in the situation
• Impulsivity: Acting hastily without thinking or self-control

Symptoms of ADHD may include the following (1, 2, 3, 4):

• Overlooking or missing details in school work or work
• Having difficulty sustaining attention on certain tasks, including reading, lectures, or staying on topic during conversations
• Having a difficult time organizing activities or tasks, including time management, meeting deadlines, keeping things in order, or keeping tasks in sequence
• Having a difficult time following instructions, staying on tasks, or finishing school assignments, work, chores, or other tasks
• Getting sidetracked easily
• Forgetting daily activities and commitment, including errands, chores, appointments, and calls
• Daydreaming a lot
• Making seemingly careless mistakes
• Losing things easily, such as glasses, wallets, pencils, tools, paperwork, or cell phones
• Having difficulty listening when spoken to directly

• Not enjoying or avoiding tasks that need sustained mental energy, including homework, filling out forms, and long readings
• Fidgeting and squirming a lot, especially when seated
• Standing up or leaving their seat when remaining seated is required
• Being on the go and moving all the time
• Running around or climbing things when inappropriate (in children)
• Feeling restless
• Talking a lot and very rapidly
• Finishing other people’s sentences or answering questions before the question was completely raised
• Having difficulty in playing or working on hobbies quietly
• Interrupting or intruding on others and having difficulties waiting their turn
• Having a difficult time getting along with others

ADHD can seriously interfere with a child’s schoolwork and outside of school activities and with the professional career of adults. It may impact one's home life, relationships, and social life as well. It may cause distress and interfere with normal or expected functioning (1, 2, 3, 4).

Types of ADHD

Not everyone with ADHD presents all symptoms. Some may be more hyperactive and others may be more inattentive than others. Types of ADHD include (2):

• Predominantly inattentive presentation: Children or adults with this type of ADHD have a difficult time staying on task, following instructions, following conversations, paying attention to details, or finishing tasks. They get distracted easily and are often forgetful. This type used to be called ADD, which is now an outdated term.
• Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive presentation: Children or adults with this type of ADHD are more likely to fidget a lot, talk excessively, feel restless, speak or act at inappropriate times, interrupt or intrude on others, act impulsively, and be always on the go. Children may run, climb, or jump on things constantly and get more injuries than their peers.
• Combined presentation: Children or adults in this type experience both the inattentive and the hyper-impulsive presentation of ADHD equally.

Diagnosis of ADHD

There is no lab test for the diagnosis of ADHD. Diagnosis usually involves a medical evaluation, looking at symptoms, understanding the person’s experiences, and in children, getting information from parents, teachers, and other adults in the child’s life. 

Since some symptoms may be signs of anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, sleep problems, or other issues, it’s important to work with a qualified professional, rule out other issues, and make the correct diagnosis. ADHD may also coexist with anxiety, depression, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), learning disabilities, and other issues. The official diagnosis is made by using the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) diagnostic standards (4).

Conventional treatment of ADHD usually involves a combination of medication and therapy. Medications for ADHD are created to act on brain chemicals to allow the person to have better control of their impulses and actions. However, ADHD medications can lead to side effects, misuse, addictions, and dependence. Over time, they may also become less effective. It is not surprising that many parents of children with ADHD or adults with ADHD choose to go without medication or actively work on the reduce or getting off ADHD medication (2, 3).

Therapy and other support options are available for children, adults with ADHD, and family members. Therapy and support for those with ADHD may involve behavioral therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, behavioral classroom management and accommodation, stress management strategies, and support groups. For parents and family members parenting skills training, family and marital therapy, and support groups may be available as support (2, 3).

Though these therapy methods, strategies, and accommodations may be helpful, by ignoring dietary and lifestyle choices, they may be missing a beat. In the next sections, I will go over how histamine intolerance may affect your symptoms of ADHD. If histamine intolerance or other dietary or health factors are making your ADHD worse, therapy alone won’t be effective.

What Is Histamine Intolerance

Histamine is a chemical produced by your body. It is part of your immune response when getting rid of allergens. Histamine also supports your digestion by releasing hydrochloric acid to break down food and bacteria. It serves an essential role in your brain health by serving as a chemical messenger between your brain and the rest of your body.

Generally speaking, histamine is not a problem but essential for your health. However, histamine can turn into an issue if there is too much of it. If your body is releasing too much histamine, but it’s unable to break down all the excess histamine, histamine build-up occurs. 

Histamine intolerance means that there is too much histamine in your body. In a healthy body, there are enzymes to break down excess histamine and prevent build-up. But if you have too much histamine due to mast cell activation issues, the lack of DAO enzyme, high-histamine foods, stress, or other reasons, your body won’t be able to break everything down. This can lead to histamine intolerance. Histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, including your gut, brain, lungs, and cardiovascular system. Because histamine intolerance can affect your entire body and cause widespread symptoms (5).

Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance

Symptoms of histamine intolerance may include:

• Headaches and migraines
• Fatigue
• Congestion and runny nose
• Hives
• Rashes, eczema, psoriasis, and other skin symptoms
• Asthma attacks
• Crawling skin sensation on skin or scalp
• Flushing
• Diarrhea and other digestive issues
• Low blood pressure
• Hypertension
• Racing heart rate
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Abnormal menstrual cycle and premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
• Sleep issues
• Brain fog and forgetfulness
• Irritability and mood imbalances
• Anxiety or panic attacks

The Connection Between Histamine Intolerance and ADHD

As you can see, histamine intolerance may manifest by producing brain and mental health issues, including brain fog, forgetfulness, irritability, mood imbalances, anxiety, or panic attacks. The question is whether histamine intolerance can contribute to or increase symptoms of ADHD. 

I get this question all the time. Based on my professional experience and recent studies, my answer is, yes, in some cases, histamine intolerance may worsen ADHD. I personally have MCAS and have been diagnosed with ADHD when I was a child. I have worked with numerous patients with symptoms of histamine intolerance and ADHD. At my practice, I’ve found that addressing histamine intolerance or MCAS can often improve ADHD as well.

The potential connection between histamine intolerance and ADHD is not surprising. Histamine intolerance can seriously impact your brain and mental health.

Our mast cells release inflammatory chemicals, such as histamine. When our body cannot break down these chemicals due to MCAS or histamine intolerance, it can lead to a lot of inflammation in your body. It may specifically lead to neuroinflammation which can affect your brain and mental health.

There can be a big disruption in your glial cells. Your glial cells play a really important role in your brain function and central nervous system. Neuroinflammation can break down the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and aggravate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal or HPA axis.

Let’s look into this further. First, I want to go over the connection between your brain health and histamine and then uncover the possible connection between histamine intolerance and ADHD.

Histamine, Brain Health, and Mental Health

Your brain is incredibly complex yet absolutely fascinating. Histamine in your brain can come from both mast cells and neurons. Your brain doesn’t have many mast cells, which means most of the histamine comes from histamine-releasing neurons in your hypothalamus. From there, these neurons, histamine, can travel to other areas and affect your entire brain. Histamine then can attach to different receptors in a variety of other regions of your brain. This can lead to over-stimulation and histamine intolerance all over your brain (6, 7).

Histamine intolerance happens when there is too much histamine and your body is unable to break it down. In most of your body, the diamine oxidase (DAO) enzyme is responsible for the breakdown of any excess histamine. In your brain, this job of histamine breakdown is done by the histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT) enzyme. 

It first forms t-type methylhistamine, which gets broken down by monoamine oxidase B (MAOB) and aldehyde dehydrogenase. If there isn’t enough HNMT enzyme or there is an issue with this process, your body won’t be able to break down all the histamine properly, which may lead to histamine intolerance and related symptoms (8).

Histamine allows your brain to create homeostasis by helping to regulate stimuli related to various brain-related activities, including (9):

• The sleep-wake cycle
• Stress response
• Pain perception
• Neurotransmitter regulation
• Satiety, taste perception, and feeding behaviors
• Addictive behaviors
• Memory formation
• Motivation and goal-setting behaviors

As you can see, histamine intolerance can have a serious impact on your brain health and mental health. You may learn more about the connection between your brain health and histamine intolerance by reading this article. I’ve also written about how histamine intolerance may trigger or increase the symptoms of mental health issues, such as anxiety, in this article. Does this mean that histamine intolerance can increase symptoms of ADHD as well? Let’s get into it.

Histamine and ADHD

Now that you understand the connection between histamine intolerance and brain health let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the connection between histamine intolerance and ADHD.

Allergies and ADHD

According to a 2018 study published in Science Reports, there may be a connection between allergy symptoms and ADHD. Researchers were looking at how certain biochemical factors and health issues, such as allergies, inflammations, and neurotransmitters, may be linked to ADHD and an increased risk of the disorder (10). 

They looked at 216 children with ADHD and 2016 children without ADHD as a control. Researchers used the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire and various blood tests as a measure. They found that allergic symptoms, including rhinitis and eczema, and increased biomarkers of allergic responses were associated with the risk of ADHD. 

Additionally, they also found that iron deficiency may be linked to ADHD as it may lead to an insufficient supply of neurotransmitters. They found that low folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 levels, lower 5-HT levels, low serotonin markers, parasitic infections, and inflammation were also common in children with ADHD and should be considered during treatment. 

Not only that there is a link between increased histamine release, histamine intolerance, and allergies, but parasitic infections, inflammations, and vitamin deficiencies can increase the risk of mast cell activation issues and histamine intolerance.

Food Additives, HNMT, and ADHD

Following a high-histamine diet or a diet that may cause allergic, histamine reactions can increase the risk of histamine intolerance. It turns out, such a diet may also increase the risk of symptoms of ADHD. 

A 2017 randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial published in Lancet has looked at 153 3-year-old and 144 8-to-9-year-old children to understand the connection between food additives and ADHD symptoms (11). Children were given either a drink with artificial food additives or a placebo. Researchers found that artificial colors or sodium benzoate preservatives or both may increase hyperactivity in children.

To understand the harmful effects of artificial ingredients and food additives, there was a follow-up study in 2010 published in The American Journal of Psychiatry (12). The study has found that ADHD symptoms were in fact, triggered or increased by food additives. They found that these symptoms were moderated by two histamine degradation polymorphisms HNMT T939C and HMT Thr105Ile, in both age groups, and also DAT1 polymorphism in the 8-to-9-year-old group. What does this mean?

As I mentioned earlier, a healthy body and well-functioning HNMT system can clean out histamine and reduce histamine build-up effectively. However, if there isn’t enough HNMT enzyme or there is an issue with this process, your body won’t be able to break down all the histamine properly, which may lead to histamine intolerance and related symptoms (8). If the gene codes and HNMT activities are less efficient, it will increase allergic reactions, other histamine-mediated issues, and histamine intolerance.

According to this particular study, children who had issues with their genes that regulate their histamine system were more likely to experience hyperactivity and ADHD symptoms when given food additives. Their ADHD symptoms were increased by allergic stimulus or in some cases, it may be possible that their symptoms were simply a histamine reaction to a food allergy and not ADHD (12).

These are not the only studies that point out a link between HNMT, histamine, and ADHD.  A 2019 study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences has also found that polymorphism of the HNMT gene and decreased HNMT activity may contribute to increased symptoms of ADHD, migraines, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease (13).

Neuroinflammation and ADHD

Furthermore, mast cell activation may increase neuroinflammation and ADHD symptoms. A 2020 review published in Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine has found mast cell-mediated neuroinflammation may contribute to ADHD (14). Mast cells release inflammatory factors which interact with your glial cells and neurons. 

Increased release of these inflammatory factors may interrupt the BBB and the HPA axis, cause neuroinflammation, and lead to brain function issues. Researchers found that these inflammatory processes may increase symptoms of ADHD. However, further research is needed to clearly understand the potential link between mast cells and symptoms of ADHD.

Histamine, Pyrroles, and ADHD

Histamine levels may be useful as an additional diagnostic measure. A 2015 review published in Clinical Medical Reviews and Case Reports has found that high histamine levels are common in those with ADHD (15). They also found that increased pyrroles levels were more prevalent in those with higher histamine levels than those without. Pyrroles are a chemical compound used as a diagnostic measure for mental disorders by psychiatrists. Improving pyrroles may help to improve symptoms of ADHD and other mental health issues. 

The study has found that gut microbiome imbalance, poor zinc, magnesium, vitamin B3, and vitamin C levels, and poor zinc-to-copper ratio were also linked to increased pyrrole levels and symptoms of ADHD. Addressing these markers may help to improve pyrrole levels, histamine intolerance, and ADHD symptoms.

Antihistamines and ADHD

Lastly, some studies suggest that using antihistamine medications in ADHD may help to improve symptoms.  A 2004 study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has found that using cetirizine (Zyrtec), a common antihistamine allergy-medication, has helped to improve hyperactivity and inattention in children with ADHD and allergies (16). A 2016 study published in the Journal of Immunology Research has found that using the combination of cetirizine and methylphenidate, a stimulant, has helped to improve symptoms of both ADHD and allergic rhinitis (17).

These studies suggest that increased histamine levels may play a role in ADHD symptoms and reducing histamine may help. However, using antihistamines has its risks and problems. Antihistamines medications may temporarily put a bandaid on your symptoms, but they will not eliminate the root cause of the issue. This means that symptoms will keep coming back and may become increasingly difficult to address with antihistamines. 

Antihistamines may also lower your body’s ability to create enzymes that break down histamine naturally. This decreases your body’s ability to deal with excess histamine. Being on these medications for too long can make it more difficult to support your body’s natural ability to reduce histamine intolerance.

Furthermore, these medications can have side effects and can interrupt your body’s balance in the long run. Antihistamines may cause dizziness, dry mouth, drowsiness, irritability, decreased appetite, or blurry vision. They may not be right or need precautions for people with diabetes, overactive thyroid, epilepsy, asthma, other breathing issues, glaucoma, high blood pressure, or heart disease (18, 19). 

Moreover, using antihistamines for ADHD is a controversial subject even in the medical and science community. According to a 2017 study published in the European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, using antihistamines may actually increase symptoms of ADHD (20). Unless you are someone with a very serious case of MCAS that does need to stay on medications, finding natural solutions to support your body through diet, lifestyle, and supplementation, and reducing histamine intolerance and related symptoms naturally without risks and side effects is a safer idea.

Natural Solutions for ADHD and Histamine Intolerance

To improve histamine intolerance and reduce histamine-related ADHD symptoms, I recommend the following natural solutions:

Low-Histamine, Anti-Inflammatory, and Nutrient-Dense Diet

To improve your brain health by addressing histamine intolerance, I recommend that you follow a nutrient-dense and low-histamine diet. Remove all histamine foods for one to three months, then slowly re-introduce them one by one following The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan. If you want to go a step further, you should join my Histamine Reset Online Program.

Remove inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined oils, canned and processed meat, artificial ingredients, junk food, and highly processed foods. Avoid high-histamine foods, such as fermented food (eg. sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented vegetables, kombucha, etc), aged food (eg. aged cheese, processed meat, canned fish, etc), over-ripe fruits and vegetables, leftovers, and foods that are naturally high in histamine (eg. avocadoes, eggplant, spinach, dried fruits, etc). Avoid foods that may trigger histamine releases, such as tomatoes, most citrus, bananas, most nuts, and dairy. Avoid foods that may block the DAO-enzyme, including black tea, green tea, alcohol, and energy drinks. 

