Histamine has important functions in the body such as promoting muscle contractions in the gut and stimulating the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. It also has an immune role as it's released by mast cells when exposed to foreign substances. Histamine is also found in certain foods.
A healthy body can keep histamine levels in check. There are two enzymes that help break down histamine, and one of them is mostly produced in the gut. For a variety of reasons, including certain medications, gut infections, and dysbiosis, these enzymes dont work properly, and your body loses the ability to get rid of excess histamine. The result is a condition known as histamine intolerance.
Histamine intolerance symptoms include redness or flushing in the skin, eczema, rashes, hives, sneezing, congestion, postnasal drip, low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, nausea, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, migraines, muscle and joint pain, insomnia, and other mysterious symptoms.
The low-FODMAPs diet can reduce histamine levels in the body. While this is a point in favor of the diet, if you have histamine intolerance, you're probably still taking in too much histamine from food without knowing it. Aged hard cheeses, vinegar, tomato, eggplant, spinach, bone broth, and canned tuna are high in histamine, despite being low in FODMAPs. And eggs, strawberries, oranges, banana, pineapple, some nuts, tomatoes, eggplant, spinach, and shellfish can stimulate your body to make more histamine. Leftover foods, even a day or two later, can accumulate enough histamine to trigger symptoms. On top of that, having food sensitivities means that your body is releasing histamine, along with other immune compounds, as a reaction to foods, regardless of their histamine or FODMAPs levels.
Read this article:
Low-FODMAPs Diet Not Working? An RD Shares 7 Possible Reasons Why + What To Do - mindbodygreen.com
