How to tell and what to do to feel better
Do you get hives, headaches, or a runny nose after you eat? Or start sneezing, feel anxious, or get itchy?
If you nodded and answered “yes!” to any of those symptoms, you could be dealing with histamine intolerance. That’s especially likely if taking antihistamines don’t really do anything for you.
Histamine intolerance can be super frustrating. It causes symptoms that don’t seem to make sense. And it can be tricky to pinpoint this problem since it really does seem like it’s allergies.
Once it’s clear that histamine intolerance is the real problem, you can take proactive steps to erase your symptoms.
What Is Histamine?
Histamine is a chemical that your body creates to send signals between your cells. While it’s mainly known for causing allergic reactions, histamine plays important roles in other body processes.
It helps regulate things like:
- Immune and inflammatory responses[1]
- Sleep-wake cycles[2]
- Body temperature[3]
- Memory and learning[4]
- Mood[5]
- Digestion[6]
Your body stores histamine in special white blood cells called mast cells. Those mast cells release histamine whenever it’s needed, like when you start to eat or when it senses an allergen. Then enzymes break down histamine to keep it from building up in your bloodstream.
But sometimes, those enzymes can’t keep up, and you’re left with too much histamine for your body to handle, causing histamine intolerance.
Want to listen instead of read? CLICK HERE
Histamine Intolerance Can Make You Feel Sick
Though it’s still considered controversial by some medical professionals, histamine intolerance is gaining ground as a diagnosis. It may be referred to as “high histamine levels,” but it boils down to the same thing: Your body is flooded with histamine, and it’s causing problematic symptoms.
Histamine intolerance happens when your body has trouble breaking down histamine.[7] That lets an excess build up to the point that symptoms appear. And even though histamine intolerance is not an allergy, it can bring on a lot of allergy-like issues.
Common histamine intolerance symptoms include:
- Upper respiratory troubles like sneezing, runny nose, and nasal congestion
- Hives and itchy rashes
- Dizziness
- Headaches
- Nausea and vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Gas and bloating
- Painful periods
- Anxiety and depression
- Insomnia
If you’re dealing with one or more of these symptoms, you may have histamine intolerance, and it makes sense to talk with your doctor.
Common Causes of High Histamine
There are two sides to the high histamine problem: histamine overload and decreased histamine breakdown.
DAO (diamine oxidase) is the main enzyme that breaks down histamine in your digestive tract. It’s produced in your intestines, and when your body doesn’t produce enough DAO, it can’t clear out histamine, which leads to a buildup.
Low DAO levels can be caused by a few things including certain medications such as antihistamines, gluten intolerance, and leaky gut.
The other side of the histamine intolerance equation is overload. High histamine can come from overproduction or food sources. Excess histamine production can be caused by things like:[8]
- Gut microbiome imbalances
- Leaky gut
- Gastrointestinal damage
There are also many foods that can contribute to histamine intolerance, and those fall into three main categories: foods high in histamine, foods that release histamine, and foods that block DAO production.
High histamine foods include most aged and fermented foods such as cheeses, cured meats, sour cream, sauerkraut, yogurt, beer, wine, and vinegar. Citrus fruits, nuts, dried fruits, smoked fish, and pickles are also rich in histamines.
Histamine-releasing foods—meaning they trigger your body’s histamine release system—include alcoholic beverages, bananas, chocolate, pineapple, shellfish, strawberries, and tomatoes.
Foods that can block DAO include alcoholic beverages, black and green teas, and energy drinks.
If you’re dealing with histamine intolerance, your first step will be to clear all histamine-rich, histamine-releasing, and DAO-blocking foods from your diet, at least temporarily. An elimination diet can help you figure out which specific foods may trigger symptoms.
And for lasting histamine balance, you’ll need to address the connection between gut health and histamine intolerance.
The Gut-Histamine Connection
Your gut microbiome, the trillions of bacteria in your gut, plays a big role in both histamine and DAO production. In a healthy, well-balanced gut, beneficial probiotic bacteria help keep both of those at healthy levels. But when your gut falls out of balance, a condition called dysbiosis, histamine production can increase while DAO levels decrease.
In dysbiosis, pathogenic bacteria greatly outnumber probiotic bacteria in the gut. And research shows that gut dysbiosis is strongly connected with histamine intolerance.[9] Gut dysbiosis affects histamine in several important ways:
- Some bacteria produce histamine and when these strains overgrow they boost histamine production in the gut[10]
- Dysbiosis can cause gut inflammation, which reduces DAO production[10]
- Pathogens produce LPS toxins (lipopolysaccharides), which trigger histamine release[11]
- LPS toxins can cause leaky gut, a key cause of histamine intolerance[12]
A gut microbiome full of a diverse population of beneficial probiotic bacteria can help your body maintain healthy histamine and DAO levels. That’s why it’s so important to address your gut health and keep your microbiome balanced.
How to Keep Your Gut Microbiome in Balance
Keeping your gut microbiome in healthy balance delivers dozens of health benefits, including more effective histamine management. One of the best and fastest ways to bring balance is with high-quality spore probiotics. And unlike regular probiotics, spore probiotics arrive in your gut 100% alive and ready to work.