Eat a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet rich in greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits, healthy fats, and organic meat. Low-histamine foods include most fresh leafy greens and vegetables, non-citrus fruits, such apples, pear, papaya, and grapes, fresh grass-fed meat, pasture-raised poultry and eggs, and wild-caught fish, olives, extra-virgin olive oil, ghee, coconut oil, leafy herbs, and herbal tea. In addition to these recipes, I recommend all the low-histamine recipes in my other two low histamine cookbooks,  Low Histamine Cooking in Your Instant Pot and Fifty One Low Histamine Air Fryer Recipes. They are all simple, easy to make, low-histamine, gluten-free, Paleo-friendly, and super healthy.  The instant pot and air fryer are amazing tools to help cook food quickly so that it does not release a lot of histamine. The longer you cook food, the more histamine it releases.

Support Your Gut

Since gut microbiome imbalance and parasitic infections may increase chronic inflammation, histamine intolerance, brain imbalances, and ADHD symptoms, I recommend supporting your gut beyond diet (5, 10, 15). Along with a gut-friendly anti-inflammatory diet, I recommend working with a functional medicine practitioner (like me) to test your gut and see if opportunistic bacteria, yeast overgrowth, parasites, H. pylori and/or leaky gut can be what is driving your histamine issue. 

Try Some Supplements for Histamine Intolerance

I recommend HistoRelief. It is a synergistic blend of nutrients that provides natural support to balance your immune response. This blend features Tinofend®, a patented and clinically researched extract derived from the plant Tinospora cordifolia, which has a powerful ability to support immune regulation and immune response. As a result, it boosts your body’s ability to fight histamine-related symptoms. It includes quercetin, nettle leaf, vitamin C, and bicarbonate salt to help inhibit histamine release, support normal histamine metabolism, and improve immune health.

Reduce Your Histamine Bucket and Improve Your Lifestyle

It’s not only your diet that can add to your histamine bucket but lifestyle and environmental factors as well. 

Low Stress and Improve Sleep

Stress, poor sleep, a lack of exercise, and environmental toxin exposure are all things to address. These issues can all increase the risk of histamine intolerance, chronic inflammation, and symptoms. Some of these factors may also contribute to ADHD specifically.

A 2003 study published in the Journal of Physiology has found that stress may increase histamine release in your gastrointestinal mast cells (21). Stress may also directly contribute to ADHD symptoms. A 2015 study published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology has found that adults with ADHD have an increased cortisol response to stress (22). Stress and poor sleep can increase the risk of histamine intolerance, chronic inflammation, and health issues. Reducing your stress levels is critical. I recommend practicing meditation, journaling, breathwork, guided visualizations, and gratitude. Get 7 to 9 hours of restful sleep every night. 

Move Your Body

A 2014 review study published in Frontiers in Physiology has found that exercise may help to improve stress (23). On the other hand, a lack of exercise may contribute to chronic inflammation, increased stress, histamine intolerance, and chronic symptoms. A 2009 review published in Trends in Neuroscience has found that exercise may affect your brain health (24). A 2017 review published in the Journal of Neural Transmission has found that both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular exercise may benefit those with ADHD (25). Move your body regularly without over exercising. I recommend getting 10K -15K steps per day along with resistance and strength training to a level that makes you feel good after, not exhausted.

Reduce Environmental Toxin Exposure

Beyond addressing stress, sleep, and exercise, you need to reduce the environmental toxins that you encounter every day. A 2021 research published in Environmental Sciences Europe has found that toxin exposure may contribute to chemical intolerance, mast cell activation, and histamine intolerance (26). Remove conventional cleaning, hygiene, and beauty products, and use organic, natural, and homemade alternatives instead. Avoid fabric that may irritate your skin. If you are allergic to any metals, avoid wearing them, and choose surgical steel, silver, or gold instead. Make sure that your house is free from mold and use a high-quality air filtration system to reduce toxins in your indoor air. 

Try Supplements to Support Your Mental Health

Certain vitamin and mineral deficiencies, including low folate, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, magnesium, and zinc levels, and a poor zinc-to-copper ratio have been linked to ADHD (10, 15). You may benefit from eating more foods rich in vitamin B, such as leafy greens, eggs, fresh seafood, liver, beef, pork, and poultry, foods rich in vitamin C, such as guavas, kiwi, broccoli, and bell pepper, foods rich in magnesium, such as spinach, hemp seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, and beet greens, and foods rich in zinc, such as spinach, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and meat. You may also benefit from supplementing with vitamin B12, a vitamin B complex, vitamin C, magnesium, and zinc.

A 2015 study published in Mental Illness has found that omega-3 supplements may help to improve mental health (27). According to a 2006 review published in the International Reviews in Psychiatry, omega-3 fatty acids may help to improve the symptoms of ADHD (28). A 2017 study published in the Journal of Lipids has also found that omega 3 fatty acids may offer therapeutic benefits for children and young individuals with ADHD (29). You may benefit from eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fresh fish, hemp seeds, chia seeds, and flax seeds, as well as, from taking a daily omega-3 fish oil supplement.

A 2007 study published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Pharmacology has found that acetyl-l-carnitine (ALC) may benefit those with ADHD (30). According to a 2015 review published in Adolescent Psychiatry (Hilversum), rhodiola rosea and ginkgo biloba may help to improve symptoms of ADHD as a non-pharmacological treatment option (31). The same review has found that melatonin may also be beneficial for those with ADHD, especially if they are struggling with sleep issues. You may benefit from supplementing with ALC, rhodiola, ginkgo biloba, or melatonin. 

Before starting with a supplement protocol, however, I recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider to see what supplements are right for you. I highly recommend working with a functional medicine practitioner who is knowledgeable in non-pharmaceutical approaches to guide your journey. Hint: Our team is always happy to guide you, just reach out here.

Mind-Body Practices and Therapy

A 2015 review published in Adolescent Psychiatry (Hilversum) has found that mind-body practices may be highly beneficial for those with ADHD (31). Meditation, mindfulness, paced breathing, yoga, tai chi, gi gong, neurofeedback, and other approaches have been shown to help with impulsivity, hyperactivity, emotional reactivity, and aggressiveness. They help with self-regulation, staying in the present moment, staying focused, and neuronal activity. For some individuals, working with a therapist can be highly beneficial in achieving cognitive shifts, behavioral changes, overall function, and general mental well-being.

Look at ADHD as a Superpower

Improving and supporting your health on a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level is critical. Nothing can outsmart healthy nutrition, good sleep, movement, low-stress levels, and a healthy mindset. However, you don’t have to fight and wish away all your ADHD characteristics. It’s time for a mindset shift. It’s time to embrace ADHD as your superpower. 

People with ADHD are generally very empathetic, full of energy, imagination, and creativity, are very spontaneous, have a great sense of humor, have great problem-solving skills, are great at hyper-focusing, are able to think outside the box, and very resilient. These are fantastic skills and characteristics that you need to embrace. Show yourself some love and let your superpowers shine.

Final Thoughts

ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopment and mental disorders in childhood and is an increasingly common diagnosis in adults as well. Symptoms of ADHD can seriously impact one’s school, work, home, and social life. Medications for ADHD can often cause side effects, lead to misuse, abuse, or dependence, and often become ineffective in the long term. Therapy may be beneficial, however, it’s not always enough. 

To successfully address ADHD, we need to look at nutritional and lifestyle factors and potential underlying health issues. For some people, addressing histamine intolerance may be the missing link to improve symptoms of ADHD. If you are dealing with histamine intolerance and ADHD, I recommend following my tips outlined in this article to improve your symptoms naturally.

If you are dealing with histamine intolerance, MCAS, or ADHD, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. We can help identify the root cause of your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here. You can also get started on your own with my Histamine Online Program.

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by Peter Saydak

Menstruation, PMS, PMDD, and Histamine

Menstruation, PMS, PMDD, and Histamine

Cramps, bloating, fatigue, headaches, irritability, and mood swings. Yeap, your period is coming. Most women are familiar with these common symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). While for some, these symptoms are mild, for others, they are more severe. Some women also experience premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), characterized by very severe symptoms the weeks before their period. 

You may be familiar with PMS symptoms, but did you know that they may be triggered by histamine intolerance? Since your hormonal health, estrogen levels, and histamine levels can be connected, it is not surprising that histamine intolerance can trigger PMS symptoms and other menstruation issues.

In this article, you will learn about the menstrual cycle. I will discuss what PMS and PMDD are and their symptoms. You will understand the connection between histamine intolerance, PMS, and PMDD. You will learn about histamine and histamine intolerance. I will also discuss the connection between estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance and how this link may increase PMS and PMDD symptoms. Finally, I will recommend some natural solutions for histamine intolerance, estrogen dominance, PMS, and PMDD.

What Is The Menstrual Cycle

The menstrual cycle is a natural hormonal process that the female body goes through every month. It starts at puberty, around age 12 on average, and ends with menopause around age 50 to 55. The goal of the menstrual cycle is to prepare your body for a possible pregnancy and shed unnecessary tissue if pregnancy doesn’t happen. The menstrual cycle is about 28 days on average, but for some women, it is longer or shorter than that. Tracking your cycle can help to notice any changes in the length of your normal cycle. Changes may mean hormonal or other health issues (1, 2). 

Before we talk about menstruation and histamine, I want to go over the four phases of the menstrual cycle. I know we’ve all learned about this in health class, but it’s always good to have a reminder.

Follicular Phase

The follicular phase starts on the first day of your period and ends at the start of ovulation. Early in this phase, your hypothalamus sends a message to your pituitary gland to release the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). The FSH’s job is to trigger your ovaries to produce 5 to 20 small follicles with immature eggs. Usually, only one egg matures; however, sometimes, two eggs can mature during the same cycle. Any extra follicles get reabsorbed into your body. During the follicular phase, there is an increase in estrogen, and your uterine lining also thickens to prepare your body for a potential pregnancy. The follicular phase lasts for 16 days on average. However, it may depend on the person. It may go anywhere from 11 to 27 days.

Ovulation

Ovulation means that it is the end of the follicular phase. Increased estrogen levels lead to the release of luteinizing hormones (LH) that cause ovulation. Remember that egg maturing during the last phase? During ovulation, your ovary sends this mature egg down your fallopian tube to your uterus. This egg is ready to be fertilized by sperm at this time. Ovulation is critical for pregnancy so tracking your cycle and knowing when ovulation occurs is important if you are trying to get pregnant. During ovulation, your basal body temperature rises, and your discharge thickens. Ovulation tends to happen around day 14 if you have a 28-day cycle. However, it may be different if you have a long or short cycle, which makes understanding your cycle important. Ovulation lasts for 12 to 48 hours. Unfertilized eggs die and dissolve after.

Luteal Phase

After ovulation, the luteal phase is next. After the follicle phase, the egg follicle turns into a corpus luteum, which releases a lot of progesterone and some estrogen to help a fertilized egg implant. If you get pregnant during ovulation, your body will start producing human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to allow the corpus luteum to stay healthy and your uterine lining thick to support a healthy early pregnancy. HCG is also a hormone that pregnancy tests look for. However, if you don’t get pregnant and the egg doesn’t get fertilized during ovulation, the corpus luteum shrinks and reabsorbs, which will lead to a decrease in estrogen and progesterone. At this time, your body is getting ready for menstruation (your period), and you may experience symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), including bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, cravings, weight gain, and mood changes. 

Menstruation

Though most women are preoccupied with this phase, menstruation is only one stage of your menstrual cycle. This is when you get your period. If you are not pregnant, estrogen and progesterone levels will drop. The thickened uterine lining will start shedding along with other unwanted tissues, blood, and mucus. Depending on the person, a normal period may last anywhere from 3 to 7 days. Everyone is different, however, if you are experiencing anything unusual, including unusually long, short, light, heavy, or painful periods, it is important that you visit your doctor. Cramps, bloating, breast tenderness, mood swings, and headaches may also occur during this time, especially during the first couple of days of your period. Again, while some discomfort is normal, if you notice anything unusual, it is important to look into it. Addressing underlying histamine intolerance can also help to reduce both PMS and menstrual symptoms and other abnormalities.

What Is PMS?

I probably don’t have to introduce you to premenstrual syndrome (PMS). About 3 in every 4 menstruating women experience some symptoms associated with PMS before their periods. Symptoms are usually predictable and can vary from physical to emotional issues. For some women, they are mild, while for others, it can be intense and greatly interfere with their life (3).

Emotional Symptoms of PMS

Emotional and behavioral symptoms of PMS may include

• Irritability
• Mood swings
• Anger
• Crying spells
• Tension
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Insomnia or sleep issues
• Appetite changes
• Cravings, especially for sugar
• Poor concentration
• Social withdrawal
• Changes in libido

Physical Symptoms of PMS

Physical signs and symptoms of PMS may include:

• Bloating
• Breast tenderness
• Migraines or headaches
• Weight gain from fluid retention
• Fatigue
• Joint or muscle pain
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Acne or skin issues
• Alcohol intolerance
• Headaches or migraines

Symptoms of PMS can last into the first few days of your period along with abdominal cramping and pain.

What Is PMDD?

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is similar but much more severe and more rare than PMS. It affects about 5 percent of menstruating women. Symptoms can be very severe and downright debilitation for a week or to a week before your period.

PMDD is a condition similar to PMS that also happens a week or two before your period starts as hormone levels begin to fall after ovulation. PMDD causes more severe symptoms than PMS, including severe depression, irritability, and tension (4).

Symptoms of PMDD

Symptoms of PMDD may be similar to symptoms of PMS but are much more debilitating. They may include:

• Mood swings
• Crying often
• Tension
• Anxiety
• Panic attacks
• Depression
• Feelings of sadness and despair, even suicide in some
• Irritability
• Anger
• Low energy and fatigue
• Problems focusing
• Insomnia and sleep issues
• Feeling out of control
• Food cravings
• Binge eating
• Cramps and bloating
• Breast tenderness
• Muscle and joint pain
• Migraines and headaches

What Is Histamine

You probably know about histamine from anti-histamine medications for allergies and histamine intolerance. Looking at the ‘anti’ part of anti-histamine, you may think that histamine is a bad thing. But histamine is not bad at all. It is very much necessary for your body’s healthy functioning.

Histamine is a chemical that supports your body to get rid of allergens as part of your immune response. Histamine also releases hydrochloric acid to break down food and bacteria and helps your digestion. It also serves as a chemical messenger between your brain and the rest of your body and supports your brain and mental health.

What Is Histamine Intolerance?

Healthy levels of histamine and a healthy histamine response are important. Having too much histamine can become a serious problem, though. If your body is releasing too much histamine and your body is unable to keep up and break down all the excess histamine, it will lead to histamine buildup. 

Histamine intolerance means that there is too much histamine in your body. In a healthy body, your body sends enzymes to break down excess histamine and prevent build-up. If you have too much histamine or you don’t have enough of these enzymes, it won’t be able to break everything down, which can lead to histamine intolerance. Histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, including your gut, brain, lungs, and cardiovascular system (5). 

Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance

Since histamine intolerance may affect your entire body and symptoms can be widespread. Symptoms may differ from person to person. You may only experience a few symptoms, or you may experience most or all symptoms of histamine intolerance. Your symptoms may only cause mild discomfort or annoyance but may also be severe, interrupting your everyday life. 

Some symptoms, including headaches, migraines, skin issues, brain fog, fatigue, and sleep issues, may be similar to symptoms of PMS and PMDD. Having histamine intolerance and symptoms of histamine intolerance may trigger or amplify symptoms of PMS or PMDD. I will get into the connection between histamine intolerance, menstruation, PMS, and PMDD in the next section. But first, let’s look at the symptoms of histamine intolerance.

Symptoms of histamine intolerance include the following:

• Itchy skin, eyes, ears, and nose
• Eczema or other types of dermatitis
• Hives
• Red eyes
• Facial swelling
• Crawling sensation on the skin or the scalp
• Tightness in the throat
• Difficulty regulating body temperature
• Sudden drop in blood pressure when standing up
• Low blood pressure
• Fast heart rate
• Heart palpitations
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Difficulty falling asleep or sleep issues
• Fatigue
• Confusion
• Brain fog
• Irritability
• Anxiety or panic attacks
• Congestion or runny nose
• Seasonal allergies 
• Asthma
• Migraines and headaches
• Acid reflux
• Diarrhea
• Abnormal menstrual cycle
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

Menstruation, PMS, PMDD, and Histamine

It’s important to note that histamine and histamine intolerance may not be the only culprit behind PMS and PMDD. Estrogen imbalance, abnormal response to progesterone, high prolactin, iodine deficiency, chronic inflammation, and neurosteroid change sensitivity, and other factors may play a role. If histamine intolerance is the issue behind your symptoms, you will likely experience at least some symptoms typically connected to histamine that may be relieved with the help of antihistamines, including migraines or headaches, anxiety, or mood swings outside of PMS, breast tenderness, skin issues, or painful periods.

Histamine and histamine intolerance may play a role in PMS, PMDD, and menstrual pain in various ways. Estrogen dominance and hormonal imbalance can cause histamine intolerance and disrupt your menstrual cycle. I will discuss that connection the next section. But first, let’s understand how histamine intolerance itself can affect your menstrual cycle even if you are not dealing with estrogen dominance or hormonal imbalance.

A 2002 study published in Ginekol Poland has found that to allow your uterine muscles to contract during menstruation, histamines are being released before and during your period. If you already have histamine intolerance, this increased histamine may be too much for your body and can increase cramps and other PMS, PMDD, and menstrual symptoms (6).

Another study published in the European Journal 01 Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology has found that your mast cells and histamine release can be linked to excessive uterine bleeding. This may explain heavy periods and increased cramps and pain before and during your period (7). 

According to a 1987 study published in Medical Hypotheses, histamine intolerance can also result in benign fibrocystic changes in the breast, which may result in breast tenderness and pain associated with PMS, PMDD, and menstruation. Histamine intolerance can generally increase pain, fatigue, anxiety, mood swings, and poor concentration, which may be amplified before or during menstruation (8).

Histamine Intolerance and Estrogen Dominance

Estrogen dominance is another common underlying factor that can contribute to increased symptoms of PMS and PMDD. I’ve written about the histamine-estrogen connection in this article. Histamine, estrogen, and progesterone are closely linked in your body. They need to be in balance for ideal health and function.

Estrogen plays many roles in your body, including stimulating mast cells to make more histamine. By stimulating your mast cells, estrogen can increase the chances of a histamine response and histamine intolerance. Though men can also develop estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance, women are at a higher risk. This is not surprising since women tend to have more estrogen than men, which can increase the risk of histamine intolerance as well.

According to a 2012 study published in Frontiers in Immunology, estradiol, a form of estrogen, can affect mast cells and trigger asthma (9). A 2013 study published in Current Opinions in Allergy and Clinical Immunology has found that estrogen may increase the risk of histamine-triggered allergies and asthma (10).

If your estrogen levels are normal and you are leading a healthy lifestyle, keeping your histamine levels at bay may not be an issue. However, if you are dealing with estrogen dominance and/or histamine intolerance, this can turn into a vicious cycle.

Estrogen will trigger your mast cells to release histamine. Increased histamine levels will lead to higher estrogen levels. As a response, all that excess estrogen will prompt your mast cells to create even more histamine, which will lead to even more estrogen in your body. As this cycle continues, it will lead to more and more symptoms of histamine intolerance and estrogen dominance.

The connection between estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance may explain why you are experiencing more histamine-related symptoms during specific times of your cycle. When your estrogen levels are higher right before your period, you will be more likely to experience symptoms of histamine intolerance. Estrogen dominance can also trigger histamine intolerance and symptoms before or during your period. 

Recommendations for Menstrual Symptoms, PMS, PMDD, and Histamine Intolerance

Menstruation is a natural part of a woman’s life. It doesn’t mean that you have to deal with severe PMS or PMDD symptoms. If you address underlying estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance, you don’t have to deal with uncomfortable symptoms anymore. You can take control of your health through simple natural methods. Here is what I recommend:

Remove Xenoestrogens

Xenoestrogens are artificial hormone-mimicking compounds that mimic the effects of estrogen and contribute to estrogen excess or prevent the beneficial effects of natural estrogen in your body. Xenoestrogens can increase estrogen dominance and related issues, including histamine intolerance and symptoms of PMS or PMDD. I recommend that you remove xenoestrogen-containing products, including conventional cleaning, body, and beauty products, and choose natural and organic alternatives.

Avoid Birth Control Pills and Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormonal contraceptives with estrogen, hormone replacement therapy, and some other hormonal medications with estrogen can increase estrogen dominance, histamine intolerance, and related symptoms. Consult your doctor about getting off or reducing hormonal contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy, and other hormone-based prescription medications to reduce your symptoms of PMS, PMDD, estrogen dominance, and histamine intolerance.

Lower Your Histamine 

Estrogen dominance and estrogen imbalance can result in histamine intolerance, which may increase your risk or severity of PMS or PMDD. I recommend that you work with a functional health practitioner (hint: my team and I) to check for histamine intolerance. If you are dealing with symptoms of histamine intolerance, I recommend that you follow my Histamine Reset Plan outlined in my Histamine Online Program.

Eat an Anti-Inflammatory & Low-Histamine Diet

I recommend following a low-histamine, anti-inflammatory, nutrient-dense, whole foods diet. Remove inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined oils, canned and processed meat, artificial ingredients, junk food, and highly processed foods. Remove high-histamine foods. Follow a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet rich in greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits, healthy fats, and organic meat. Try new recipes. I recommend all the low-histamine recipes in The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan and Low Histamine Cooking in Your Instant Pot.

Move Your Body

A lack of movement can also increase the risk of hormonal imbalance and histamine intolerance. Moving your body is a great way to reduce stress, improve detoxification, boost your mood, and support your overall health. Stay active throughout the day by dancing to your favorite songs, taking a stroll in the park, stretching regularly, and playing with your kids or pets. Exercise at least 20 to 30 minutes five days a week and move your body regularly. I recommend getting 10 to 15K steps in a day if you can. Add resistance and strength training to your routine. If you follow cycle syncing, I recommend moderate-intensity workouts, such as pilates, power yoga, and strength training the week before your period, and light movements, including Kundalini yoga, Tai Chi, pilates, and walks in nature during your period.

Reduce Stress and Improve Sleep

Stress and poor sleep are major contributing factors to hormonal imbalance and histamine intolerance. To reduce stress and improve sleep, I recommend practicing breathwork, meditation, positive affirmation, journaling, yoga, grounding, and time in nature for stress and anxiety reduction. Taking an Epsom salt bath is another great way to relax your muscles, calm your mind, and detoxify your body. Make sure to sleep at least 7 to 9 hours a night.

Improve Your Gut Health

Your gut health affects your entire body. Poor gut flora can increase your risk of histamine intolerance and hormonal imbalance, and related symptoms. Poor gut health may increase digestive symptoms before and during your period, including ‘period poop’. Along with a gut-friendly anti-inflammatory diet, I recommend working with a functional medicine practitioner (like me) to test your gut and see if opportunistic bacteria, yeast overgrowth, parasites, H. pylori and/or leaky gut can be what is driving your histamine issue. 

Try Cycle Syncing

Cycle syncing means that you are using the hormonal fluctuations during each phase of your menstrual cycle to your advantage by eating different foods and engaging in different activities depending on where you are within your cycle. Cycling syncing may be a great option if you are experiencing symptoms of PMS or PMDD. It may be right for you if you are experiencing fatigue, depression, anxiety, or cravings, or are generally not feeling yourself around your period or during other parts of your cycle. It may be helpful if you have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), low libido, estrogen dominance, or low energy, are overweight or obese, or are trying to conceive. 

Though there is not much scientific evidence to back this, there is no shortage of anecdotal evidence. Millions of women have tried, and used cycle syncing and claim that it has changed their life. Cycle syncing is entirely safe and natural. You have nothing to lose by trying it and so much to gain if it works for you. Considering your cycle when choosing your meals, workouts, and other activities helps you stay mindful and in tune with your body’s needs every single day. To learn more about how to practice cycle syncing and what to eat, how to move, and what to try during each phase of your menstrual cycle, I recommend reading this article on cycle syncing with detailed tips.

Use Di-Indole Methane (DIM), Sulforaphane, or Calcium-D-Glucarate

If you are experiencing estrogen dominance but your estrogen metabolism pathways are out, such as having a high 4-OH pathway), I recommend DIM-Evail, a Di-Indole methane (DI) supplement to improve your estrogen levels and estrogen metabolism. DIM is an extract derived from broccoli. It helps your body to neutralize reactive estrogen metabolites, such as estrone and estradiol. It also helps the production of non-reactive estrogen and improves your estrogen balance. However, DIM is not always right if you are in menopause or your estrogen levels are low for any other reasons. If your estrogen levels are low, using DIM can be problematic. DIM can also be problematic if they have a slow COMT gene activity. 

If your estrogen levels are low, I recommend sulforaphane instead. Sulforaphane comes from broccoli sprouts. It helps to support estrogen metabolism. It helps to redirect 4-OH estrogen from going down the wrong pathway and reduce the risk of oxidative damage. I recommend BroccoBlend for sulforaphane. The bioavailability of this supplement is not dependent on myrosinase produced by intestinal bacteria, making BroccoBlend especially effective for individuals with GI flora that produce negligible amounts of this enzyme.

If you have trouble metabolizing estrogen in the gut, I recommend Calcium-D-Glucarate. Calcium D-Glucarate is calcium bound tod-glucaric acid, which is a natural compound produced in small amounts by the human body and is abundantly found in various plant foods such as broccoli, cabbage, kale, apples, oranges, and grapefruit. It helps to support the body's natural elimination of excess steroid hormones and toxins. Calcium-d-glucarate assists in the detoxification process as it forms conjugates with unwanted estrogenic hormones and environmental toxins, which are then eliminated from the body instead of being reabsorbed.

If you want to find out what is going on specifically with your estrogen metabolism, I recommend getting a Dutch test we offer at our office. If you are not sure where your issue lies, working with a practitioner is the best way to determine which one of these supplements may work the best for your body. We are always happy to help at our practice.

Check Out the Health Babes’ Guide to Balancing Your Hormones

To learn more about your hormones and learn how to improve your hormonal health naturally, I recommend our book (co-authored by Dr. Krystal Hohn and myself) The Health Babes’ Guide to Balancing Your Hormones: A Detailed Plan with Recipes to Support Mood, Energy Levels, Libido, and More. This book is not only full of information but with an easy-to-follow plan and easy-to-make, delicious hormone-friendly recipes.

If you are not sure where your issue lies, working with a practitioner is the best way to determine which one of these supplements may work the best for your body. We are always happy to help at our practice.

Final Thoughts

Most menstruating women are familiar with the symptoms of PMS. Yet most of them don’t know that histamine intolerance can make their symptoms worse. Since your hormonal health, estrogen levels, and histamine levels can be connected, it is not surprising that histamine intolerance can trigger PMS symptoms and other menstruation issues. I recommend that you try my natural solutions for histamine intolerance, estrogen dominance, PMS, and PMDD to improve your symptoms and overall well-being.

If you are dealing with symptoms of PMS, PMDD, menstrual problems, histamine intolerance, or estrogen dominance, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. We can help identify the root cause of your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here.  I also recommend that you check out my Histamine Online Program.

Sources: 

1. Menstrual cycle. Office of Women’s Health. Link Here

2. Periods and fertility in the menstrual cycle. NHS. Link Here

3. PMS. NHS. Link Here

4. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Women’s Health. Link Here

5. Maintz L, Novak N. Histamine and histamine intolerance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 May;85(5):1185-96. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/85.5.1185. PMID: 17490952

6. Szeląg A, Merwid-Lad A, Trocha M. Receptory histaminowe w zeńskim narzadzie rodnym. Cześć II. Rola histaminy w łozysku. Receptory histaminowe a czynność skurczowa macicy [Histamine receptors in the female reproductive system. Part II. The role of histamine in the placenta, histamine receptors and the uterus contractility]. Ginekol Pol. 2002 Jul;73(7):636-44. Polish. PMID: 12369287

7. Drudy L. Mast cells in the normal uterus and in dysfunctional uterine bleeding. European Journal 01 Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology. 1990. Link Here

8. Smith CJ, Leggett AM, Lefante JJ. Allergic etiology of benign fibrocystic changes of the breast. Med Hypotheses. 1987 Sep;24(1):21-8. doi: 10.1016/0306-9877(87)90043-0. PMID: 2444863

9. Zierau O, Zenclussen AC, Jensen F. Role of female sex hormones, estradiol and progesterone, in mast cell behavior. Front Immunol. 2012 Jun 19;3:169. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2012.00169. PMID: 22723800

10. Bonds RS, Midoro-Horiuti T. Estrogen effects in allergy and asthma. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Feb;13(1):92-9. doi: 10.1097/ACI.0b013e32835a6dd6. PMID: 23090385

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by Peter Saydak

Asthma and Histamine: The Connection

Asthma and Histamine: The Connection

Asthma is a chronic condition that affects the airways in your lungs and your breathing. Nearly 1 in every 10 individuals in the United States is dealing with asthma. Conventional treatment strategies focus on removing triggers and medication to reduce asthma attacks. There may be a missing link though. 

Histamine intolerance may be making your asthma symptoms worse. I have worked with hundreds of patients over the years with histamine intolerance and asthma. I found that addressing underlying histamine intolerance and reducing their histamine bucket has helped them to reduce their symptoms of asthma as well.

In this article, I will discuss the connection between asthma and histamine. You will learn what asthma is. I will discuss the symptoms, types, triggers, and risk factors of asthma. You will learn about diagnosis and conventional treatment options. I will go over everything you need to know about histamine, histamine intolerance, and symptoms of histamine intolerance. I will discuss the connection between histamine intolerance and asthma. Finally, I share my top natural strategies for histamine intolerance and asthma.

