Could a Low-Histamine Diet Help You Feel Less Bloated and Tired?

Histamine is a chemical that the immune system releases in response to allergens, triggering an allergic reaction. Many foods also contain histamine, which is broken down by an enzyme in the intestine. Some people don’t have enough of this enzyme. As a result, histamine blood levels can increase and cause symptoms such as rashes, itching, diarrhea and headaches.

A low-histamine diet includes foods containing low levels of histamine, while excluding foods high in histamine.

You can get histamine from many foods. However, some people have a histamine intolerance, which means their body has difficulty breaking down the chemical in the gut. When this happens, it can cause symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, stomach pain, hives, itching, fatigue, and difficulty breathing.

Some people experience temporarily high histamine levels due to medications. This is because certain medications can reduce the activity of the enzyme that breaks down histamine.

A low-histamine diet can help by eliminating foods high in histamine. This could decrease histamine exposure and symptoms.

A 2018 study showed that following a low-histamine diet for a month decreased blood histamine levels in adults.

Another study in 2022 found that a diet low in histamine can change the gut microbiota (microorganisms like bacteria and fungi that live in the digestive tract). Nine months of a low-histamine diet decreased histamine-producing gut bacteria in women.

Guidelines

The degree of histamine intolerance can vary greatly among people. For this reason, a low histamine diet may be slightly different for each individual.

The histamine content of a food can also vary. This is based on factors such as freshness, pH (acidity), salinity, nutritional composition, processing and how it is stored.

These variables make it difficult to define what a low histamine diet includes. A histamine-free diet is not possible. Generally speaking, the goal is to limit foods high in histamine.

In a low-histamine diet, you can eat grains, dairy products, oils, cooked eggs, fresh meat, fish (mainly non-fatty fish) as well as vegetables and fruits. Here is a list of foods considered suitable for a low histamine diet:

• Cereals and starchy foods: Bread, pastries, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereals, millet, buckwheat, corn
• Milkman: Yogurt, soft fresh cheese, butter and margarine
• Vegetables: Lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, chicory, carrot, garlic, onion, cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini, pepper, radish, artichoke, rhubarb and asparagus
• Fruits: Apple, pear, cherry, amaranth, peach, apricot, watermelon and blueberry
• Oils and condiments: Vegetable oils, vinegar, honey and fruit-based jam permitted
• Meat: Poultry, veal, beef, lamb and pork
• Fish: Cod, trout, pike perch and halibut
• Eggs
• Spices and herbs

What to drink

Here are some drinks low in histamine:

• Water
• Herbal teas
• Homemade juices from permitted fruits and vegetables

Fermented foods, fatty fish, some seafood, nuts, chocolate, and some fruits and vegetables are among the foods high in histamine. Here are some foods high in histamine that should be avoided on a low-histamine diet:

• Canned and fermented fish: Canned tuna and sardines in oil
• Oily fish: Salmon, tuna, herring and mackerel
• Seafood: Oysters, shrimp and clams
• Ripened or matured cheeses: Parmesan, gouda, cheddar and feta
• Fermented foods: Sauerkraut, soy, miso, tempeh and fermented dry sausages
• Certain fruits: Avocado, banana, kiwi, plum, pineapple, citrus and strawberry
• Certain vegetables: Tomato, spinach and eggplant (aubergine)
• Nut : Cashews, pistachios, almonds and walnuts
• Chocolate
• Peanuts

Drinks that are not part of the diet

Fermented drinks also contain high levels of histamine, such as:

You have many low-histamine food options. An example day on a low histamine diet might look like this:

• Breakfast: Breakfast burrito filled with scrambled eggs, cottage cheese and chopped lettuce, pepper, carrots and cucumber.
• Lunch: A cereal bowl of buckwheat, grilled white fish and steamed broccoli, drizzled with a sauce made from yogurt, vinegar and spices.
• Snack: Homemade oatmeal cookies served with a cup of milk.
• Dinner: Beef stew cooked with lamb, potatoes, carrots, onions and fresh parsley.

Histamine intolerance can cause a wide range of symptoms, such as gastrointestinal symptoms (such as bloating, diarrhea, stomach pain, and nausea), skin conditions (including hives, itching, flushing, and eczema), headaches or migraines, dizziness, runny nose, fatigue, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty respiratory.

A low-histamine diet can help reduce the amount of histamine in the blood. This may ease symptoms in people with histamine intolerance.

This can improve hives, also known as hives. Hives occur when certain immune cells release histamine. This causes symptoms such as swelling, redness and itchy skin. So, reducing histamine in the diet can help alleviate the symptoms of chronic hives.

A 2017 study showed that following a low-histamine diet for three weeks helped improve the symptoms and severity of chronic hives with no known cause.

However, other health conditions can cause symptoms similar to those of histamine intolerance. You should consult your doctor before starting a low-histamine diet.

Limited evidence shows that a low-histamine diet may improve symptoms of histamine intolerance and other conditions related to histamine release, such as chronic hives.

No studies show the adverse effects of a diet low in histamine.

Disadvantages

A low-histamine diet may help some people, but may have some disadvantages:

• The diet excludes certain nutritious foods. Low-histamine diets exclude health-promoting foods, such as fermented foods, nuts, fatty fish, and certain vegetables and fruits. This can lead to nutritional deficiencies in the diet. Some of these foods may also contain nutrients important for the functioning of enzymes that digest histamine.
• It is impossible to determine the exact histamine content of a food. Histamine levels can vary depending on factors such as freshness, pH, salt levels, nutritional composition, processing methods and storage conditions.
• Some foods low in histamine can still trigger histamine release. Further studies are needed to identify and confirm which foods cause this phenomenon.
• Each person’s histamine tolerance is different. The effects of a low-histamine diet are very personal, because the amount of histamine a person reacts to can vary. You may need to spend some time experimenting to determine which foods you can and cannot tolerate.
• The diet takes time to set up. For reasons similar to those discussed above, it takes time to find the best version of the diet that improves symptoms while limiting foods as little as possible.
• This can be difficult to follow. The restrictive nature of the diet can make it difficult to follow.
• There is no standard low-histamine diet protocol. More studies are needed to find the best way to plan the diet, decide how long it should last, and create a clear list of foods to avoid.