Nutrition Diva takes a look at which foods are high in histamines, and who might benefit from avoiding them
Nutrition Diva takes a look at which foods are high in histamines, and who might benefit from avoiding them
Last week, I talked about histamine intolerance—a condition that’s been gaining traction lately in the alternative medicine and holistic nutrition communities. The idea behind it is that some people are especially sensitive to histamines found in certain foods. Although histamine intolerance is not technically an allergy, a low-histamine diet might relieve pesky and otherwise unexplained allergy-like symptoms -- such as itching, wheezing, sinusitius, nausea, and skin rashes -- in those with a heightened sensitivity.
The challenge, as I explained last week, is that there’s a lot of conflicting information about the histamine content of foods. This week, I’m going to try to clarify, and hopefully simplify, which foods you might want to avoid if you’re inclined to test the theory on yourself.
At first glance, lists of high-histamine foods that you'll come across on the Internet can seem somewhat random: sauerkraut, pepperoni, and strawberries? You’ll also notice a lot of foods that we generally think of as healthy, such as fish and yogurt, listed there. I think these lists will make more sense to you once you understand where histamines come from.
Most of the histamine content in food is the result of bacterial activity. Although you may not like to think about it, bacteria are almost always present in raw meat and fish. In fact, that’s what gives raw meat such a short shelf-life—the bacteria eventually cause the meat to spoil.
Refrigeration slows down bacterial activity (and delays spoilage), but the longer meat is stored before (or even after) it’s cooked, the higher the histamine content will be. Unfortunately, although cooking kills bacteria, it does not remove histamines.
Fish and shellfish tend to be even higher in histamines than red meat or poultry, due to the particular strains of bacteria they tend to host. And again, the less fresh the fish, the higher the histamine content.
With cultured and fermented foods and beverages, of course, the bacteria are there on purpose. Indeed, the presence of probiotic bacteria is considered to be beneficial.
However, the bacterial activity that turns cabbage into sauerkraut, milk into yogurt, and grapes into wine or vinegar can also produce histamines. But the histamine content of fermented foods will vary dramatically, depending on exactly how and where it was prepared. With that in mind, let’s take a look at which foods are likely to be the highest in histamines.
So what about all those other foods that you’ll see when Googling these lists--things like strawberries, citrus, and cinnamon? These foods are rumored to be “histamine-releasing” foods, but this effect is not well supported by evidence.
The goal of a low-histamine diet is to reduce your dietary histamine load—not necessarily to zero, which would be virtually impossible, but to below the threshold that triggers symptoms. That threshold will be lower for some people than others.
Plus, your tolerance for histamine-containing foods and beverages may also fluctuate. If you suffer from seasonal allergies, for example, you may find that your tolerance is lower during these periods.
Rather than trying to completely eliminate every food that’s ever been found (or rumored) to contain histamines (which would be extremely restrictive), I suggest avoiding those foods that are most likely to be high in histamines, including cured meats, smoked and canned fish, shellfish, cheese, miso, spinach, red wine, beer, and champagne. In addition, you might want to moderate your intake of foods which may contain small amounts of histamines, such as white wine, yogurt, kefir, vinegar, and soy sauce.
At the same time, you'll want to make sure you’re not blocking your body’s ability to breakdown and eliminate whatever histamines you do take in. The most common over-the-counter culprits are alcohol, acid-blockers, and NSAIDs. In fact, symptoms of histamine intolerance can sometimes be completely resolved merely by reducing the use of drugs or alcohol, which block the body’s ability to breakdown histamines from foods. No special diets required!
If you have mysterious, allergy-like symptoms that seem to be food-related, but can't be explained by a more conventional diagnosis, it might be worth experimenting with this low-histamine approach to see if it helps you. If it does, great!
If it doesn't seem to make any difference, histamine intolerance may not be your issue. And if you don't have these symptoms to begin with, I don't think there's any general benefit to be had from avoiding the small amount of histamines that you'd get from a regular diet. Although it seems to be shaping up as the next diet fad, a low-histamine diet is not a panacea for clearer skin, boundless energy, or effortless weight loss.