What Is Asthma

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 7.8 percent of people (8.4 percent of adults and 5.8 percent of children) in the United States have asthma (1). Clearly, it’s not a rare issue and we need to talk about it.

Asthma is a chronic or long-term lung condition. The airways in your lungs are the tubes that transport air in and out of your lungs as you breathe. Asthma affects these airways and makes them become inflamed and narrowed at times. If your airways become inflamed and narrowed due to asthma, it will become more difficult for the air to move out when you are breathing out. This can lead to difficulty breathing and asthma attacks (2). 

Asthma may be triggered by or worsened by viral infections, pollen, exercise, cold air, and other factors. Histamine intolerance may also play a role in your asthma attacks. Though there is no known cure for asthma, an effective asthma action plan, including monitoring symptoms, avoiding triggers, and sometimes, using a short-term or long-term medication can help you manage the condition and reduce your symptoms. If histamine intolerance is among the underlying factors behind your asthma, reducing your histamine levels may also help. I will discuss the role of histamine in asthma later in this article (2).

Symptoms of Asthma

Asthma causes inflammation and swelling inside your airways. At the same time, the muscles around your airways tighten and squeeze. Mucus buildup may also block airflow in your airways. This may lead to various symptoms of asthma. Symptoms of asthma are also known as asthma attacks, asthma episodes, or asthma flare-ups.
Symptoms of asthma may vary from person to person. They may be mild only lasting for a few minutes. They may be more severe and may last for hours or days causing serious breathing issues. You may experience all symptoms of asthma during an asthma attack, but you may only experience a few (4, 5).

Symptoms of asthma may include:

• Feeling like you are breathing through a straw-stuffed with cotton
• Wheezing
• Shortness of breath
• Coughing, especially at night or early in the morning
• Tightness in your chest
• Waking up at night because of your symptoms
• A drop in peak flow meter reading

Types and Triggers of Asthma

There are two main types of asthma, allergic and non-allergic asthma. Allergic asthma is triggered by allergens and non-allergic asthma is triggered by other, non-allergen factors (4).

Triggers of allergic asthma may include:

• Mold
• Dust mites
• Pollen  from weeds, grass, flowers, and trees
• Pets
• Waste from cockroaches, mice, and other pests

Triggers of non-allergic asthma may include:

• Air pollution
• Household chemicals
• Tobacco smoke
• Cold air
• Certain medications
• Respiratory infections, including the cold and the flu

You may also experience exercise-induced asthma triggered by exercise, especially exercising in dry air, or occupation asthma triggered by industrial dust or chemicals.

Risk of Asthma

Asthma can affect anyone regardless of age, sex, race, or ethnicity. However, certain factors may increase your risk for asthma (4, 5).

Risk factors for asthma may include:

• Secondhand smoke exposure before birth or during early childhood years
• Genetics or family history, especially if you have a parent or parents with asthma
• Exposure to dust and chemical irritants at work
• Being black or Puerto Rican
• Obesity, allergies, lung issues, and other health conditions
• Frequent viral respiratory infections as a child
• In children, asthma is more common in males, but in adolescents and adults, it is more common in females.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Asthma

Diagnosis of asthma requires a visit to your doctor. They will go over your symptoms, health and family history, and perform a physical exam. They will likely do some lung function tests, including spirometry to check for lung function. Certain tests will measure how your airways respond to exposure to allergens, medicines, and other substances. A peak expiratory flow (PEF) will check how fast you are able to blow air with maximum effort and a fraction exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) test will check for inflammation. FeNO looks at the nitric oxide level in your exhaled breath. High levels of nitric oxide suggest inflammation in your lungs. Your doctor may also order some allergy blood or skin tests to look at allergies and immune reactions (4, 6).

A conventional asthma care plan usually involves avoiding your asthma triggers and medication. Short-term relief medications offer quick relief. You can use them to prevent symptoms or reduce them at the first sign of asthma attacks. Short-term relief medication usually come in form of an inhaler you can carry with you in case you need it. Control medications are for everyday use for prevention. They help to decrease inflammation, reduce the narrowing of the airways, and help to reduce the risk of symptoms (4, 6).

There is one important factor conventional doctors often miss: histamine intolerance. Histamine intolerance can trigger or worsen your asthma symptoms. Reducing histamine intolerance through dietary changes, lifestyle strategies, and supplementation may help to decrease your symptoms and even reduce or eliminate your reliance on asthma medication. Let’s discuss the role of histamine intolerance in asthma.

What Is Histamine

Histamine often gets a bad rap. When you think about histamine, chances are that anti-histamines for allergies come to mind. Because of the ‘anti’ part of anti-histamine, histamine often gets a bad rap. You may think histamine is a problem. But histamine is not bad, it’s rather the opposite. Histamine plays a critical role in your immune health and body’s healthy functioning.

Histamine is a chemical in your body. It helps to remove allergens as part of your immune response. Histamine helps your digestion by releasing hydrochloric acid to break down food and bacteria. It also supports your brain and mental health by serving as a chemical messenger between your brain and the rest of your body.

What Is Histamine Intolerance?

Healthy levels of histamine and a healthy histamine response are necessary for your overall health and wellness. Having too much histamine, however, can turn into a serious health issue. If your body is releasing too much histamine that your body can breakdown, it will cause a histamine buildup. 

Histamine intolerance is not a sensitivity to histamine. It means that there is too much histamine in your body. Under normal circumstances, your body sends DAO and other enzymes to break down excess histamine and prevent build-up. However, if your body is making too much histamine, these enzymes won’t be able to keep up and break everything down. This will lead to histamine intolerance. If your body is struggling to make enough enzymes, it can also lead to histamine intolerance. Histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, including your gut, brain, lungs, and cardiovascular system causing widespread symptoms (7). 

Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance

Histamine intolerance can affect your entire body. This means that your symptoms can be widespread affecting multiple areas of your body. Symptoms may differ from person to person. You may only experience a few symptoms, or you may experience most or all symptoms of histamine intolerance. Your symptoms may only cause mild discomfort or annoyance but may also be severe, interrupting your everyday life. 

As you will notice, asthma is one of the possible symptoms of histamine intolerance. Allergies and allergic reactions, which may trigger your asthma, are also on the list. If you have histamine intolerance, you will most likely notice other symptoms from this list beyond asthma and allergies. 

Symptoms of histamine intolerance include the following:

• Itchy skin, eyes, ears, and nose
• Eczema or other types of dermatitis
• Hives
• Red eyes
• Facial swelling
• Crawling sensation on the skin or the scalp
• Tightness in the throat
• Difficulty regulating body temperature
• Sudden drop in blood pressure when standing up
• Low blood pressure
• Fast heart rate
• Heart palpitations
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Difficulty falling asleep or sleep issues
• Fatigue
• Confusion
• Brain fog
• Irritability
• Anxiety or panic attacks
• Congestion or runny nose
• Seasonal allergies 
• Asthma
• Migraines and headaches
• Acid reflux
• Diarrhea
• Abnormal menstrual cycle
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

Asthma and Histamine

The connection between asthma and histamine intolerance is not a new concept. A 1977 study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology discussed the mechanism of histamine-induced bronchoconstriction and asthmatic reactions (8). They found that using an H1 receptor antagonist before a histamine challenge reduced the bronchial response and asthma attacks to histamine. This suggests that targeting histamine may reduce asthma attacks. 

A 1989 study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology also discussed the use of antihistamines in asthma (9). Researchers explained that histamine is a vasoactive and bronchoactive mediator that can naturally cause asthma attacks when encountering allergens. Allergens can activate your mast cells, cause histamine release, and trigger a histamine response. Researchers found that using antihistamine therapy targeting the H1 receptors may reduce asthmatic response and asthma attacks. They may also help to reduce chronic cellular events related to asthma.

A 1987 study published in Chest Journal suggests that mast cells, mast cell mediators, and histamine may play a role not only in allergic asthma but also in non-allergic forms of asthma, including exercise-induced and nocturnal asthma (10). This is not surprising, since mast cells (the cells that release histamine) and histamine play a vital role in your immune health. Encountering an allergen, such as pollen, mold, or dust mites can trigger a mast cell reaction and a histamine response. However, common triggers of non-allergic asthma, including tobacco smoke, air pollution, household chemicals, and certain medications, can also trigger mast cell activation and inflammation.

Since these early studies from the 1970s and ‘80s, we have increased scientific evidence suggesting that mast cells and histamine play a role in asthma. A 2005 comparative study published in Allergy has found that mast cell activation can cause structural alterations in smooth muscle thickness of the airways in allergic asthma (11). They didn’t find the same effect in non-allergic asthma participants. A 2007 study published in Thorax and a 2008 review published in Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology have both found that mast cell activation may play a role in abnormalities in submucosal glands and asthmatic airway smooth muscle function (12, 13).

A 2010 review published in the Yonsei Medical Journal has explained that mast cells play a critical role in adaptive immune responses, thus mast cells and mast cell-produced mediators may play a role in allergic airway diseases, including allergic asthma (14). According to a 2012 review published in Respiratory Medicine, mast cells help to protect you from pathogens and as a result, they may play a role in the development of allergic inflammation and related conditions, including asthma (15).

Since mast cells and histamine may play a role in the development or increase symptoms of asthma, it makes sense to look at targeting mast cells and histamine in therapeutics for asthma. A 2002 study published in The American Journal of Medicine has found that using H1 receptor antagonists may have therapeutic potential for asthma (16). A 2018 review published in Frontiers in Immunology has discussed that some H1 receptor antagonists show promise in reducing asthma, though some studies found that they are not always clinically effective (17). They noted that H4 receptor antagonists may work in a similar way and may offer similar benefits but studies are still ongoing and reports on clinical efficiency haven’t been published yet.

A 2019 review published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences has found that some antihistamines may show potential in asthma therapy (18). A 2019 study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, H1 receptor antagonists may be effective for certain subtypes of asthma, but not all types (19).

Problems Using Antihistamines for Asthma

Though anti-histamines show some promise for some types of asthma, there are some problems with this approach. Though anti-histamines may reduce histamine and offer temporary relief, they will not eliminate the root cause of your issue. If you are dealing with histamine intolerance or mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) and these issues are triggering your syndromes, anti-histamines offer a temporary bandaid solution at best. Because they don’t eliminate the root cause of your issues – histamine intolerance or MCAS –, your symptoms will keep coming back. Over time, they may become less effective and won’t offer even temporary relief. It may become increasingly difficult to fight your symptoms with anti-histamines or other pharmaceuticals. 

Not to mention that these anti-histamine medications may have side effects and can interrupt your body’s balance and cause issues in the long run. Anti-histamines may cause dizziness, dry mouth, drowsiness, irritability, decreased appetite, or blurry vision. They may not be right or need precautions for people with diabetes, overactive thyroid, epilepsy, asthma, other breathing issues, glaucoma, high blood pressure, or heart disease (20, 21). Finding a solution without these risks and side effects is a safer idea.

If histamine intolerance or MCAS is triggering your symptoms of asthma, you have to start thinking about addressing the root cause of your symptoms instead of only relying on antihistamines. This means that you have to address your diet, environmental and lifestyle causes of histamine intolerance, the triggers of your asthma, and underlying gut microbiome imbalances. According to a 2020 study published in Nutrients, following a low-histamine diet may help to improve airflow and reduce symptoms in mild intermittent asthma (22). Instead of reaching for anti-histamine medication, you can reduce your histamine load and histamine reactions through diet, lifestyle, and supplementation. 

Natural Solutions for Histamine Intolerance and Asthma

Reducing histamine intolerance may help you to reduce your risks and symptoms of asthma. Fortunately, these are some dietary modifications, lifestyle strategies, and supplements you can try to reduce histamine intolerance and lower your risk of asthma attacks naturally. Here is what I recommend:

Remove Your Triggers

Removing your triggers is the first step to reducing your risk of asthma attacks. Completely removing triggers may be difficult. For example, all of us are exposed to pollen during the spring and summer. But you should still reduce your exposure as much as possible. Your asthma triggers may include pollen, mold, dust mites, pets, waste from pests, tobacco smoke, household chemicals, air pollution, certain medications, and cold air. Most of these factors are also triggers of MCAS making it even more important to reduce your exposure.

Eat an Anti-Inflammatory & Low-Histamine Diet

I recommend following a low-histamine, anti-inflammatory, nutrient-dense, whole foods diet. Remove inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined oils, canned and processed meat, artificial ingredients, junk food, and highly processed foods. Remove high-histamine foods. Follow a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet rich in greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits, healthy fats, and organic meat. If you are dealing with symptoms of histamine intolerance, I recommend that you follow my 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan outlined in my book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan: Getting to the Root of Migraines, Eczema, Vertigo, Allergies and More. Try new recipes. I recommend all the low-histamine recipes in The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan and my recipe books, Fifty One Low Histamine Air Fryer Recipes and Low Histamine Cooking in Your Instant Pot.

Reduce Your Histamine Bucket

Diet is the first step toward reducing your histamine levels. However, your histamine bucket can fill up in many other ways. A lack of exercise, stress, sleep and toxin exposure can increase your histamine bucket as well.

Move Your Body

Moving your body is a great way to reduce stress, improve detoxification, boost your mood, and support your overall health. Stay active throughout the day by dancing to your favorite songs, taking a stroll in the park, stretching regularly, and playing with your kids or pets. Exercise at least 20 to 30 minutes five days a week and move your body regularly. I recommend getting 10 to 15K steps in a day if you can. Add resistance and strength training to your routine. If you are new to exercise, I recommend the MAPS program from MindPump Media. According to a 2017 study published in the Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, yoga may provide relief from symptoms of asthma (23). If you are experiencing exercise-induced asthma, talk to your doctor to introduce strategies to reduce your risk of asthma attacks while exercising.

Reduce Stress and Improve Sleep

To reduce stress and improve sleep, I recommend practicing breathwork, meditation, positive affirmation, journaling, yoga, grounding, and time in nature for stress and anxiety reduction. I really love this breathwork course and use it frequently to reduce anxiety, stress and help clear my body of any built up tension. Taking an Epsom salt bath is another great way to relax your muscles, calm your mind, and detoxify your body. Make sure to sleep at least 7 to 9 hours a night.

Reduce Environmental Toxins

Environmental toxins can not only increase histamine intolerance but can also trigger MCAS and asthma. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins. Use a HEPA indoor air filtration system to improve your indoor air. Avoid unpurified tap water and use a water purifier instead to improve your water quality. Avoid conventional cleaning, hygiene, body, and beauty products, and choose natural, organic, and homemade options instead. Avoid plastics, especially BPA, and choose glass, bamboo, ceramic, stainless steel, organic cotton, and silicone products and tools instead. Choose organic foods to reduce exposure to pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and artificial ingredients in your diet.

Improve Your Gut Health

Your gut health affects your entire body. Poor gut flora can increase your risk of histamine intolerance, inflammation, and related symptoms. Along with a gut-friendly anti-inflammatory diet, I recommend that you take a high-quality probiotics supplement to support your gut microbiome balance. To take it a step further, I recommend working with a functional medicine practitioner (like me) to test your gut and see if opportunistic bacteria, yeast overgrowth, parasites, H. pylori and/or leaky gut can be what is driving your histamine issue. 

