DGP: Histamine Intolerance: How it May be Affecting You [Episode 14]

Welcome to this week’s Dirty Genes Podcast. Today’s topic is a big one: histamine intolerance.

I'm Dr. Ben Lynch — welcome to the Dirty Genes Podcast. I hope you enjoy the episode! If you do, be sure to give a thumbs-up, rate it, leave a comment, and subscribe here.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Watch the Podcast (YouTube)
• Show Notes
• A Message from Dr. Lynch
• Episode 14 Transcript: Histamine Intolerance: How it May be Affecting You!
  • Can Histamine Intolerance Be Cured?
  • Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance
  • Itching and Scratching
  • What does Histamine do?
  • Your Gut on Histamine
  • Your Histamine Intolerance Bucket
  • What Causes High Histamine?
  • Histamine Producing Bacteria
  • Probiotics & Poop
  • Probiotics & Histamine Levels
  • Histamine Food Sources
  • Estrogen Triggers Histamine Release
  • Exercise & Histamine
  • Histamine Genetics
  • Acid Reflux, Antacids & Antihistamines
  • Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana?
  • Your DAO Gene on Histamine
  • Your DAO Gene on Alcohol
  • Your HNMT, MAOA & MAOB Genes
  • Steps to Take to Reduce Histamine
  • Histamine Intolerance Supplements
• Subscribe to the Dirty Genes Podcast

Click the video below to watch the Dirty Genes Podcast or keep scrolling to read the transcript of Episode 14: Histamine Intolerance: How it May be Affecting You!

Show Notes

• Dirty Genes by Dr. Lynch
• Histamine Intolerance: Everything You Need to Know
• 5 Histamine Intolerance Supplements

A Message from Dr. Lynch

Are you struggling with an annoying, recurring symptom that you have no clue how to make go away or at least improve?

Runny nose? Nosebleeds? Sneezing? Bloating? Sensitive to EMF? Can't fall asleep? Sudden irritability? Itchy skin randomly? Hot all the time? Red-faced after exercise? Sensitive to alcohol? Food sensitivities or food intolerance? Breathing difficulties?

Most of these don't require a run to your doctor. If they do, your doctor just bandaids you with medications or stuff that doesn't work.

What you're dealing with here is a lack of awareness by the medical establishment.

Histamine Intolerance.

It's gaining traction - finally - but most health professionals still have no clue how to address it properly.

This is a MUST LISTEN to episode - and a must share with others episode.

Head over to any of your favorite podcast platforms and type in Dirty Genes Podcast. Hit subscribe. Then play.

Enjoy empowering yourself. It's about time you know how your own body works. Once you understand how your body works, then you'll be confident you can help yourself feel better.

In health,

Dr. Ben Lynch

PS - Need a little more encouragement?

I'm including a significant offer to those who listen fully to the podcast episodes. Somewhere buried in the podcast is a coupon code for Seeking Health. It's a very good coupon code!

Episode 14 Transcript: Histamine Intolerance: How it May be Affecting You!

Welcome to this week's episode. This one is special. It’s dedicated to those people who are struggling with symptoms, but they have no idea that they're not normal. They think that whatever they're struggling with is normal. Or, you know there's a problem, but you have no idea where to start. Or maybe you've improved, but you aren’t quite there yet.

Today's topic is histamine intolerance. Are you excited? I am. I'm Dr. Ben Lynch, and this is the Dirty Genes Podcast.

Can Histamine Intolerance Be Cured?

For years I struggled with histamine intolerance. It's not something that actually goes away forever. It can always come and go, and it depends on what's going on in your life. But if you understand the aggravating factors and know how to improve them and what's causing them, you can make decisions and improve your histamine intolerance. I have done so. I’ve struggled a lifetime with high histamine issues. You already know that if you’ve read my book, Dirty Genes.

Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance

What are the symptoms of histamine intolerance? There's a plethora of them. It could be nosebleeds, itchy skin, staring at the ceiling at night, not being able to fall asleep. I also experience irritability. I can get headaches. I can get motion sickness where I'm in the car, and I'm reading, trying to be productive. I can get seasickness, which is a type of motion sickness.

If any of these sound familiar to you, then you're probably experiencing some degree of histamine intolerance. And maybe it's just episodic, meaning it's at that moment, or it's the first time for you.

