Histamine intolerance

Food intolerances are more often subjectively suspected than they are objectively detectable.  Such suspicions cannot always be confirmed by reliable laboratory parameters. As a result, people with a suspected food intolerance often follow extensive elimination diets for years and unnecessarily restrict their diet, as in the case of the frequently suspected histamine intolerance.

In the case of histamine intolerance, laboratory parameters such as the determination of diamine oxidase (DAO) in serum have proven to be inconclusive. Due to the lack of reproducibility of symptoms, there are justified doubts about the existence of an intolerance to orally ingested histamine.

In order to help those affected with a corresponding suspected diagnosis and to support them in moving from blanket and thus often unnecessary prohibitions to effective individual therapy strategies, the focus is on a three-step dietary change.  This is not only to be used for diagnosis, but also already serves to improve the overall condition of those affected. Patients can already benefit from a change in dietary behaviour with freedom from symptoms. The determination of the methylhistamine content in the urine must be critically questioned, since the values for methylhistamine depend not only on the histamine content, but also generally on the protein content of the diet and also increase when a diet rich in protein but low in histamine is consumed. An estimation of the tolerance of histamine-containing foods based on the level of their histamine content is not meaningful, as these vary greatly and there is doubt that histamine is the (sole) triggering factor.