Try Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory fatty acids that help to reduce inflammation. According to a 2004 review published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, omega-3 fatty acids may help to improve airflow and reduce inflammation in asthma (24). To improve your omega-3 levels, I recommend eating wild-caught fresh fish and seafood (make sure it’s fresh! Fish that isn't extremely fresh can trigger histamine intolerance) and flaxseeds, hemp seeds, and chia seeds. 

Improve Your Vitamin D

Low vitamin D levels can increase the risk of inflammation and various health issues. Unfortunately, since we spend so much time indoors and many of us live in a colder climate with long months of cloudy and gloomy weather, vitamin D deficiency is quite common. According to a 2004 review published in Cureus, improving vitamin D levels through supplementation may help to reduce asthma (25). Besides spending time outside in the sun, I recommend daily supplementation with vitamin D.

Try Supplements for Histamine Intolerance

I recommend HistoRelief. It is a synergistic blend of nutrients that provides natural support to balance your immune response. This blend features Tinofend®, a patented and clinically researched extract derived from the plant Tinospora cordifolia, which has a powerful ability to support immune regulation and immune response. As a result, it boosts your body’s ability to fight histamine-related symptoms. It includes quercetin, nettle leaf, vitamin C, and bicarbonate salt to help inhibit histamine release, support normal histamine metabolism, and improve immune health.

Final Thoughts

Asthma is a chronic lung condition that affects your airways and your lung. Histamine intolerance is a common underlying factor that may trigger or worsen your symptoms. Addressing underlying histamine intolerance, on the other hand, can reduce your risks and symptoms of asthma. I recommend following my natural strategies for histamine intolerance and asthma to improve your health and well-being. This should not replace the plan you and your pulmonologist/primary doctor have in place, but compliment it.

If you are dealing with symptoms of asthma, allergies, histamine intolerance, or MCAS, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. We can help identify the root cause of your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here. I also recommend that you check out my Histamine Online Program.

Sources:

 

1. Most Recent National Asthma Data. CDC. Link Here

2. What Is Asthma. NIH. Link Here

3. Asthma. CDC. Link Here

4. Asthma. Medline Plus. Link Here

5. Asthma, Symptoms, Causes, and Risk Factors. American Lung Association. Link  Here

6. Diagnosing and Treating Asthma. American Lung Association. Link Here

7. Maintz L, Novak N. Histamine and histamine intolerance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 May;85(5):1185-96. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/85.5.1185. PMID: 17490952

8. Casterline CL. Further studies on the mechanism of human histamine-induced asthma. 1977. Link Here

9. Stephen T. Holgate, Jim P. Finnerty, Antihistamines in asthma, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Volume 83, Issue 2, Part 2, 1989. Link here

10. Mast Cell mediator and asthma. Chest Journal. 1987. Link  Here

11. Amin K, Janson C, Boman G, Venge P. The extracellular deposition of mast cell products is increased in hypertrophic airways smooth muscles in allergic asthma but not in nonallergic asthma. Allergy. 2005 Oct;60(10):1241-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2005.00823.x. PMID: 16134989

12. Begueret H, Berger P, Vernejoux JM, Dubuisson L, Marthan R, Tunon-de-Lara JM. Inflammation of bronchial smooth muscle in allergic asthma. Thorax. 2007 Jan;62(1):8-15. doi: 10.1136/thx.2006.062141. PMID: 17189531

13. Bradding, P. Asthma: Eosinophil Disease, Mast Cell Disease, or Both?. All Asth Clin Immun 4, 84 (2008). Link Here

14. Reuter S, Stassen M, Taube C. Mast cells in allergic asthma and beyond. Yonsei Med J. 2010 Nov;51(6):797-807. doi: 10.3349/ymj.2010.51.6.797. PMID: 20879044

15. Kawa Amin, The role of mast cells in allergic inflammation, Respiratory Medicine, Volume 106, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 9-14. Link Here

16. Gelfand EW, Role of histamine in the pathophysiology of asthma: immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activities of H1-receptor antagonists.  2002. The American Journal of Medicine. LInk Here

17.  Thangam Elden Berla, Jemima Ebenezer Angel, Singh Himadri, Baig Mirza Saqib, Khan Mahejibin, Mathias Clinton B., Church Martin K., Saluja Rohit.The Role of Histamine and Histamine Receptors in Mast Cell-Mediated Allergy and Inflammation: The Hunt for New Therapeutic Targets. Frontiers in Immunology. 2018. Link Here

18. Yamauchi K, Ogasawara M. The Role of Histamine in the Pathophysiology of Asthma and the Clinical Efficacy of Antihistamines in Asthma Therapy. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Apr 8;20(7):1733. doi: 10.3390/ijms20071733. PMID: 30965592

19. Yamauchi K. The Role of Histamine in the Pathophysiology of Asthma and the Clinical Efficacy of Antihistamines in Asthma Therapy. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(7), 1733;Link Here

20. Antihistamines for Allergies. Medline Plus. Link Here

21. Antihistamines.NHS. Link Here

22. Vassilopoulou E, Konstantinou GN, Dimitriou A, Manios Y, Koumbi L, Papadopoulos NG. The Impact of Food Histamine Intake on Asthma Activity: A Pilot Study. Nutrients. 2020 Nov 5;12(11):3402. doi: 10.3390/nu12113402. PMID: 33167542

23. Impact of Yoga in Asthma TReatment. Asian Journal of Pharmacutical and Health Sciences. 2017. Link Here

24. Mickleborough TD, Ionescu AA, Rundell KW. Omega-3 Fatty acids and airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma. J Altern Complement Med. 2004 Dec;10(6):1067-75. doi: 10.1089/acm.2004.10.1067. PMID: 15674003

25. Ali NS, Nanji K. A Review on the Role of Vitamin D in Asthma. Cureus. 2017 May 29;9(5):e1288. doi: 10.7759/cureus.1288. PMID: 28680776

 

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by Peter Saydak

Eczema, Dermatitis, and Histamine: The Connection

Itchy, inflamed, and flaky skin? Unfortunately, you probably have eczema, but you are not alone. Millions have experienced eczema in their lives. Like you, many of them struggle with re-occurring eczema. 

Chances are, you’ve tried topicals and medication to get rid of the problems. Your symptoms may subside, but soon enough, you have another flare. If you are frustrated with this seemingly never-ending cycle of flares, I understand. I see this all the time in my patients.

The problem is that most conventional treatment methods only address the symptoms of eczema, not the underlying problem. In many of my patients, we find that histamine intolerance, chronic inflammation, and gut microbiome imbalance are the true culprits behind their issues. Once you address the underlying causes of your eczema or dermatitis, you may find your symptoms greatly reduced or disappear.

In this article, you will learn what eczema and dermatitis are. You will learn about histamine and histamine intolerance. I will explain how eczema, dermatitis, and histamine may be connected. I will offer some natural strategies for eczema and dermatitis to improve your health and well-being.

What Are Eczema and Dermatitis

Eczema is a term used for a group of skin conditions that make your skin inflamed and itchy or cause a rash. Eczema is very common, and most people experience it at one point in their life. Many people struggle with chronic eczema that comes in flairs. 

So dermatitis is the same as eczema? Not exactly. The terms eczema and dermatitis can overlap, and many use them interchangeably, but they are not exactly the same. Atopic dermatitis is a form of eczema that is often used instead of eczema. 

The term dermatitis refers to inflammation of the skin. It is a broader term that includes more conditions besides eczema. Eczema is a condition characterized by inflamed skin but also other symptoms, such as itching, flakiness, or dry skin. Eczema is generally chronic, while dermatitis may be chronic or acute.

Types of Eczema and Dermatitis

Some of the main types of dermatitis and eczema include atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, status dermatitis, neurodermatitis, dyshidrotic eczema, nummular eczema, follicular eczema, and asteatotic eczema. 

Atopic dermatitis is one of the most common types, and it’s often referred to as eczema. It is a chronic skin condition that usually comes in bouts of flare-ups. It’s characterized by itching, dry skin, and flaky or scaly patches, and it often appears on the knees, elbow, neck, and other joint areas but may occur elsewhere on your body. If you have chronic eczema, chances are you have atopic dermatitis. 

Contact dermatitis is another common form that develops when your skin reacts to something it’s come in contact with, such as poison ivy, metals, soap, or other irritants. It may cause itching, burning, stinging, rashes, or blisters. Seborrheic dermatitis generally develops in areas where sebum) oil is produced and secreted or where hair grows. It can cause a dry, scaly appearance, red skin, dandruff, and rashes.

Statis dermatitis develops when fluid leaks out of your weakened veins into your skin and causes pain, redness, itching, swelling, and inflammation. Neurodermatitis is very similar to atopic dermatitis and may cause scaly patches and itchiness. Dyshidrotic eczema can cause blisters on your skin. Nummular eczema can cause coin-shaped round spots on your skin that may be itchy or scaly. Follicular eczema occurs around the hair follicles and may cause itchy, scaly, cracked, and crusty skin and rashes. Asteatotic eczema can develop on extremely dry skin, causing red, inflamed, cracked, and scaly skin.

Symptoms of Eczema and Dermatitis

Your symptoms may vary depending on the type of dermatitis or eczema you have. You may experience mild, moderate, or severe symptoms. They may last for a week or so or much longer. Since symptoms of eczema may be similar to other skin conditions, such as psoriasis or rosacea, it’s important that you get the right diagnosis to address the problem.

Symptoms of eczema and dermatitis may include:

• Itchy skin
• Dry and sensitive skin
• Inflamed skin
• Discolored skin
• Rough, leathery, or scaly patches on your skin
• Crusty skin
• Oozing of the skin
• Swelling of the skin
• Bleeding from scratching too much

Triggers of Eczema and Dermatitis

Eczema and dermatitis are not contagious conditions. Their exact cause is unknown, however, a variety of dietary, lifestyle, environmental, and biological factors can play a role in developing eczema or dermatitis. When your body encounters an allergen or irritant, it can turn on your immune system, create inflammation, and cause symptoms of eczema to fight off the trigger.

Triggers of eczema or dermatitis may include:

• Chemical irritants, including conventional cleaning, hygiene, and beauty products, clothing, other fabrics, or jewelry.
• Environmental irritants, including mold, dust mites, pet dander, pollen, and dandruff.
• Dry skin, for example, from the cold weather or too much hand-washing.
• Extreme temperatures over 80 F (27 C) or below 32 F (0 C) and extreme changes in humidity.
• Food sensitivities and intolerances, including gluten, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, nuts, and chocolate.
• Hormonal fluctuations, including around your menstrual cycle.
• Microbial overgrowth, including Candida, bacterial overgrowth, and gut microbiome imbalance.

What Is Histamine

Histamine is an important chemical that helps your body get rid of allergens as part of your immune response. It supports your digestion by releasing hydrochloric acid to break down food and bacteria. It also supports your brain health by serving as a chemical messenger between your brain and the rest of your body.

Histamine only becomes a problem if there is too much of it. If your body is releasing too much histamine and your body is unable to break down all the excess histamine, histamine build-up occurs. 

Histamine intolerance means that there is too much histamine in your body. Under normal circumstances, your body sends enzymes to break down excess histamine and prevent build-up. However, if you have too much histamine, it won’t be able to break everything down, which can lead to histamine intolerance. Histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, including your gut, brain, lungs, and cardiovascular system.

Since histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, symptoms can be widespread. Many of the main symptoms of histamine intolerance affect your skin. Eczema and dermatitis are common problems among those with histamine intolerance, so are hives, acne, itchy skin, psoriasis, crawling sensation on the skin or the scalp, and facial swelling. Other non-skin-related symptoms may include fast heart rate, heart palpitations, dizziness, vertigo, sudden drop in blood pressure when standing up, red eyes, headaches, migraines, fatigue, sleep issues, brain fog, irritability, anxiety, panic attacks, congestion, runny nose, seasonal allergies, asthma, acid reflux, diarrhea, other digestive issues, abnormal menstrual cycle, and premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

Eczema, Dermatitis, and Histamine

Let’s look at the connection between eczema, dermatitis, and histamine. 

Eczema, Dermatitis, Gut Health, and Histamine Intolerance

Your skin serves as a barrier between the inside of your body and physical, chemical, and microbial stressors from the outside. Unfortunately, gut microbiome imbalance and gut health troubles can affect skin health and its effectiveness as a barrier. Gut microbiome imbalance may not only cause intestinal inflammation, but may lead to skin microbiome imbalance, skin inflammation, and the risk of infections. Gut microbiome imbalance may also affect your skin’s oil production and its ability to regenerate effectively. It may also increase food sensitivities, disrupt immune function, and increase chronic inflammation. These factors may all increase the risk of eczema. 

For people without histamine intolerance, eating fermented foods and taking probiotics can often help to improve the gut flora, reduce inflammation, and improve eczema. Unfortunately, if you have histamine intolerance, these things only add fuel to the fire. Fermented foods are high in histamine and are very triggering for those with histamine intolerance. Instead of helping, they can actually trigger your eczema further. On top of that. Many probiotics on the market are not right for those with histamine intolerance. Later in this article, I will recommend some gut support strategies and a probiotic that’s right for people like you with histamine intolerance.

Eczema, Dermatitis, and Histamine Intolerance

Gut microbiome imbalance can lead to an inflammatory response and histamine release, which can lead to histamine intolerance and related symptoms. When your skin is irritated by a toxin or allergen, it will activate your mast cells. Your mast cells will release histamine and cause an inflammatory response. 

A 2014 study published in Allergology International has found that histamine plays a role in allergic inflammation and related atopic dermatitis by activating your mast cells, basophils (a type of white blood cell), eosinophils (specialized cells in your immune system), and Th2 cells, which stimulate a humoral immune response (3). A 2018 study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology has found that adding the H4 histamine receptor may play a role in atopic dermatitis and psoriasis and H4 antagonists may help to reduce inflammation (4). 

On-going inflammation can further disrupt your skin health and feed the cycle of inflammation, histamine release, and further eczema. If you are already dealing with histamine intolerance, any additional histamine release will aggravate the problem creating an ongoing issue.

Using Anti-Histamines for Eczema and Dermatitis

If histamine intolerance is one of the underlying issues behind eczema and dermatitis, prescribing anti-histamines may sound like a logical idea. According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, between 16 to 44 percent of atopic dermatitis visits end up with an antihistamine prescription (5). Dermatologists and pediatricians generally prescribe sedatives, while general practitioners tend to prescribe non-sedative antihistamine pharmaceuticals. These drugs may offer symptoms relief and may support sleep that may be interrupted by the condition.

Studies have shown that anti-histamine medications may be effective for eczema and dermatitis. For example, a 1990 review published in Clinical ad Experimental Allergy has found that antihistamines may help atopic eczema (6). A 2014 study published in Allergology International has found that H1R and H4R antagonists may help to reduce the itch response and inflammation in atopic dermatitis (3). A 2018 study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology has found that H4 antagonists may help to reduce inflammation in atopic dermatitis (4). 

There are a few problems with this approach though.