Frequent persistent nosebleeds. For decades, I had nosebleeds where I had to be sidelined. I mean, I'd be playing soccer as a kid and get a nosebleed. I had to sit out. I'd be playing in a tennis match. I'd get a nosebleed. I'd delay the game. How embarrassing is that?

So I'd be sitting in class or a cafeteria as a kid, eating some food, or just sitting there, and I'd touch my nose, and I'd get a nosebleed. It was annoying. And I got silver nitrate stuffed up there, and it burned. It stopped my nosebleeds for a little while, but they came back because having my nose cauterized didn't fix it because of my high levels of histamine. It just found another weak point in the blood vessels in my nose and started bleeding all over again.

Itching and Scratching

We tend to try to stop these symptoms from happening, and we want to make them go away quickly. We use antihistamines, or headache medications, over the counter meds. We put something on our itchy skin after we get bit by bugs. Then we get this big welt of stuff on our skin because the mosquito bit us or a bee stung us, and it's super itchy. And we itch so much that we get scabs and bleed. Our middle son Matthew was that way. When we go to Russia in the summer, he'd get bit by mosquitoes, and he would itch horribly. Does that happen to you or your kids or someone you know where you wonder why they are scratching so vehemently from a bug bite? You get bit by mosquitoes, not a big deal for you at all. You don't get it, but they, wow. They are scratching nonstop. And why the heck would they scratch until they bleed? And then they don't even really let it scab over because they keep scratching, and they're up all night, and you hear him scratching. You're like, "Please stop."

What does Histamine do?

So genetics are different. Our environments are different. The foods we eat are different. Our microbiomes are different. So let's define what histamine is first and what it does for you.

Histamine is a compound in your body that has a lot of different jobs to do. Histamine supports our ability to focus, to think, to learn, to stay awake. Histamine supports our immune system so that our immune system responds when needed to support wound healing if we get cut or scraped. I fell off the one wheel a couple of weeks ago, and I'm going 24 miles an hour, and I hit the pavement at about 24 miles an hour, and I slid about 24 feet. So I've got cuts and scrapes and holes in my knee, and my hip and my shoulder are botched. And my histamine levels are actually helping me heal right now.

Your Gut on Histamine

If you have gut issues, maybe you don't have enough histamine. Why? Because histamine stimulates stomach acid.

If you have low stomach acid, there might be low histamine in your stomach.

Histamine also supports gut motility, meaning it helps move the poop and your gastrointestinal system through and out. Have you ever eaten something that has a lot of bad bugs on it, maybe E. coli? Your immune system responds, and your histamine levels skyrocket, and then you have explosive diarrhea. Why? Because histamine helps expel a bunch of stuff out of your digestive tract. So that's really heightened gut motility. And episodic-like that or situational like that, it's very useful.

Your Histamine Intolerance Bucket

Histamine has its pros and its cons. The cons of histamine lead to histamine intolerance.

Histamine intolerance is where your bucket of histamine is so full that any type of trigger, whether it's food, environmental, or stress, is going to spill over your histamine levels and lead to problems.

Imagine you have a cup, an eight-ounce cup. You fill it with water to the very, very brim. Then you have to walk up a flight of stairs to deliver it. If that cup of water is sitting right there on your desk, it's full of water (i.e., histamine), it's fine. But as soon as that cup has to go and do something else, it can start spilling over. So you start going upstairs, start spilling over. And it starts going down again; you’re fine. Okay. So just think of histamine as a bucket in your life. And histamine intolerance is when your bucket of histamine is too high.

What Causes High Histamine?

What fills up your bucket of histamine? Good question. Stress, persistent irritability, high levels of neurotransmitters in your brain basically. So if you have high levels of neurotransmitters in your brain, that actually stimulates the release of histamine. We have a huge amount of histamine in our brains. Have you ever looked at the back of a package of common over-the-counter antihistamines? It says right there on the big warning label, "Caution, taking this medication may induce drowsiness. Do not operate heavy machinery.” Well, yeah, it's because histamine binds to those same receptors as the medication does, but the medication blocks your histamine from binding to that receptor, so you don't get the allergy response. But you also get tired because, well, histamine needs to bind that receptor to keep you focused and alert. So it's a huge issue.

