What is Histamine Intolerance?
Histamine intolerance is a food intolerance in which those affected experience symptoms after eating foods that contain histamine or they are reacting to some other component in the food which is triggering an allergic reaaction, sometimes called a histamine liberator.
What is Histamine?
Histamine is a protein that is found almost everywhere in the animal and plant kingdoms. It is also found naturally in the human body as messenger substance which triggers allergic reactions. Histamine is also contained in many foods, especially when they ripen or ferment.
The data on histamine intolerance is currently still sparse, which is why we at Frusano are working with universities, among others, to analyse our Frusano products specifically for histamine and to analyse our ingredients and processes in detail.
Some scientists estimate that around 1 per cent of the population suffers from histamine intolerance. 80 per cent of those affected are women.
Cause of Histamine Intolerance
Overall, the studies indicate that an enzyme deficiency causes the symptoms. It appears that the break down of histmine (either ingested directly from food or generated in their bodies after eating something they are allergic to) is too slow or incomplete. The enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO) is involved in the breakdown of histamine. If the DAO enzyme is not available in sufficient quantities to break down histamine, histamine enters the bloodstream and triggers allergy-like symptoms.
This is why there are many uncertainties surrounding histamine intolerance:
- Histamine intake in large quantities leads to symptoms even in completely healthy people.
- The histamine content in food varies greatly. Two equally sized pieces of the same type of cheese can have a different histamine content, depending on how long and under what circumstances the cheeses have matured.
- Although an enzyme deficiency is considered to be the cause, there is no absolute threshold below which the diagnosis of "histamine intolerance" is made. Every person affected has to find out their personal tolerance threshold - which is extremely difficult for the reason mentioned above.
- How well a person tolerates histamine depends not only on the amount of DAO in the intestine and the amount of histamine ingested, but also on other substances ingested at the same time as food. Alcohol in particular further slows down the breakdown of histamine.
- There are many foods that are listed as problematic for those with histamine intolerance, but, upon further study, the foods themselves don't contain high levels of histamine. These foods are said to have "histamine liberators" which trigger the body to release histamine. So, in other words, people have allergies to other components in those foods. Chocolate is a great example of this kind of issue. If a person with histamine intolerance reacts to chocolate it could be either due to histamine-rich cocoa, or to an allergy to something else in the chocolate entirely. For more info about this topic, please visit Histamine and Chocolate.
- Not only food, but also external influences such as stress or anxiety strongly influence the tolerance level of affected people. The more stress a person is under, the less histamine they can usually tolerate. The reason for this is the patient's mast cells. Mast cells are part of the human body's immune defence system. These cells in our body contain many messenger substances, one of which is histamine. Certain triggers cause the cells to release histamine. Stress, medication or infections are among the best-known triggers.
Histamine-free Frusano Products
Frusano regularly tests our foods labelled as histamine-free for histamine. Those affected can recognise that the food is histamine-free from the histamine-free claim in the shop.
We have also carried out storage tests with subsequent analysis for these products in order to minimise the risk for consumers.
In general, we also recommend cautious testing of the personal tolerance threshold so that you can learn your personal tolerance level of histamine, or perhaps find that you have a food allergy to something other than histamine.
Further information can be found on the following pages:
Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance
Diagnosis of Histamine Intolerance