Anti-histamine drugs and topicals only address the symptoms of your problem. They may offer temporary relief but will not eliminate the root cause of the issue. This means that your skin issues will keep coming back. It may become increasingly difficult to fight your symptoms with anti-histamines or other pharmaceuticals. 

Another problem with antihistamines is that they reduce your body’s ability to create the enzyme breaking down histamine. This decreases your body’s ability to deal with excess histamine. Being on these medications for too long can make it more difficult to support your body’s natural ability to reduce histamine intolerance. Now, there are some people with serious mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) that do need to stay on these medications. However, most people with histamine intolerance and milder MCAS, do not. Most people can support their body through diet, lifestyle, and supplementation, and reduce histamine intolerance and related symptoms naturally.

Not to mention that these medications can have side effects and can interrupt your body’s balance in the long run. Anti-histamines may cause dizziness, dry mouth, drowsiness, irritability, decreased appetite, or blurry vision. They may not be right or need precautions for people with diabetes, overactive thyroid, epilepsy, asthma, other breathing issues, glaucoma, high blood pressure, or heart disease (7, 8). Finding a solution without these risks and side effects is a safer idea.

To truly address eczema, you have to think about the root causes of your symptoms. This means that you have to address your diet, environmental and lifestyle causes of histamine intolerance, the triggers of your eczema, and underlying gut microbiome imbalances. Instead of reaching for anti-histamine medication, you can reduce your histamine load and histamine reactions through diet, lifestyle, and supplementation.

Natural Solutions for Eczema, Dermatitis, and Histamine Intolerance

If you are dealing with eczema, dermatitis, and histamine intolerance, I recommend the following natural strategies to improve your health.

Follow Anti-Inflammatory and Low-Histamine Diet

Following an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant-rich, and nutrient-dense diet is important for your skin health. Reducing inflammation through an anti-inflammatory diet can reduce skin inflammation and skin symptoms. Following a low-histamine diet can help you reduce histamine intolerance and lower the risk of histamine-related eczema and skin issues.

Remove inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined oils, canned and processed meat, artificial ingredients, junk food, and highly processed foods. Avoid high-histamine foods, such as fermented food (e.g., sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented vegetables, kombucha, etc.), aged food (e.g., aged cheese, processed meat, canned fish, etc.), over-ripe fruits and vegetables, leftovers, and foods that are naturally high in histamine (e.g., avocadoes, eggplant, spinach, dried fruits, etc.). Avoid foods that may trigger histamine releases, such as tomatoes, most citrus, bananas, most nuts, and dairy. Avoid foods that may block the DAO enzyme, including black tea, green tea, alcohol, and energy drinks. 

Eat a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet rich in greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits, healthy fats, and organic meat. Low-histamine foods include most fresh leafy greens and vegetables, non-citrus fruits, such as apples, pear, papaya, and grapes, fresh grass-fed meat, pasture-raised poultry and eggs, and wild-caught fish, olives, extra-virgin olive oil, ghee, coconut oil, leafy herbs, and herbal tea. My book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan includes an extensive list of foods that you can eat and should avoid on a low-histamine diet.

If you are new to a low-histamine diet, remember to have fun experimenting with new foods and recipes. I promise low-histamine meals can be delicious. I recommend all the low-histamine recipes in The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan and my new recipe book, Fifty One Low Histamine Air Fryer Recipes. They are all simple, easy to make, low-histamine, gluten-free, Paleo-friendly, and super healthy. Not to mention how delicious they are — your family will love them too.

Avoid Irritants and Lower Your Histamine Bucket

Avoid allergens and irritants that may trigger your eczema. Remove conventional cleaning, hygiene, and beauty products, and use organic, natural, and homemade alternatives instead. Avoid fabric that may irritate your skin. If you are allergic to any metals, avoid wearing them, and choose surgical steel, silver, or gold instead. Make sure that your house is free from mold and use a high-quality air filtration system to reduce toxins in your indoor air. Beyond reducing exposure to environmental toxins, lower your histamine bucket by reducing stress, getting restful sleep, and moving your body regularly.

Support Your Gut

Your gut health affects your entire body. Gut flora imbalance can trigger both histamine intolerance and eczema. Supporting your gut health is critical for your recovery. Along with a gut-friendly, low-histamine, anti-inflammatory diet, I recommend that you take a high-quality probiotics supplement to support your gut microbiome balance. 

Try Some Supplements

I recommend HistoRelief. It is a synergistic blend of nutrients that provides natural support to balance your immune response. This blend features Tinofend®, a patented and clinically researched extract derived from the plant Tinospora cordifolia, which has a powerful ability to support immune regulation and immune response. As a result, it boosts your body’s ability to fight interstitial cystitis symptoms. It includes quercetin, nettle leaf, vitamin C, and bicarbonate salt to help inhibit histamine release, support normal histamine metabolism, and improve immune health.

Protect Your Skin and Use Natural Skincare

I have already covered that avoiding your triggers, such as chemicals, fabrics, and metals that may cause a problem, is important. There are others ways to protect your skin, though. If you live in a cold climate and are sensitive to cold weather, make sure to protect your skin with warm gloves and layers in sensitive areas. 

Though proper hygiene, such as hand-washing, are critical for keeping infections, including skin infections, away, washing your hands too much can cause dry skin and trigger skin issues. You may want to use gloves when washing dishes. As I explained earlier, avoid conventional cleaning and personal hygiene products, such as chemical-filled soap, dish soap, body wash, or shampoo. Choose organic, natural, and homemade alternatives instead. You may learn more about my skincare routine in this article.

Though addressing underlying problems behind your eczema and dermatitis is key to recovery, it can take several months to improve those issues. In the meantime, you can reduce your symptoms naturally. Moisturizing and other topicals may help to reduce symptoms during flares. However, conventional topicals are filled with chemicals and can cause side effects and further skin issues. Instead, I recommend natural alternatives. The following options may help soothe your symptoms until you completely address your underlying problems.

A 2019 study published in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, coconut oil is a fantastic natural option to reduce inflammation, protect the skin barrier, and reduce symptoms (9). Apply cold-press coconut oil several times a day as needed. According to a 2015 study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, colloidal oatmeal lotion and baths may help to reduce inflammation, scaling, dryness, and itching (10). 

A 2017 study published in the Journal of Pre-Clinical and Clinical Research has found that aloe vera may help to reduce skin inflammation and offer antimicrobial benefits (11). A 2017 study published in Pharmacognosy Research has found that applying honey to the skin may help to reduce inflammation and infections and improve eczema and other conditions (12).

Final Thoughts

Eczema and dermatitis are uncomfortable skin conditions characterized by inflamed, itchy, dry, scaly, and flaky skin. Millions of people are struggling with chronic eczema and dermatitis without experiencing success using conventional treatment methods. These strategies only tend to address the symptoms and may come without risks and side effects. Without addressing the root cause of your eczema and dermatitis, you may experience flares again and again. I recommend following my strategies for underlying histamine intolerance, gut health issues, and chronic inflammation for improving your eczema and dermatitis naturally.

If you are dealing with eczema, dermatitis, other skin problems, or other symptoms of histamine intolerance, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. We can help identify the root cause of your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here. I also recommend that you check out my Histamine Online Program.

Sources:

1. Slominski A. A nervous breakdown in the skin: stress and the epidermal barrier. J Clin Invest. 2007 Nov;117(11):3166-9. doi: 10.1172/JCI33508. PMID: 17975659
2. InformedHealth.org [Internet]. Cologne, Germany: Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG); 2006-. Skin care for eczema. 2017 Feb 23. Link Here
3. Yusuke Ohsawa, Noriyasu Hirasawa, The Role of Histamine H1 and H4 Receptors in Atopic Dermatitis: From Basic Research to Clinical Study, Allergology International, Volume 63, Issue 4, 2014, LinkHere
4. Schaper K. The Role of the H4 Receptor in Atopic dermatitis and Psoriasis. British Journal of Pharmacology. 2018. Link Here
5. Should dermatologists be anti-histamine fordermatisis? AADA Link Here
6. Behrendt H, Ring J. Histamine, antihistamines and atopic eczema. Clin Exp Allergy. 1990 Nov;20 Suppl 4:25-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.1990.tb02473.x. PMID: 1980856
7. Antihistamines for Allergies. Medline Plus. Link Here
8. Antihistamines.NHS. Link Here
9. Sandeep R. Varma, Thiyagarajan O. Sivaprakasam, Ilavarasu Arumugam, N. Dilip, M. Raghuraman, K.B. Pavan, Mohammed Rafiq, Rangesh Paramesh, In vitro anti-inflammatory and skin protective properties of Virgin coconut oil, Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, Volume 9, Issue 1, 2019, Link Here
10. Reynertson KA. JJD. 2015. Link Here
11. Zagórska-Dziok M, Furman-Toczek D, Dudra-Jastrzębska M, Zygo K, Stanisławek A, Kapka-Skrzypczak L. Evaluation of clinical effectiveness of Aloe vera – a review. J Pre Clin Clin Res. 2017;11(1):86-93. Link Here
12. Samarghandian S, Farkhondeh T, Samini F. Honey and Health: A Review of Recent Clinical Research. Pharmacognosy Res. 2017 Apr-Jun;9(2):121-127. doi: 10.4103/0974-8490.204647. PMID: 28539734

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by Peter Saydak

Metabolism, Weight Gain, and Histamine Intolerance

Metabolism, Weight Gain, and Histamine Intolerance

Are you dealing with unwanted weight gain or have difficulties losing weight? What if I told you that it’s more than just those holiday pounds. Histamine intolerance may be one of the missing culprits behind your weight issues.

Histamine is not inherently bad. Your body needs it for a variety of bodily functions. Histamine plays a critical role in your metabolism, food intake, and energy expenditure. At healthy levels, histamine helps you maintain a healthy weight. 

If you have histamine intolerance or too much histamine, however, it can contribute to chronic inflammation, chronic symptoms, and yes, weight gain as well. Histamine intolerance may influence your food intake. Many high-histamine foods are inflammatory and may contribute to weight problems. Histamine intolerance may also be linked to thyroid dysfunction, estrogen dominance, and gut health issues that may also increase the risk of weight gain and make weight loss more difficult.

As you can see, the connection between histamine intolerance, metabolism, and weight gain is complex. In this article, I want to get to the bottom of the connection and uncover potential underlying reasons behind your weight problems. You will learn what histamine and histamine intolerance are. I will discuss the role of histamine in your metabolism and weight. You will learn about the ways histamine intolerance may play a role in weight gain. Finally, I will offer some natural solutions to reach a healthy weight and improve your health.

What Is Histamine Intolerance

Histamine is a chemical in your body that is responsible for a variety of functions. Its main role is to support your immune system by helping your body get rid of allergens. This is why we are commonly recommended by conventional medicine to take antihistamines for allergy-symptom relief. Histamine also communicates with your brain and triggers stomach acid release to aid digestion affecting your entire body.

Histamine can turn into a problem when it builds up in your body. Histamine intolerance means that that your body has too much histamine. As a natural part of your immune response, your body sends enzymes to break down histamine in order to prevent too much build-up. However, when there is too much histamine, it becomes difficult to break it down and metabolize it. 

Too much histamine can affect all parts of your body, including your gut, brain, lungs, and cardiovascular system. It may lead to a list of unwanted symptoms, including skin problems, red eyes, low blood pressure, fast heart rate, anxiety, hormonal issues, headaches, seasonal allergies, digestive issues, sleep disturbances, bladder problems, and more. You can learn more about histamine intolerance, its symptoms, causes, and treatment options, in this article.

How Histamine Affects Your Metabolism and Weight

We use the term metabolism daily. We blame our metabolism for those extra pounds. But what is this mysterious metabolism anyway? 

Your metabolism is a combination of chemical reactions inside your body that convert food into energy. You need energy to do everything from thinking to digesting your food, from moving your body to sleep. While a healthy metabolism helps you to maintain a healthy weight, it is not the main purpose, energy is. A healthy metabolism helps to create energy for your day-to-day life.

Your brain is the command center of your body. It’s not surprising that your metabolism is controlled by your brain, more specifically by your hypothalamus. Your hypothalamus is a region of your forebrain located right below the thalamus. It coordinates your autonomic nervous system. It also coordinates your pituitary gland which controls your homeostatic systems, including hunger, thirst, temperature, sleep, and even emotional activity.

Histamine and Your Weight

This is where histamine enters the picture. Histamine is released and enters your hypothalamus to switch on certain receptors. Some of these receptors are responsible for regulating body heat or energy output. Others are responsible for hunger and satiety and as a result, your eating habits. According to a 2008 review published in Nutrition, hypothalamic neuronal histamine and its H(1) receptor (H(1)-R) regulate your body weight, food intake, and energy expenditure (1).

Here comes the tricky part. Histamine doesn’t necessarily cause weight problems. In fact, histamine generally promotes weight loss and weight maintenance. The stimulation of the histamine 1 receptors may cause a decrease in food intake. A 2007 review published in Neuroendocrinology has found that histamine plays a role in regulating body weight (2). Some studies have found that low levels of histamine are sometimes linked to obesity. According to a 2016 review published in Neuropharmacology, histamine in the brain control appetite, food intake, and energy expenditure, and as a result may help to prevent obesity and metabolic syndrome (3).

Chronic Inflammation, Histamine Intolerance, and Weight Gain

If histamine generally helps you stay at a healthy weight, how can histamine lead to weight problems? Great question. It depends on a number of factors, including the amount of histamine in your body, genetics, chronic inflammation in the body, other coexisting conditions, and lifestyle factors. Normal levels of histamines do not cause weight gain, but histamine intolerance can. Histamine intolerance can often cause chronic inflammation which may lead to weight gain.

Chronic inflammation can lead to an increase in corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which is a stress hormone. A 2017 review published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, CRH triggers your mast cells which leads to the release of more histamine. More histamine can increase chronic inflammation, stress, and chronic symptoms. This may lead to an increase in CRH, which will lead to mast cell activation and histamine release. As you can see, this can lead to a cycle of inflammation, stress, and histamine intolerance, and consequent weight gain. 

Histamine and Your Eating Behavior

Chronic inflammation is not the only way that histamine may play a role in weight gain. A 2010 research published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics has looked at the relationship between the histamine H3 receptor and eating behavior (5). They found that when an animal had to figure out how to get to food located in a closed container or had to perform other tasks, such as pressing a lever, to get to food, their brain released histamine. However, when they had access to food without having to perform tasks or work for it, there was no brain histamine release.

This may be applied to your stress levels, eating behavior, and relationship with food. If you are stressed out about food, perhaps you are dieting, it may cause increased histamine release, inflammation, and symptoms. Not to mention that it may also cause stress-eating, reaching for inflammatory and high-histamine foods, and consequent weight gain. If you are relaxed about food, not dieting, not stressing, and not restricting, it may reduce the risk of excess histamine, inflammation, and weight gain.

High-Histamine Foods and Weight Gain

If you have histamine intolerance, but you don’t know about it, chances are you are eating lots of high-histamine foods. Though many high-histamine foods are healthy for the general population, other high-histamine foods are inflammatory and unhealthy for everybody. Baked goods with gluten and grains, for example, can trigger histamine intolerance and chronic inflammation. Processed foods and junk food are usually also high in histamine and are highly inflammatory. They are low (or empty) in nutrients but are high in calories and often, refined sugar, refined oils, additives, and artificial ingredients, and can increase your risk of weight gain, chronic inflammation, and chronic health issues.