Histamine Producing Bacteria

Another cause of histamine intolerance is the microbiome. If your microbiome has a bug in there called Blastocystis hominis, which is actually pervasive. They actually think that Blastocystis hominis is a bacteria that is no longer pathogenic because it's everywhere. It's in your drinking water. It’s in your food. It's easily passed from person to person if you share utensils and so on. But Blastocystis hominis produces a lot of histamine. It's a high-histamine-producing bacteria, and it's common in the population. Why? I don't know. I had it. I tested it. I did a digestive stool test. I had it. My wife had it, our kids had it. Everybody had it. I finally got rid of it, and my wife did another stool test, and hers is still persisting. Maybe she got rid of it, and then it came back. I'm not sure.

But you've got to be working on certain probiotics to get that in check.

If you have high levels of histamine-producing bacteria like Blastocystis hominis in your digestive system, what's happening is you're absorbing that histamine through the gut, into your blood, which then gets to your brain and into your skin and you start having histamine related symptoms.

You can get the irritability. You can get the nosebleeds. You can go underneath the couch and grab the last remote that kids dropped under there, or you're cleaning it up and there's a bunch of dust bunnies, and now you're getting all these red dots on your skin. That's the high histamine. And you're being aggravated because why? Because of the gut imbalance of the Blastocystis hominis.

Probiotics & Poop

Or perhaps you switched, listen to this folks, because this happened to me, is you bought a probiotic that you thought was really good for you, really good for you. Multi-strain. God, it was expensive, and a lot of reviews are just amazing. And so you started taking it for the first few days, maybe even a week, maybe even two weeks, and your digestive system was working well. The stools are nice and thick because the more probiotics that you take, sometimes they increase the boldness of your stool, which is great because the stretch receptors in your rectum, when they get stretched out, it signifies that, "Oh," signals that you need to go take a poop and you actually go poop. But if you-

But if you drop that nice, full poop in the toilet, that's satisfying, right? So that could be from a good, healthy microbiome. But if you're taking probiotics that are increasing histamine too much, then you need to get histamine tolerance. Again, there's that ebb and flow. If you get too much histamine, then you're going to start absorbing it and getting those problems.

And so, for me, I started becoming more irritable. I started having these weird head pains, like a headache, but not really a headache. And I would be staring at the ceiling at night, not falling asleep very easily. And I just was not feeling good. I felt even a bit dizzier. And I was thinking back, what changed? What changed? What changed? And what changed was I switched to this probiotic. And this probiotic was new for me, and I've been taking it for maybe a month or two. And it was about 50 to 100 billion strains. Sometimes I'd take 200 billion because, hey, more is better, right? And so I stopped taking it, I started feeling better.

Probiotics & Histamine Levels

And then a year or two went by, and I figured out why I felt better. I researched which strains increase histamine production in the gut.

Strains that increase histamine in the gut include lactobacillus bulgaricus, lactobacillus fermentum and lactobacillus casei.

These three specifically and possibly others as well increase histamine by quite a bit. If you are taking a probiotic with these three, again, lactobacillus bulgaricus, fermentum, and casei...if you are supplementing with these three and experiencing histamine intolerance, then I highly recommend that you stop taking them. If they are recommended by your healthcare professional or a health professional prescribed them for you, go have a talk with them.

I formulated ProBiota HistaminX to help those who have higher histamine levels in their digestive system because ProBiota Histaminx is designed to support healthy levels of histamine in your digestive system.^†

When you are consuming specific strains that help modulate histamine or break down histamine, or don't produce histamine, then whatever strains that are producing histamine, it should help to balance out. ProBiota HistaminX is what I've been using in my family for years. It's been an amazing, an amazing change.

Histamine Food Sources

So those are a few things that contribute to histamine intolerance. The gut is a big one. Food and drink are another. If you're eating a lot of histamine-rich foods like citrus fruits or fermented foods like kombucha or sauerkraut, or aged meats like salami or aged cheeses, or alcohol like red wine, that's another big one. These are all high histamine foods. Especially if your bucket is full. So you have to remove those, at least for the time being, if you're experiencing histamine intolerance. Look into doing an elimination diet, a low-histamine diet, or a histamine-free diet.

Estrogen Triggers Histamine Release

Another one is estrogen. Ladies, histamine is a big problem for you, in men as well. So men, if you have a higher level of estrogen, which is possible, I do at times because my genetics for metabolizing estrogen are not very good either, very slow at it. So if your estrogen levels are elevated, that also increases the release of histamine. That is not good long-term. If you have extra weight around your middle, your BMI is higher, or you just have higher estrogen levels because you can't get rid of estrogen, then you need to be working with your health professional to help lower your estrogen levels. We have a few blogs about histamine intolerance on our Seeking Health Blog. Check the show notes for links.

