Food Intolerance: The Role of Histamine

Abstract

Histamine is a natural amine derived from L-histidine. Although it seems that our knowledge about this molecule is wide and diverse, the importance of histamine in many regulatory processes is still enigmatic. The interplay between different types of histamine receptors and the compound may cause ample effects, including histamine intoxication and so-called histamine intolerance or non-allergic food intolerance, leading to disturbances in immune regulation, manifestation of gastroenterological symptoms, and neurological diseases. Most cases of clinical manifestations of histamine intolerance are non-specific due to tissue-specific distribution of different histamine receptors and the lack of reproducible and reliable diagnostic markers. The diagnosis of histamine intolerance is fraught with difficulties, in addition to challenges related to the selection of a proper treatment strategy, the regular course of recovery, and reduced amelioration of chronic symptoms due to inappropriate treatment prescription. Here, we reviewed a history of histamine uptake starting from the current knowledge about its degradation and the prevalence of histamine precursors in daily food, and continuing with the receptor interactions after entering and the impacts on the immune, central nervous, and gastrointestinal systems. The purpose of this review is to build an extraordinarily specific method of histamine cycle assessment in regard to non-allergic intolerance and its possible dire consequences that can be suffered.

Association Between Consumption of Fermented Food and Food-Derived Prebiotics With Cognitive Performance, Depressive, and Anxiety Symptoms in Psychiatrically Healthy Medical Students Under Psychological Stress: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…This is possible particularly as the weather was the enemy of food quality in this study: the research was performed in June and temperatures at that time were relatively high in central Poland (105). Exposure to fermented food-derived toxins could have evoked a low-level inflammatory response (106)(107)(108)(109). Notably, both "dietary inflammation" (110) and foodborne infections (111) have been suggested to adversely affect mental wellbeing by evoking excessive depressive and anxiety symptoms.…”

Basal Serum Diamine Oxidase Levels as a Biomarker of Histamine Intolerance: A Retrospective Cohort Study

“…Nonetheless, intermediate DAO levels identified a subgroup of patients with more complex, less constant, and more treatment-susceptible symptoms compared to patients with low DAO levels. These data possibly suggest that fluctuating histamine levels due to insufficient but not abolished DAO activity reserve might cause more detrimental clinical manifestations than constitutive histamine overload, which might instead lead to downstream pathway desensitization at least in selected organ/tissues [ 9 , 24 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Conversely, reduced dietary histamine load through diet and oral DAO supplementation might be insufficient to induce symptom remission in patients with complete DAO deficiency.…”

“…Multiple sets of clinical criteria for HIT diagnosis have been proposed in the literature with the aim of minimizing the confounding effects of other conditions, such as food intolerances [ 35 , 41 , 42 ], irritable bowel syndrome [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], and non-celiac gluten sensitivity [ 19 , 47 , 48 ]. In the absence of a universal definition of HIT, a reliable comparison among distinct cohorts remains challenging [ 49 ].…”

The Missing Link: A Case of Severe Adverse Reaction to Histamine in Food and Beverages

“…Complexity is a serious obstacle to understanding cause-and-effect relationships between symptoms and diet [ 13 ]. Histamine does not alter smell, appearance, or taste, it is heat-stable, and remains present after freezing or canning.…”