Antihistamines and Weight Gain

If you have frequent allergies or skin reactions due to undiagnosed histamine intolerance, you may be taking antihistamines. That may be an unsuspected culprit behind your weight gain. According to a 2010 study published in Obesity, common prescription H1 antihistamine medications, such as Zyrtec and Allegra, may contribute to weight gain (6). 

On the other hand 2011 study published in Diabetes, Metabolism, Research and Reviews has found that mast cell stabilizing medications, such as cromolyn and ketotifen, may reduce the risk of weight gain and obesity. This suggests that mast cells activation syndrome (MCAS) may cause weight gain that can be reversed once the mast cells are stabilized.

Histamine Intolerance, Thyroid, and Weight Gain

Histamine intolerance is often connected to or co-occurs with thyroid dysfunction. According to a 2019 review published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, thyroid dysfunction may cause mast cell activation and histamine intolerance (1). Research has shown that low thyroid levels may lead to increased histamine production and high levels of thyroid hormones may cause increased histamine response in your body (1, 2). 

One of the common symptoms of hypothyroidism, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, is unintentional weight gain. It looks like if you have Hashimoto’s and weight problems, you may have to look into histamine intolerance as a possible factor as well. You may learn about the connection between thyroid dysfunction and histamine intolerance and what to do about them in this article. If you are dealing with thyroid problems, I recommend reading my book, The 30-Day Thyroid Reset Plan.

Histamine Intolerance, Estrogen Dominance, and Weight Gain

Histamine intolerance and estrogen dominance often share similar symptoms. It may not be just a coincidence. Estrogen and histamine actually attach to the same H1 receptors (10). Because of this, estrogen will cause the release of histamine from your mast cells. The more estrogen you have, the more histamine will be released to your bloodstream as well, leading to a vicious cycle of estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance. 

How is this related to weight gain though? Weight gain is one of the major symptoms of estrogen dominance which may be further increased by histamine intolerance. You may learn about the connection between estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance and what to do about them in this article.

Histamine Intolerance, Gut Health, and Weight Gain

One last connection we have to touch on is the connection between histamine intolerance and your gut health. As I discussed in this article, leaky gut syndrome and various gut infections, including small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), H pylori, Candida and fungal overgrowth, and parasites, are some of the top underlying causes of histamine intolerance. 

Leaky gut syndrome allows undigested food particles, toxins, and pathogens to pass into your bloodstream. Leaky gut syndrome can also cause low DAO enzyme production. DAO is responsible for breaking down excess histamine in your body. Not having enough increases your risk of histamine intolerance. If you are dealing with a gut infection, it can trigger increased histamine release that your body won’t be able to keep up, which may cause histamine intolerance.

Leaky gut syndrome and gut infections may also play a role in weight gain. According to a 2020 review published in Preventative Nutrition and Food Science, gut microbiome imbalance can poorly affect your metabolism and energy expenditure and increase the risk of obesity (11). Gut microbiome imbalance may also increase cravings for inflammatory foods, increase chronic inflammation, and increase stress. This can quickly turn into a cycle of poor gut health, histamine intolerance, chronic inflammation, and weight problems. You may learn about the connection between gut health and histamine intolerance and what to do about it, in this article.

Solutions for Weight Gain and Histamine Intolerance

Losing weight is not about self-deprivation. It’s not even about your weight. It’s about your health and wellness. Here are my top recommendations for histamine intolerance to help you lose weight, address other histamine-related health issues and improve your overall health:

Follow a Low-Histamine Diet

Following an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant-rich, and nutrient-dense diet is important for everyone who wants to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and feel healthy in their body. If you have histamine intolerance and histamine is the culprit behind your weight gain, start with a low-histamine, anti-inflammatory diet. 

Remove inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined oils, canned and processed meat, artificial ingredients, junk food, and highly processed foods. These foods are highly inflammatory and are essentially empty calories. They may taste good temporarily, but they will only pack on the pounds, leave you bloated and tired, and cause health issues.

Avoid high-histamine foods, such as fermented food (eg. sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented vegetables, kombucha, etc), aged food (eg. aged cheese, processed meat, canned fish, etc), over-ripe fruits and vegetables, leftovers, and foods that are naturally high in histamine ( eg. avocadoes, eggplant, spinach, dried fruits, etc). Avoid foods that may trigger histamine release, such as tomatoes, most citrus, bananas, most nuts, and dairy. Avoid foods that may block the DAO-enzyme, including black tea, green tea, alcohol, and energy drinks. 

Eat a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet rich in greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits, healthy fats, and organic meat. Low-histamine foods include most fresh leafy greens and vegetables, non-citrus fruits, such apples, pear, papaya, and grapes, fresh grass-fed meat, pasture-raised poultry and eggs, and wild-caught fish, olives, extra-virgin olive oil, ghee, coconut oil, leafy herbs, and herbal tea. My book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan includes an extensive list of foods that you can eat and should avoid on a low-histamine diet.

The key to any new diet or lifestyle change is experimentation and fun. Have fun in the kitchen and try new recipes. I recommend all the low-histamine recipes in The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan and my new recipe book, Fifty One Low Histamine Air Fryer Recipes. They are all simple, easy to make, low-histamine, gluten-free, Paleo-friendly, and super healthy. Not to mention how delicious they are — your family will love it too.

Reduce Your Histamine Bucket

High-histamine foods are the number one common culprit behind histamine intolerance. However, stress, poor sleep, a sedentary lifestyle, environmental toxins, and other lifestyle factors can fill up your histamine bucket and cause histamine intolerance and related weight gain.

Reduce Stress and Improve Your Sleep

Chronic stress and poor sleep can contribute to histamine intolerance. They may also cause high cortisol levels and hormonal imbalance that may cause weight gain and make weight loss difficult. I recommend practicing breathwork, meditation, journaling, yoga, time in nature, and positive affirmations for stress and anxiety reduction. Taking an Epsom salt bath is another great way to relax your muscles, calm your mind, and detoxify your body. Make sure to sleep at least 7 to 9 hours a night.

Move Your Body and Exercise Regularly

Moving your body is another way to reduce stress, lower inflammation, uplift your mood, reduce your histamine bucket, and support a healthy weight. Move your body throughout the day.  Get up, stretch, and shake out your body regularly throughout the day. Take a stroll during lunch or go on a walk-date with a friend. Get silly and dance to your favorite song. Play with your pets or kids.

For exercise, I recommend resistance training to a level that makes you feel good after, not exhausted. I also recommend trying to get between 10k-15k steps per day.  

Exercise should be fun. Experiment with different workouts until you find what brings you joy. But remember, strength and resistance training is non-negotiable to maintain muscle mass, protect your bones, feel energized, and have a toned, youthful body.

Reducing Environmental Toxin Exposure

Reducing environmental toxicity is another important step for reducing histamine intolerance. Toxins can increase inflammation, histamine release, and chronic symptoms. Buy organic produce and food to reduce exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and hormones. Drink filtered water instead of tap water.

Remove chemical-filled conventional cleaning, hygiene, and beauty products, and choose organic, natural, and DIY options instead. Make sure that your home is free from mold. Use a high-quality HEPA air-filtration system to clean your indoor air. Instead of plastic, use cloth bags, glassware, glass containers, bamboo bowls, stainless steel bottles and pans, and silicone zip lock bags.

Improve Your Gut Health

Your gut health affects your entire body. Poor gut flora can lead to histamine intolerance and weight gain. Supporting your gut health may reduce chronic inflammation, improve digestion and nutrient absorption, decrease digestive troubles, reduce infections and toxin overload, improve detoxification, support a healthy weight, and reduce chronic symptoms. 

Along with a gut-friendly anti-inflammatory diet, I recommend working with a functional medicine practitioner (like me) to test your gut and see if opportunistic bacteria, yeast overgrowth, parasites, H. pylori and/or leaky gut can be what is driving your histamine issue. 

Try Supplements for Histamine Intolerance

I recommend HistoRelief. It is a synergistic blend of nutrients that provides natural support to balance your immune response. This blend features Tinofend®, a patented and clinically researched extract derived from the plant Tinospora cordifolia, which has a powerful ability to support immune regulation and immune response. As a result, it boosts your body’s ability to fight histamine-related symptoms. It includes quercetin, nettle leaf, vitamin C, and bicarbonate salt to help inhibit histamine release, support normal histamine metabolism, and improve immune health.

Dig Deeper 

If you are still having difficulty losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight despite following a low-histamine diet, reducing your histamine bucket, and making healthy choices, it may make sense to look into other underlying issues. As you know, thyroid imbalance, estrogen dominance, leaky gut syndrome, gut infections, and other issues may play a role. Working with a functional medicine practitioner (hint: my team and I) can help you figure out the root cause of your weight gain and other symptoms and create an individualized treatment plan to achieve a healthy weight, reduce your symptoms, and improve your health naturally.

Focus on Health and Love Yourself Through the Process

Instead of focusing on weight loss, focus on your health. It’s all about how you feel. How does your food make you feel? How do your lifestyle choices make you feel? Are you energized, light, happy, and inspired, or sluggish, tired, bloated, and symptomatic? Are you feeling a bit better each day, stagnating, or feeling worse? These are important signs to remember.

If you are following a healthy, low-histamine, and anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle, you will notice excess weight release. Over time, your body will find its comfortable spot. Most importantly, you will start to feel vibrant, energized, and healthy again. Remember, it’s a journey. Do yourself a favor: have fun and love yourself through the process.

Final Thoughts

There may be a number of reasons behind your weight gain. Histamine intolerance may be one of them. I recommend following my nutrition and lifestyle tips for histamine intolerance and weight gain. They will help you to reclaim your health and feel energized in a healthy body.

If you are dealing with weight gain or symptoms of histamine intolerance, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. We can help identify the root cause of your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here. I also recommend that you check out my Histamine Online Program.

Sources:

1. Yoshimatsu H. Hypothalamic neuronal histamine regulates body weight through the modulation of diurnal feeding rhythm. Nutrition. 2008 Sep;24(9):827-31. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2008.06.014. PMID: 18725079
2. Jørgensen EA, Knigge U, Warberg J, Kjaer A. Histamine and the regulation of body weight. Neuroendocrinology. 2007;86(3):210-4. doi: 10.1159/000108341. Epub 2007 Sep 11. PMID: 17848791
3. Provensi G, Blandina P, Passani MB. The histaminergic system as a target for the prevention of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Neuropharmacology. 2016 Jul;106:3-12. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2015.07.002. Epub 2015 Jul 9. PMID: 26164344
4. Kempuraj Duraisamy, Selvakumar Govindhasamy P., Thangavel Ramasamy, Ahmed Mohammad E., Zaheer Smita, Raikwar Sudhanshu P., Iyer Shankar S., Bhagavan Sachin M., Beladakere-Ramaswamy Swathi, Zaheer Asgar. Mast Cell Activation in Brain Injury, Stress, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Alzheimer's Disease Pathogenesis. Frontiers in Neuroscience. Link Here
5. Passani MB, Blandina P, Torrealba F. The histamine H3 receptor and eating behavior. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2011 Jan;336(1):24-9. doi: 10.1124/jpet.110.171306. Epub 2010 Sep 23. PMID: 20864503
6. Ratliff JC, Barber JA, Palmese LB, Reutenauer EL, Tek C. Association of prescription H1 antihistamine use with obesity: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2010 Dec;18(12):2398-400. doi: 10.1038/oby.2010.176. Epub 2010 Aug 12. PMID: 20706200
7. Wang J, Shi GP. Mast cell stabilization: novel medication for obesity and diabetes. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2011 Nov;27(8):919-24. doi: 10.1002/dmrr.1272. PMID: 22069285
8. Landucci E, Laurino A, Cinci L, Gencarelli M, Raimondi L. Thyroid Hormone, Thyroid Hormone Metabolites and Mast Cells: A Less Explored Issue. Front Cell Neurosci. 2019 Mar 29;13:79. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2019.00079. PMID: 30983971
9. Sabria J, Ferrer I, Toledo A, Sentis M, Blanco I. Effects of altered thyroid function on histamine levels and mast cell number in neonatal rat brain. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1987 Feb;240(2):612-6. PMID: 3100778
10. Mori H, Matsuda K, Yamawaki M, Kawata M. Estrogenic regulation of histamine receptor subtype H1 expression in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus in female rats. PLoS One. 2014 May 7;9(5):e96232. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096232. PMID: 24805361
11. Aoun A, Darwish F, Hamod N. The Influence of the Gut Microbiome on Obesity in Adults and the Role of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics for Weight Loss. Prev Nutr Food Sci. 2020 Jun 30;25(2):113-123. doi: 10.3746/pnf.2020.25.2.113. PMID: 32676461

 

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by Peter Saydak

Menopause and Histamine: The Connection

Menopause and Histamine: The Connection

Not bleeding every month anymore may sound like a perk. Yet, most women are not looking forward to menopause. Fatigue, hot flashes, brain fog, and other symptoms can be quite distressing.

What if I told you that you didn’t have to struggle with menopause symptoms? You’ve heard it right. There is a lesser-known connection between menopause and histamine intolerance that can make your symptoms worse. If you address histamine intolerance, you can also reduce your menopausal symptoms.

In this article, you will learn what menopause is. You will learn about the most common symptoms of menopause. I will explain the connection between menopause and histamine intolerance. I will also offer some solutions to improve your menopause symptoms naturally.

What Is Menopause?

Menopause marks the end of an era. It is the end of your menstrual years. Most women go through menopause in their 40s or 50s, with the average age being 51. 

Menopause is preceded by perimenopause, a menopause transition phase. During perimenopause, your ovaries will gradually start to create less and less estrogen. Perimenopause usually starts in your 40s, but in some women, it can start in their 30s or earlier.

Perimenopause can last for several years, with an average of 4 years. Perimenopause ends when you enter menopause when your ovaries stop releasing eggs completely. Menopause is diagnosed after you’ve gone without a period for 12 months.

Perimenopause and menopause can be difficult times for many women. They can come with an array of physical and emotional symptoms, including fatigue, poor sleep, moodiness, and hot flashes. Fortunately, dietary and lifestyle changes can help to reduce your symptoms and make these years much easier (1).

Symptoms of Menopause

Menopause may lead to a long list of uncomfortable symptoms. You may experience only some, but you may experience all of them during your perimenopausal and menopausal years. Symptoms of menopause may include:

• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Mood swings
• Brain fog
• Trouble focusing and concentrating
• Lack of motivation
• Fatigue
• Insomnia and poor sleep
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Breast tenderness
• Bloating
• Digestive issues
• Weight gain
• Belly fat gain
• Irregular periods then loss of period
• Low or loss of libido
• Vaginal dryness
• Urinary pain
• Incontinency
• Urgency to urinate
• Muscle aches
• Joint pain and stiffness
• Dry skin
• Thinning hair
• Wrinkles
• Acne
• Facial hair
• Burning mouth
• Dry eyes
• Clammy feeling
• Dizziness
• Tingling
• Osteoporosis 
• Decreased confidence

What Is Histamine Intolerance?

