Foods with high histamine content and that release histamine:
- Fish products that have waited (canned, pickled, conserved), sitting uncleaned fish
- Shellfish
- Tomatoes
- Some fruits: Cherry, plum, peach, grape, pineapple, strawberry, raspberry
Histamine-rich foods:
- Food with high protein content that is sitting after preparation
- Fermented milk products: Yoghurt, cheese, kefir
- Fermented pickles
- Kombu tea
- Processed fermented meat products (sausage, salami)
- Sour yeast and sour leavened products
- Fermented soybean products (miso, soy sauce)
- Fermented alcoholic beverages (wine, beer, champagne)
- Canned foods
- Vinegar and vinegar products
- Catsup
- Some vegetables: tomato, eggplant, spinach, avocado, pumpkin
- Dried fruits
- Legumes, peanuts
- Olives
- Long-boiled bone broth
- Cocoa, chocolate
Nutrients that cause histamine release but have low histamine content:
- Cow’s milk
- Wheat germ
- Some fruits: banana, citrus
- Nuts
- Spices (cinnamon, clove, anise, curry, nutmeg, hot pepper, licorice)
- Legumes
- Egg white (especially if undercooked)
- Food additives and preservatives (benzoate, sorbate, sulfide, nitrite, glutamate, salicylate) and dyes (tartrazine)
Foods and drugs that block DAO enzyme:
- Teas (black, green, white)
- Coke
- Mate tea
- Energy drinks
- Clavulonic acid, cimetidine, verapamil
Foods with high histamine content, causing histamine release and blocking the DAO enzyme:
- Alcoholic products (wine, beer, champagne)
Foods with low histamine content:
- Fresh meats and daily fish
- Fruits (except pineapple, banana, citrus, berries)
- Egg yolk
- Rice
- Vegetables (except tomatoes, eggplant, spinach, avocado, pumpkin)
- Olive oil
- Goat milk
The best way to understand if these foods are causing your symptoms is to keep your food diary. Write your complaints and all the food &beverages; use your inner detective to find the problem food.
To increase the DAO enzyme:
- Eat Omega-3 and -9 unsaturated fats (Fresh fish, olive oil)
- Do not consume poultry meat and processed seed oils with high Omega- 6 content
- Consume high quality animal protein (egg yolk, greens-fed animal meat, fresh fish)
- Do not consume packaged food, try to consume nutrients in their natural state.
- Consume short boiled bone broth
- Eat a zinc, copper and B6 vitamin-rich diet (fresh fish, green flesh of animal feed, greens, root vegetables)
- Take care of your guts (go gluten-free, use probiotic supplementations) (Probiotic supplementation with lactobacillus can worsen intolerance, best avoided)
- Take DAO supplementation: DAO enzyme sold as a nutritional supplement is not absorbed from the intestines, is locally effective. It’s effective if taken half an hour before meals, it lowers histamine levels.
