Probiotics for Histamine Intolerance

Histamine intolerance, sometimes referred to as histaminosis,  is an over-accumulation of histamine in the body’s organs. Histamine intolerance is often referred to informally as an allergy, but due to a metabolic imbalance, this intolerance is technically caused by the progressive accumulation of extracellular histamine.

Around 1 percent of the world population is intolerant to histamine; of those, 80 percent are middle-aged.

Histamine is an organic nitrogenous substance involved in local immune responses, it controls as a neurotransmitter the physiological activity of the gut, and various functions in different organs such as the brain, the spinal cord, and the uterus. Histamine is also involved in the inflammatory response and, as a mediator of itching, it plays a central role.

Symptoms of Histamine intolerance

Histamine intolerance may look like any seasonal allergies-you can experience hives, itchy or irritated skin, red eyes, facial swelling, nasal congestion, headaches, or asthma attacks if you consume histamine-rich food or beverages. Other signs, including a decrease in blood pressure, heart palpitations, and anxiety or panic attacks, could appear and could be sometimes more severe.

Gastrointestinal problems are also particularly common: recent research surveyed about 60 patients on the subject and confirmed that the most common and extreme symptom was bloating, accompanied by diarrhea, abdominal pain, and constipation.

Such symptoms are believed to be common amongst all patients.  The reason is that histamine receptors are present all over the body, . Campbell adds that, since the symptoms are quite unpredictable, patients are usually sent to multiple consultants.

Histamine intolerance is generally related to other diseases such as allergy or food intolerance, mastocytosis (a rare disorder in which mastic cells accumulate in the skin or organs), psychosomatic diseases (physical manifestations of stress and anxiety), anorexia nervosa, or adverse drug reactions because of this bounce-around, research from Comenius University in Bratislava says.

Probiotics for Histamine intolerance

Over 100 trillion bacteria housed in our organism are actually participating in every single metabolic process in some way, spanning from immune health to everyday mood and energy.

When trying to understand the importance of gut bacteria in some illnesses, disorders like histamine intolerance are no exception.

Bacteria are actively involved both in histamine synthesis and degradation.

Some types of bacteria inside the gut will turn an amino acid called histidine into histamine when we eat foods containing this semi-essential amino acid. This conversion raises the levels of internal histamine-even though the food itself is not considered rich in histamine.

There may be an accumulation of extra histamine in the certain patient’s body experiencing histamine intolerance; and an imbalance of the gut bacteria may be the cause of a persistent rise in internal histamine levels.

Many people immediately turn to probiotics for histamine intolerance in an attempt to rebuild and restore gut bacterial equilibrium. Numerous studies have shown that probiotics can boost colonies of gut bacteria and improve overall health. So, this is a perfect solution in general.

Probiotics for histamine intolerance (Some Strains to Look For)

• Bifidobacterium infantis
• Lactobacillus gasseri
• Bifidobacterium breve
• Bifidobacterium bifidum
• Lactobacillus salivarius
• Lactobacillus rhamnosus (especially GG)
• Bifidobacterium longum
• Bifidobacterium lactis

References

Schink, M., Konturek, P.C., Tietz, E., Dieterich, W., Pinzer, T.C., Wirtz, S., Neurath, M.F. and Zopf, Y., 2018. Microbial patterns in patients with histamine intolerance. J Physiol Pharmacol, 69(4), pp.579-593.

Pelto, L., Isolauri, E., Lilius, E.M., Nuutila, J. and Salminen, S., 1998. Probiotic bacteria down-regulate the milk-induced inflammatory response in milk-hypersensitive subjects but have an immunostimulatory effect in healthy subjects. Clinical and experimental allergy: journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 28(12), pp.1474-1479.

Tee, A., Gut Health and Histamine Intolerance.