Exercise & Histamine

Have you ever exercised and had a really red face? A brilliant red face can be associated with high histamine levels.

If you exercise and have a red face for 20 minutes, and then it goes away, that's probably typical. That's a healthy, robust immune response, and you're good. But if you've exercised and your red face stays there for an hour, two hours and you stay flushed, or you're on the treadmill, and someone on the treadmill next to you is like, "Wow, Ben, what is up with your face? You look like a beet. You are so red." That's probably something to be listening to because if you have that red of a face, that's probably too high of histamine. So exercise can induce that, and exercise also increases histamine for various reasons.

Histamine Genetics

So histamine intolerance is aggravated and worsened by those common issues. Now let's look at some other factors here too. Let's look at some genetic factors. So I did my StrateGene Genetic Test. And in the StrateGene report, I’m looking at the histamine pathway and a particular genetic variation, which I have, is in the H1 receptor. The histamine receptor, H1 receptor, is located in our brain. And it's very useful for learning as it'll increase alertness and what have you. But I have a lot of histamine receptors in my brain, and they are also very sensitive.

And so this particular genetic variation is associated with increased susceptibility to motion sickness, seasickness, motion sickness, car sickness, any type of motion, merry-go-rounds. I could never do those as a kid, Ferris wheels, couldn't do them. My friends at school, we went to carnivals, and they’d say, "Oh, let's do this ride." I'm like, "Oh no, I'm good." Or I would not be good. And I would be vomiting profusely because what's vomiting? High levels of histamine, and serotonin too.

High levels of histamine are associated with nausea and vomiting.

So, nausea and vomiting of pregnancy? Mm-hmm (affirmative), histamine. So this particular killer genetic variant is pretty common. Understanding this about myself has made me feel, A, more aware, and B, like I’m not a wimp.

Now that I know that I've increased susceptibility to motion sickness, well, I do things to help prevent that. If I'm going to go on someone's boat, I'm going to be working on ways to reduce my histamine bucket. I'm not going to have my bucket so full because when I go out there, I'm going to get more histamine, and I'm going to get seasick. Now I can go out on a boat and most of the time, knock on wood, I don’t get seasick. Why? Because I know how to handle it. I'm going to give you these pointers here in a moment. But first, I need to share all the things that can be associated with histamine intolerance, including genetics.

Acid Reflux, Antacids & Antihistamines

So, I was out on a boat with my family in Costa Rica, and there was this guy; he was just puking up a storm. The seas were rough; they were really rough. And I did amazingly well. Why? I didn't eat a thing. I just hydrated. I just drank some Optimal Electrolyte. I hydrated, and I ate nothing, and my stomach was way better for it. And we were going to this island that was 40 miles offshore. It was pouring rain sideways. The waves and swells were big. And this guy, for over an hour, was just puking his guts out. And I felt so bad.

I turned and started talking to him after we got more inland and things calmed down, and he wasn't puking as much because nothing was left, and he was dry heaving, but dry heaving a lot less. I said, "Man," I said, "I'm really sorry you're going through this. What's up?" And he goes, "Oh no, I'm susceptible to this. I have acid reflux." I was like, "Oh, acid reflux." Guess what? Yeah. High histamine. Yeah. So did you know that common over-the-counter antacids like Pepcid, Zantac, Tagamet are all histamine two receptor blockers?

These antacids are actually anti-histamines in your digestive system because acid reflux, not always, but a lot of times is associated with high histamine.

So this guy's bucket of histamine was already high, and he was suppressing his histamine binding in his digestive system so he wouldn't get acid reflux. But what does that do to the histamine levels by themselves? Nothing, because all these antacids, all they do is prevent the binding of histamine to the receptor in his stomach. So he doesn't get the acid reflux, but that histamine is still there. Because all these antacids do is block the binding of the histamine, that's it. He still has a high amount of histamine in his body. He just blocked it from binding. That's all antihistamines do.

As soon as you stop the anti-histamines or the antacids that work on histamine receptors, you're going to get symptoms. You're going to get the seasonal allergies. You’re going to get the allergic reactions. You're going to get the irritability. You're going to get the runny noses. You're going to get the acid reflux. So this poor guy was taking these antacids because that's the way to deal with acid reflux for most people. He gets on the boat, pukes his guts out, but that's not it.

Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana?

He goes, "I knew I shouldn't have had the orange juice and bananas before I got on the boat because those aggravate my acid reflux." I was like, "Wow, could this get any easier?" I'm thinking this, and even Theo, my youngest, was like, "Oh, he knew what was going on." And I said, "Man, you just drank probably one of the highest histamine-containing drinks, and you ate some of the highest histamine producing foods, banana. So you've got bananas, orange juice, and high levels of histamine. And now you get in a boat with rough waves, and you're puking your guts out." All right. And Theo's like, "Dad, Dad, do you have any histamine block?" I said. "No, Theo. I don't, man. I don't have any with me in Costa Rica." He goes, "Dang it. Because you could help him, right?" I said, "Absolutely, I could help him." He's like, "Why did he drink that orange juice?" "Dude, I don't know."

But what I did is I did something on that trip that we should all do. If you understand the biochemistry, folks, you try and help people. And so what I did, the owner was actually onboard with us, so when we got to land, and we were having this amazing home-cooked lunch, it was a great trip overall, even this guy had fun at the end, but I went up to the owner and I said, "Man, you need to get rid of that orange juice. You need to serve water or maybe apple juice." That's not ideal either because of the arsenic. "Maybe you have some other type of juice. Coconut water, that would be brilliant. Coconut water has got potassium. It's got some carbohydrate for energy. So serve some fresh coconut water and get rid of the bananas. Maybe have some, I don't know, some other type of snack that is not high in histamine content." And so I gave him some alternatives.

And he really took it to heart. I said, "Because what's happening is you're giving yourself bad press indirectly because you're actually making all of your customers seasick by giving them these high histamine-containing foods and drinks." So he took it to heart. I'm hoping he switched because this poor guy was struggling. So you've got to be changing your diet.

Your DAO Gene on Histamine

Some people have a genetic variation in the gene called DAO (diamine oxidase). The DAO gene increases your susceptibility to histamine in foods, drinks, and histamine produced in your microbiome. Why? Because the job of DAO is to process histamine in the gut, in the digestive system. Ideally, it prevents the build-up of histamine coming from food or gut bacteria.

And DAO is also found, ladies, in the placenta. So if you are experiencing pregnancy complications or nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, it could be because your placenta is not making DAO very well or you're not making DAO very well, or your DAO gene is dirty, and you need to read the chapter, DAO in the book, Dirty Genes.

I highly recommend it because this is a big-time dirty gene for people. In my genetics, I have a few genetic variations in my DAO gene which actually make me more susceptible to histamine.

DAO activity is a big one, and I had a person comment the other day saying, "Dr. Lynch, I did your StrateGene Genetic Test. I don't have a DAO genetic variation, but I can't touch histamine-containing foods or drinks at all. Since I don't have the DAO variation according to StrateGene, then I guess I shouldn't be taking your DAO enzyme found in Histamine Digest, should I? It's not really indicated for me." And I was like, "Wow, this is such a common problem."

Listen, folks, if you do a genetic test and you do not have a genetic variation in any particular gene that does not mean that the particular gene is not causing a problem for you.

So many people think that they're scot-free because there's no variation in that particular gene, but they've completely disregarded epigenetics.

Your DAO Gene on Alcohol

The DAO enzyme that is working to eliminate histamine from food and drink in the microbiome gets easily dirtied. Other things, acetaldehyde, which is produced from alcohol. Alcohol turns into acetaldehyde which can also dirty your DAO enzyme. Just drinking alcohol is going to increase your histamine intolerance.

The dirtier your DAO gene is, the more susceptible to histamine intolerance you are.

Let's say you don't have a genetic variation in your DAO, but you are taking Metformin. And you have yeast overgrowth in your gut. You have candida, because candida produces acetaldehyde themselves, which is how a lot of alcohol is made, from yeast. So alcohol turns into acetaldehyde, yeast produce acetaldehyde, possibly you're taking Metformin, and also gut not being healthy, maybe you have leaky gut, that also contributes to dirty DAO, and the nutrient needed for your DAO enzyme is copper.

If you have insufficient copper, because maybe you're taking a bunch of zinc and now your copper levels are low, well, then your DAO enzyme won't work either. So regardless if you have a genetic variation or not, your DAO enzyme can be very, very dirty.