Spore probiotics promote balance in your gut microbiome in important ways by:[13,14,15]
- Encouraging a diverse population of beneficial bacteria to grow and flourish
- Producing defensive compounds that help crowd out pathogenic bacteria
- Effectively addressing LPS production
- Promoting a strong gut barrier that doesn’t leak
All of these factors can help your body process histamine the way it’s supposed to—the way it works when your gut microbiome is healthy and well-balanced.
Support your best gut health. Try Just Thrive Probiotic today!
Just Thrive Probiotic (30/90)
The only probiotic guaranteed to arrive 100% alive
Support Healthy Histamine Levels with Just Thrive
A balanced gut microbiome helps your body process histamine effectively. Just Thrive Probiotic supports a healthy gut microbiome full of diverse probiotic bacteria that contribute to overall wellness and a strong gut barrier.
Just Thrive Probiotic contains four scientifically-verified spore probiotics:
- Bacillus subtilis HU58™
- Bacillus indicus HU36™
- Bacillus coagulans (SC-208)
- Bacillus clausii (SC-109)
These powerful spore probiotics work together to create a welcoming environment where beneficial bacteria can grow and flourish. With a healthy microbiome, your gut can function as the efficient histamine-processing plant it’s meant to be.
>> Give your gut the histamine-balancing support it needs with Just Thrive Probiotic.
But if you’re not quite sure about trying Just Thrive Probiotic, we can help with that.
EVERY Just Thrive purchase is covered by our Bottom of the Bottle, 100% money back guarantee.
That means you can try Just Thrive Probiotic to see how well it works for you… and we’re betting that you’ll notice a positive difference.
But if for any reason you don’t feel a change, you can ask for a full product refund at any time. Even if it’s 3 months or 3 years later. Even if the bottle is empty!
Sources
- Branco ACCC, Yoshikawa FSY, Pietrobon AJ, Sato MN. Role of Histamine in Modulating the Immune Response and Inflammation. Mediators Inflamm. 2018 Aug 27;2018:9524075.
- Thakkar MM. Histamine in the regulation of wakefulness. Sleep Med Rev. 2011 Feb;15(1):65-74.
- Lundius EG, Sanchez-Alavez M, Ghochani Y, Klaus J, Tabarean IV. Histamine influences body temperature by acting at H1 and H3 receptors on distinct populations of preoptic neurons. J Neurosci. 2010 Mar 24;30(12):4369-81.
- Provensi G, et al. Brain histamine modulates recognition memory: possible implications in major cognitive disorders. Br J Pharmacol. 2020 Feb;177(3):539-556.
- Qian H, Shu C, Xiao L, Wang G. Histamine and histamine receptors: Roles in major depressive disorder. Front Psychiatry. 2022 Sep 23;13:825591.
- Barocelli E, Ballabeni V. Histamine in the control of gastric acid secretion: a topic review. Pharmacol Res. 2003 Apr;47(4):299-304. doi: 10.1016/s1043-6618(03)00009-4. PMID: 12644386.
- Jochum C. Histamine Intolerance: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Beyond. Nutrients. 2024 Apr 19;16(8):1219.
- Schink M, et al. Microbial patterns in patients with histamine intolerance. J Physiol Pharmacol. 2018 Aug;69(4).
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Duelo A, Veciana-Nogués MT, Berlanga M, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Intestinal Dysbiosis in Patients with Histamine Intolerance. Nutrients. 2022 Apr 23;14(9):1774.
- Sánchez-Pérez S, et al. The dietary treatment of histamine intolerance reduces the abundance of some histamine-secreting bacteria of the gut microbiota in histamine intolerant women. A pilot study. Front Nutr. 2022 Oct 21;9:1018463.
- Raveendran VV, Tan X, Sweeney ME, Levant B, Slusser J, Stechschulte DJ, Dileepan KN. Lipopolysaccharide induces H1 receptor expression and enhances histamine responsiveness in human coronary artery endothelial cells. Immunology. 2011 Apr;132(4):578-88.
- Schnedl WJ, Enko D. Histamine Intolerance Originates in the Gut. Nutrients. 2021 Apr 12;13(4):1262.
- Marzorati M, Van den Abbeele P, Bubeck S, Bayne T, Krishnan K, Young A. Treatment with a spore-based probiotic containing five strains of Bacillus induced changes in the metabolic activity and community composition of the gut microbiota in a SHIME® model of the human gastrointestinal system. Food Res Int. 2021 Nov;149:110676.
- McFarlin BK, Henning AL, Bowman EM, Gary MA, Carbajal KM. Oral spore-based probiotic supplementation was associated with reduced incidence of post-prandial dietary endotoxin, triglycerides, and disease risk biomarkers. World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. 2017 Aug 15;8(3):117-126.
- Stein T. Bacillus subtilis antibiotics: structures, syntheses and specific functions. Mol Microbiol. 2005 May;56(4):845-57.