You’ve probably known the word histamine because of anti-histamine medications for allergies and histamine intolerance. You may even think that histamine is bad because of the ‘anti’ part in anti-histamine. But histamine is not bad. It’s an absolutely essential part of your body.

Histamine is an important chemical that helps your body get rid of allergens as part of your immune response. It supports your digestion by releasing hydrochloric acid to break down food and bacteria. It also supports your brain health by serving as a chemical messenger between your brain and the rest of your body.

Histamine only becomes a problem if there is too much of it. If your body is releasing too much histamine and your body is unable to break down all the excess histamine, histamine build-up occurs. 

Histamine intolerance means that there is too much histamine in your body. Under normal circumstances, your body sends enzymes to break down excess histamine and prevent build-up. However, if you have too much histamine, it won’t be able to break everything down, which can lead to histamine intolerance. Histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, including your gut, brain, lungs, and cardiovascular system (2). 

Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance

Since histamine intolerance can affect your entire body, it may not surprise you that it can cause many symptoms that can become widespread across your body. Symptoms may differ from person to person. You may only experience a few symptoms, or you may experience most of them. Your symptoms may be anywhere between mild to severe. 

As you may notice, some of the symptoms of histamine intolerance are similar to symptoms of menopause. I will get into the connection between histamine intolerance and menopause in the next section. But first, let’s look at the symptoms of histamine intolerance.

Symptoms of histamine intolerance include the following:

• Itchy skin, eyes, ears, and nose
• Eczema or other types of dermatitis
• Hives
• Red eyes
• Facial swelling
• Crawling sensation on the skin or the scalp
• Tightness in the throat
• Difficulty regulating body temperature
• Sudden drop in blood pressure when standing up
• Low blood pressure
• Fast heart rate
• Heart palpitations
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Difficulty falling asleep or sleep issues
• Fatigue
• Confusion
• Brain fog
• Irritability
• Anxiety or panic attacks
• Congestion or runny nose
• Seasonal allergies 
• Asthma
• Migraines and headaches
• Acid reflux
• Diarrhea
• Abnormal menstrual cycle
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

Menopause and Histamine Intolerance

To understand the connection between menopause and histamine intolerance, we have to talk about estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance. This hormonal imbalance can increase your risk of histamine intolerance and, consequently, symptoms of menopause.

Histamine Intolerance and Estrogen Dominance

Did you know that women tend to have more histamine than men? It’s because women have more estrogen.

I’ve written about the histamine-estrogen connection in this article. Histamine, estrogen, and progesterone are closely linked in your boy and need to be perfectly balanced for ideal health and function.

Estrogen has many roles in your body. One of its functions includes stimulating mast cells in your body to make more histamine. This can, of course, increase the chances of a histamine response and histamine intolerance. 

A 2012 study published in Frontiers in Immunology has demonstrated how estradiol, a form of estrogen, can affect mast cells and trigger asthma (3). A 2013 study published in Current Opinions in Allergy and Clinical Immunology has found that estrogen can increase the risk of allergies and asthma, which can, of course, be triggered by a histamine response or histamine intolerance (4).

Since women tend to have more estrogen than men, it’s not surprising now that they have a higher risk of histamine intolerance as well. (Note to my male readers: Men can also develop both estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance, your risks are simply somewhat lower.)

If you have healthy levels of estrogen and living a healthy lifestyle keeping histamine levels normal, this shouldn’t be a problem. However, if you are already struggling with histamine intolerance and/or estrogen dominance, this can become a vicious cycle. 

Estrogen will prompt your mast cells to release histamine. Increased histamine levels will lead to more estrogen. As a response, all that extra estrogen will trigger your mast cells to make even more histamine, which will lead to more estrogen. And the cycle continues leading to more and more symptoms.

This also explains why you may be experiencing more histamine-related issues during specific times of your cycle. When your estrogen levels are higher than your progesterone levels, you will be more likely to experience certain histamine intolerance symptoms.

Estrogen dominance can also trigger histamine intolerance and symptoms. Estrogen dominance means that there is a hormonal imbalance in your body because you have more estrogen than progesterone. Even if your estrogen levels are closer to normal or low, you can still have estrogen dominance if you have even less progesterone and there is an imbalance. 

Histamine Intolerance and Menopause

This brings me to the issue of histamine intolerance and menopause. Since estrogen levels drop during menopause, you may wonder how histamine intolerance can be connected to your menopausal symptoms.

Here is the thing, you can still have estrogen dominance, even if you are in perimenopause or menopause. During menopause, both your estrogen and progesterone levels drop. This means that as long as your progesterone levels are lower than your estrogen levels and there is an imbalance, you can still have estrogen dominance and related symptoms. Even in menopause. Since progesterone levels tend to drop quicker, there is an increased chance for estrogen dominance in menopause even if you didn’t have estrogen dominance before.

Besides triggering your mast cells to release more histamine, estrogen can also decrease your diamine oxide (DAO) enzyme levels. The DAO enzyme is responsible for cleaning up excess histamine. If you don’t have enough DAO enzymes, the risk of histamine build-up and histamine intolerance is high. So estrogen dominance not only causes excess histamine release, but it can prevent your body from efficiently cleaning up this excess. 

You may think that balancing your hormones through hormone replacement may be the answer. Wrong. It turns out that hormone replacement therapy can possibly make histamine intolerance even worse. Synthetic hormone replacement can be really hard on your mast cells, trigger histamine release, and lead to symptoms. A 2012 study published in Frontiers in Immunology has found that post-menopausal women who receive hormone replacement therapy are more likely to experience new-onset asthma because these hormones affect their mast cells and trigger symptoms (3). 

While bioidentical hormones can work better with fewer risks, it’s important that you always do your homework before taking them. I also recommend checking out this article, where I discuss estrogen dominance and the problem with hormone replacement.

Solutions for Menopause and Histamine Intolerance

Menopause is a natural part of a woman’s life. It doesn’t mean that you have to deal with severe menopause symptoms. If you address underlying estrogen dominance and histamine intolerance, you don’t have to deal with uncomfortable symptoms anymore. You can take control of your health through simple natural methods. Here is what I recommend:

Remove Xenoestrogens

Xenoestrogens are artificial compounds that have estrogenic effects but are different from naturally occurring estrogen. They are hormone-mimicking compounds that mimic the effects of estrogen and contribute to estrogen excess or prevent the beneficial effects of natural estrogen in your body. They can increase estrogen dominance and related issues, including histamine intolerance and menopausal symptoms. Remove xenoestrogen-containing products, including conventional cleaning, body, and beauty products, and choose natural and organic alternatives.

Avoid Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormone replacement therapy and hormonal medications can increase estrogen dominance, histamine intolerance, and related symptoms. Consult your doctor about getting off or reducing hormone replacement therapy, hormonal contraceptives, and other hormone-based prescription medications.

Lower Your Histamine 

Estrogen dominance and estrogen imbalance can both lead to histamine intolerance and, as a result, increase your symptoms of menopause. I recommend that you work with a functional health practitioner, like myself, to check for histamine intolerance. If you are dealing with symptoms of histamine intolerance, I recommend that you follow my 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan outlined in my book, The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan: Getting to the Root of Migraines, Eczema, Vertigo, Allergies and More. 

Eat an Anti-Inflammatory & Low-Histamine Diet

Remove inflammatory foods, including refined sugar, refined oils, canned and processed meat, artificial ingredients, junk food, and highly processed foods. Eat a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and low-histamine diet rich in greens, vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits, healthy fats, and organic meat. Try new recipes. I recommend all the low-histamine recipes in The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan and my new recipe book, Fifty One Low Histamine Air Fryer Recipes.

Move Your Body

Chronic stress can increase the risk of hormonal imbalance and histamine intolerance. Moving your body is a great way to reduce stress, improve detoxification, boost your mood, and support your overall health. Stay active throughout the day by dancing to your favorite songs, taking a stroll in the park, stretching regularly, and playing with your kids or pets. Exercise at least 20 to 30 minutes five days a week and move your body regularly. Mix up strength training workouts, including weight lifting, bodyweight exercises, or TRX, and cardiovascular workouts, such as swimming, cycling, and aerobics classes. Add low impact exercises into your routine as well, such as yoga, pilates, Barre, water aerobics, stretching, and walking. 

Reduce Stress and Improve Sleep

Stress and poor sleep are major contributing factors to hormonal imbalance and histamine intolerance. I recommend practicing breathwork, meditation, journaling, yoga, time in nature, and positive affirmations for stress and anxiety reduction. Taking an Epsom salt bath is another great way to relax your muscles, calm your mind, and detoxify your body. Make sure to sleep at least 7 to 9 hours a night.

Improve Your Gut Health

Your gut health affects your entire body. Poor gut flora can lead to histamine intolerance and hormonal imbalance. Along with a gut-friendly anti-inflammatory diet, I recommend working with a functional medicine practitioner (like me) to test your gut and see if opportunistic bacteria, yeast overgrowth, parasites, H. pylori and/or leaky gut can be what is driving your histamine issue. 

Try Supplements that Support Estrogen Metabolism

If you are experiencing estrogen dominance but your estrogen metabolism pathways are out, such as having a high 4-OH pathway), I recommend DIM-Evail, a Di-Indole methane (DI) supplement to improve your estrogen levels and estrogen metabolism. DIM is an extract derived from broccoli. It helps your body to neutralize reactive estrogen metabolites, such as estrone and estradiol. It also helps the production of non-reactive estrogen and improves your estrogen balance. However, DIM is not always right if you are in menopause or your estrogen levels are low for any other reasons. If your estrogen levels are low, using DIM can be problematic. DIM can also be problematic if they have a slow COMT gene activity. 

If your estrogen levels are low, I recommend sulforaphane instead. Sulforaphane comes from broccoli sprouts. It helps to support estrogen metabolism. It helps to redirect 4-OH estrogen from going down the wrong pathway and reduce the risk of oxidative damage. I recommend BroccoBlend for sulforaphane. The bioavailability of this supplement is not dependent on myrosinase produced by intestinal bacteria, making BroccoBlend especially effective for individuals with GI flora that produce negligible amounts of this enzyme.

If you have trouble metabolizing estrogen in the gut, I recommend Calcium-D-Glucarate. Calcium D-Glucarate is calcium bound tod-glucaric acid, which is a natural compound produced in small amounts by the human body and is abundantly found in various plant foods such as broccoli, cabbage, kale, apples, oranges, and grapefruit. It helps to support the body's natural elimination of excess steroid hormones and toxins. Calcium-d-glucarate assists in the detoxification process as it forms conjugates with unwanted estrogenic hormones and environmental toxins, which are then eliminated from the body instead of being reabsorbed.

If you want to find out what is going on specifically with your estrogen metabolism, I recommend getting a Dutch test we offer at our office. If you are not sure where your issue lies, working with a practitioner is the best way to determine which one of these supplements may work the best for your body. We are always happy to help at our practice.

Check Out the Health Babes’ Guide to Balancing Your Hormones

To learn more about your hormones and learn how to improve your hormonal health naturally, I recommend our book (co-authored by Dr. Krystal Hohn and myself) The Health Babes’ Guide to Balancing Your Hormones: A Detailed Plan with Recipes to Support Mood, Energy Levels, Libido, and More. This book is not only full of information but with an easy-to-follow plan and easy-to-make, delicious hormone-friendly recipes.

Final Thoughts

Most women believe that dealing with perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms is normal. The truth is that you don’t have to deal with menopausal symptoms that seriously impact your everyday life. If you address underlying histamine intolerance, reduce estrogen dominance, and support your hormonal health, you can reduce your symptoms of menopause naturally. I recommend that you follow my tips to support your health through menopause.

If you are dealing with symptoms of menopause, histamine intolerance, or estrogen dominance, I invite you to schedule a consultation with us. We can help identify the root cause of your condition and recommend a personalized treatment plan to repair your body and regain your health and well-being. Schedule your consultation here.

Sources:

1. What is menopause. NIH. Link Here
2. Maintz L, Novak N. Histamine and histamine intolerance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 May;85(5):1185-96. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/85.5.1185. PMID: 17490952
3. Zierau O, Zenclussen AC, Jensen F. Role of female sex hormones, estradiol and progesterone, in mast cell behavior. Front Immunol. 2012 Jun 19;3:169. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2012.00169. PMID: 22723800
4. Bonds RS, Midoro-Horiuti T. Estrogen effects in allergy and asthma. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Feb;13(1):92-9. doi: 10.1097/ACI.0b013e32835a6dd6. PMID: 23090385

 

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by Peter Saydak

Low-Histamine Sweet Bread with Legit Bread Company

Finally a Low-Histamine Sweet Bread! You Have to Try It

But I can’t give up bread…

I hear this all the time. As soon as I recommend a low-histamine and gluten-free diet to my patients, they get worried. They don’t want to give up baked goods.

Here is the secret: they don’t have to and you don’t have to either!

Eating a low-histamine, gluten-free, and healthy diet doesn’t have to be boring. You can still enjoy sweet bread as long as you are smart about the ingredients.

I am fully committed to helping you make this low-histamine journey the easiest and the most enjoyable for you. I want you to enjoy good food and share treats with your friends and family. 

I have some exciting news.

My Histamine-Friendly Sweet Bread is now available in a convenient mix! 

This is my first collaboration with Legit Bread Company. I love them! They are known for their delicious and healthy Paleo mixes for bread, bagels, pizza crust, brownies, and more since 2016.

And now, thanks to this beautiful collab, we have a histamine-friendly bread just for you!

This sweet bread is perfect for anyone with histamine intolerance or mast cell activation syndrome that does not have an issue with coconut. Most people with HIT and MCAS do well with coconut products.

You can enjoy this bread even if you don’t have histamine intolerance. If you do not have histamine intolerance, this makes a great base to banana bread. Just add 3 ripe bananas and 1 tsp. cinnamon to the ingredients below. 

It is absolutely delicious and perfectly healthy. It’s gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, and soy-free. It’s 100% paleo and absolutely thyroid-friendly.

Your family and friends will love it. Your kids will ask for seconds. You may have to make a double batch if you want to share.

The best part: it’s incredibly simple to make. It fits right in with your busy life.

All you need is:

• 1 package of Histamine-Friendly Sweet Bread by Legit Bread Company
• 3 eggs (organic, pasture-raised, free-range!)
• 1/2 cup of dairy-free milk of your choice (I love coconut or almond milk)
• 1/2 cup of coconut or light olive oil
• 2 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• Bonus: any low-histamine fruit of your choice (eg. apple, pear, or berries)

To make it:

• Preheat your oven to 350F.
• Whisk together all your wet ingredients in a bowl.
• Add in the full bag of bread mix.
• Stir until combined.
• Bake for 60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. If you added any fruits to the mix, it may take 80 minutes to bake. Make sure you still check with a fork or toothpick at 60 min. 
• Slice and enjoy. Top it with tigernut butter or homemade blueberry jelly or eat it as is. 

Make your low-histamine diet fun! Order your Histamine-Friendly Sweet Bread today.

 

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by Peter Saydak