Your HNMT, MAOA & MAOB Genes

Another histamine gene is called HNMT (histamine n-methyltransferase). Its primary job is to get rid of histamine in the brain, uterus, skin, and liver.

If you have a genetic variation in this HNMT gene then perhaps you are more prone to eczema, psoriasis, itchy skin, bug bites, swelling, and it's going to be a problem for you.

Does that mean you’re fine if you don’t have a genetic variation in your HNMT gene? That you're not going to have those problems? No, because the HNMT gene can get dirty from other things. What? Bad methylation.

We’ve talked about methylation a lot. If you've got an MTHFR genetic variation, your HNMT gene won't work very well. If you have low glutathione, your HNMT gene won't very work very well. If you have high homocysteine, low B12, low folate, low B6, all these things will contribute to a potentially slower, more sluggish HNMT regardless of if you have a genetic variation in there or not. I do not have a genetic variation in my HNMT gene. I don't, but my methylation cycle isn't so good. Well, why does that matter? Because the HNMT gene uses methylation in order to function.

Now, there are other genes as well. There's MAOA, monoamine oxidase, and monoamine oxidase A and B. These genes are really important to process histamine as well, but a different type of histamine. It's called N-methyl histamine because HNMT will take your histamine and it will methylate it. So HNMT uses S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) to methylate histamine. It makes N-methyl histamine, and then the monoamine oxidase genes process it into a different type of compound. Then another gene processes it, called aldehyde dehydrogenase, to get rid of it. Then you will eventually pee out your histamine. I got better. My histamine pathway sucks in terms of eliminating histamine, but once I get it dialed in, I'm great. So, that's the genetic side of it.

Steps to Take to Reduce Histamine

Now, how do you support it? I mentioned a lot of things already. Lack of sleep, you've got to sleep better, but that's a vicious cycle because histamine doesn't really help you sleep. So you've got to know that, but then just not purposely stay up till 2:00 in the morning. So maybe you start changing your lifestyle habits and maybe not drink in the evening, because drinking increases your histamine levels. So don't drink in the evenings. Don't stay up to all hours watching Netflix. Go to bed earlier. Yeah, you might be staring at a ceiling for another hour, but at least you're staring at a ceiling from 11:00 to Midnight instead of 2:00 to 3:00 or 1:00 to 2:00. So those are some changes you can make.

If you're exercising, exercise earlier in the day instead of in the evening. Why? Because exercise increases histamine. If you are exercising in the evening and you get more alert, more focused, more attentive, then you're not going to be able to fall asleep. I used to play soccer on a rec team and we called it the Old Man's League, 40 and over. I loved it, but the games were at eight o'clock, nine o'clock, 10 o'clock even indoor. I’d come home wired, all amped up, my adrenaline, my histamine levels. And I couldn't fall asleep until 1:00 in the morning. And I'd be wrecked for the next three days. But I thought I was doing myself good because I'm exercising and I'm playing soccer and I'm hanging out with people in the social aspect and it's fun, but it wrecked my sleep. My histamine levels were going through the roof. I stopped. So, I want to play soccer again, but not like that.

You gotta be looking for underlying bugs. If you have yeast overgrowth in your gut, you gotta clean that up. And if you are consuming oxidized fatty acids, that's going to be slowing down your ALDH gene.

So oxidized fatty acids, where do you get that? When you cook. Here you are cooking more at home, but you're cooking with olive oil or you're cooking with sunflower oil or you're cooking with almond oil or whatever. And some of these oils do not have good smoke points, meaning that they get easily burnt, damaged, and oxidized, and you're inhaling all that. So stick with ghee or avocado oil. These two oils have very high smoke points. If you're overweight, you gotta be looking for ways to support your weight loss. Okay. Eating at night is a big one. It's not all about exercise. Just eating whole foods is a huge, huge factor.

Histamine Intolerance Supplements

Now, in terms of supplementation, we just came out with a new supplement, which I'm extremely excited about, called Histamine Nutrients.

Histamine Nutrients contains the nutrients found to support every single enzyme in your histamine pathway. So that's what Histamine Nutrients is. It's the DAO enzyme directly. It's the copper. It's the zinc. It's the niacin. It's the SAMe. It's the riboflavin. It's the B5. And it's more than that because when you're processing histamine via the DAO enzyme, the DAO enzyme is producing hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. And so are the monoamine oxidase genes, MAOA and MAOB.^†

So here you are eliminating histamine through these genes, but your body is also producing these toxic byproducts of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. So what did I do? I added components to help metabolize ammonia by adding Alpha-ketoglutarate and PQQ to support the oxidative stress of the hydrogen peroxide.^† And so when I put all those together inside two capsules, then I tested it for months before we went to market and I was impressed with the results.

I just did a video of my son yesterday. I gave him two capsules of Histamine Nutrients because his right nostril was completely plugged. Within five minutes, it was 30% improved.

Histamine Nutrients is designed to support healthy histamine levels by supporting the enzymes that metabolize histamine.

The enzymes that metabolize histamine include DAO,  ALDH, HNMT, NAT2, MAOA, and MAOB. And that's what Histamine Nutrients, it supports all of these enzymes.^†

Another fan favorite is called HistaminX. HistaminX supports the body's ability to keep histamine where it needs to be. Histamine is stored within the mast cells. If it doesn’t get spat out, then you're not going to have any histamine symptoms. Why? Because histamine has to get out of the cell in order to bind to a histamine receptor. If histamine gets out of the cell and binds to its receptor, then, and only then, will you get histamine symptoms and histamine intolerance. You can have massive amounts of histamine stored inside yourself, and you actually do. And if it stays there, you're good. If it leaks out or gets stimulated to get out, then you get histamine symptoms. And so combining Histamine Nutrients with HistaminX is going to provide more comprehensive support because you're supporting the healthy storage of histamine with HistaminX, and you're supporting healthy histamine levels with the Histamine Nutrients.^†

Now you've got to hit the gut. You've got to support healthy histamine levels inside the gut, and that’s why I designed ProBiota HistaminX.^†This probiotic uses specific strains that either help support histamine metabolism or that don't produce histamine at all, or that help modulate histamine in the gut. So it works on different levels. ProBiota HistaminX has been very, very supportive for a lot of people. So you’ve got to have a more comprehensive approach. You have to support the storage, you have to support the gut, and you have to support the metabolism of histamine.

Another factor is vitamin C. Vitamin C really supports cell membranes. Liposomal delivery of vitamin C supports the absorption of vitamin C. The liposomes are made from phosphatidylcholine, a primary component of your cell membranes. When you take a liposomal vitamin C, not only are you getting the vitamin C to help stabilize mast cells, which then keeps the histamine inside the mast cells, but you're also getting the phosphatidylcholine to support the cell membrane of the cell, which then keeps it stronger and less leaky. At Seeking Health, we have Optimal Liposomal Vitamin C and Optimal Liposomal Vitamin C Plus with rosehips and supportive bioflavonoids.^†

Do you need all of them? It all depends on your situation. I would start with one and see how you go. ProBiota HistaminX would probably be the first one because the gut is always a huge, huge factor for people. ProBiota HistaminX has been one of our top sellers for years now. And we're a big user of it in our home. I would start there.

If you're still struggling, I would be adding in the Histamine Nutreints. Then I'd be looking at things like Optimal Adrenal and Lithium Orotate because that helps balance your moods in a very calming, supportive way.^†

And if you're struggling with higher levels of estrogen, then you need to be looking at DIM plus I3C because DIM and I3C support estrogen metabolism. Calcium D-Glucarate also supports estrogen metabolism, as does Liver Nutrients, all available at SeekingHealth.com.^†

I hope this information serves you. That was a lot to discuss, but histamine intolerance is a lot. And it's a complicated journey. But it can be less complicated if you have a map in front of you like I do. And now, I have a special coupon code for you. Dirty Genes Podcast listeners, thank you so much for your support. You can use coupon code 25OFFSG to get $25 off your StrateGene DNA Kit. You can buy one and get $25 off, or if you have two or three or four people in your family, you get $25 off each StrateGene DNA Kit, which is an amazing deal. I don't know if we've had that deal yet before. (This coupon expires at midnight PST on July 6, 2021.)

I want to thank you for your support. Be sure to click subscribe to the show on YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform. And please leave a review! I love reading reviews, and do be honest with those reviews. If you like certain things about the podcast, please share that. If there are some things that you want to see improved in the podcast, please share that as well. Obviously I love seeing five stars, but I also love constructive criticism as well. So please provide that. And if you are able to leave a comment, please do so. Until next time on the Dirty Genes Podcast - have a great week and keep your histamine down and less intolerant so you can be thriving and succeeding in life. Take care.

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