Article highlights:
- Histamine is a vital immune signaling molecule, but excess levels can trigger allergy-like symptoms
- Poor digestion, weakened mucosal barriers, and an imbalanced gut microbiome can increase histamine activity and worsen symptoms
- Managing histamine involves reducing dietary and environmental triggers, supporting gut health, and ensuring adequate nutrients
Spring and summer are wonderful seasons—unless you’re dealing with itchy eyes, a runny nose, congestion, and sneezing. You might also notice fatigue, brain fog, itchy skin or rashes, GI irritability, sleep disturbances, or flushing and hot flashes. For some, triggers like dust, certain foods, or beverages can affect you year-round. Histamine balance is influenced by your immune tolerance, gut health, and overall body burden. Discover fundamental and targeted support to help you manage histamine and feel your best.
What Is Histamine?
Histamine is a signaling molecule released by cells of the immune system. Mast cells, a type of white blood cell, store histamine in connective tissues under the skin and near blood vessels, lymph vessels, nerves, lungs, bladder, and the digestive tract. Mast cells and other immune cells release histamine in response to an offending agent, a trigger, or threat such as pollen, foods, parasites, bacteria, viruses, mold, and other substances depending upon your immune tolerance and genetic make-up.
Histamine release from mast cells leads to sneezing, congestion, watery eyes, itchy skin and much more. It also regulates sleep-wake cycles, body temperature, food cravings, emotions, neurotransmitters (dopamine, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine), memory, learning, digestion, gastrointestinal motility, fullness, bloating, stomach acid levels, blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory health, cartilage cells, bone density, pain tolerance, vision and focus, and more.
Histamine is a necessary compound, but like all things, it needs to be in balance. Its levels are affected by key factors like your overall body burden, mucosal barrier integrity of your digestive, respiratory, and genitourinary tracts, good digestion, a healthy gut microbiome, mast cell modulation, food choices, and key nutrients.
Immune Tolerance and Body Burden
Immune tolerance refers to the ability of your immune system to tolerate foods, chemicals, and environmental compounds. Modern life has brought vast changes to the materials and goods used in day-to-day life affecting immune tolerance and total body burden. From plastics and plasticizers, chemicals in the food supply, to stain resistant carpeting and clothing, the new car smell, and so much more, we encounter hundreds of different chemicals daily. Whether by inhalation, dietary ingestion, or from skin contact, your body works to manage exposures.
Your total body burden is like the stack of sticks on a camel’s back. The goal is to lower the body burden before you reach a point of breakdown or slow erosion of your health.
Mucosal Barrier Integrity
Mucosal barrier integrity of the intestinal, respiratory, and genitourinary tracts is fundamental to immune tolerance. These barriers are constantly on guard—repelling harmful substances, managing everything they encounter, and regulating cytokines, inflammatory responses, and mast cell activity. Their proper function is essential for strong immune resilience and overall vitality.
Factors that compromise mucosal barrier integrity include consumption of gluten, gluten associated cross-reactive foods, medications like aspirin, NSAIDs, antibiotics, acid blockers, steroids, high cortisol/stress, and other concerns.
These critical barriers depend upon key nutrients to continually repair and maintain their protective roles as well as inhibit mast cells and clear histamine. Fundamental nutrients include short chain fatty acids like butyrate, vitamins A and D, omega-3 DHA and EPA, protein, especially branch chain proteins, and dietary fiber.
Important supportive supplements include Tributyrin Plus, Vitamin D, Daily Protector Eye & Immune, Daily DHA, and Fiber Helper.
Good Digestion
Another factor that affects immune tolerance and activation of immune cells is good digestion energetics. Your digestive ability can easily become less efficient when under stress, overeating, or not chewing food well. Furthermore, digestion becomes more difficult with increased age. Certain foods are also more challenging to digest such as ultra-processed foods, gluten, dairy, lectins, nightshades, phytates, seeds and nuts.
Larger or poorly digested food particles irritate the gut-neuro-immune system leading to increased production of pro-inflammatory compounds which injure the mucosal barrier and then enter circulation. These factors can lead to increased mast cell activation and histamine burden in the digestive tract and elsewhere.
Supportive options include Digestive Helper.
A Healthy, Diverse Gut Microbiome
A healthy gut microbiome is integral for immune tolerance and mast cell stability, which depends on a diet with a variety of whole foods. A chronic restricted diet causes the healthy gut microbiome to shrink while non-beneficial germs flourish. It becomes necessary to implement a wider variety of whole foods to restore beneficial bacteria to the gut microbiome as well as reduce the burden from microbiome dysbiosis. Individuals may find probiotics and phytonutrients beneficial to help rebalance the gut microbiome.
Supportive options include Super Dophilus and Oregano Oil
Reduce the Burden
Reduce stress on your digestive system, immune system, and mast cells by decreasing intake of nutrient-poor foods. Clean up your diet. Avoid ultra-processed foods and beverages at least 80-90% of the time. Reduce/avoid added sugar. Ongoing consumption of high fat, high sugar, white flour, white sugar, deep-fried, seed oils, and/or packaged processed foods is a fast way to poor health, disease, and nutrient depletions. Eat real food.
Furthermore, various foods can affect your body’s histamine load too. Fermented foods like cheese, sauerkraut, wine, beer, and champagne as well as tomatoes, eggplant, spinach, processed meat, banana, pineapple, papaya, citrus fruits, strawberries, nuts and peanuts, licorice, chocolate, pork, egg white, food colorings and preservatives, various fish types, and others affect histamine levels and immune tolerance. They have higher histamine content and may be troublesome for those who have a high body burden. Food preparation and storage affect histamine content; i.e. leftover foods increase in histamine content if not frozen immediately.
Medications can also increase or interfere with enzymes that clear histamine. Examples include ambroxol, acetylcysteine, amitriptyline, clavulanic acid, dihydralazine, isoniazid, metoclopramide, prajmalium, verapamil, and others. Check with your pharmacist for more information.
Mast Cell and Histamine
Key nutrients required to help stabilize mast cells and support histamine management include quercetin, luteolin, vitamin C, copper, zinc, magnesium, butyrate, and PEA/palmitoylethanolamide.
Other nutrients like B vitamins, astaxanthin, chlorella, MSM sulfur, DAO enzymes, and many others support mast cell inhibition or clearance of histamine. Please work with your licensed health care practitioner if you have substantial symptoms.
Summary
If you find yourself fatigued and in a fog with a runny nose and digestive irritability, or have increased sensitivity, consider fundamental support of Quercetin Phytosome + Luteolin, or the original Quercetin, Vitamin C or Buffered Vitamin C powder, Strengthener Plus, and PEA Ultra to support your immune tolerance and mast cell stability.
More intensive support includes Tributyrin Plus, Digestive Helper, Super Dophilus, Oregano Oil, and Fiber Helper. Building resiliency and immune tolerance are important at all stages of life. How are you doing?
Additional Resources
Real Foods and Flavonoids Protect Your Body from Stress and Aging
Fight Spring Allergies Naturally with Nutrition
Healthy Mucosal Barriers Makes for a Healthier You
The Pancreas, Digestion, and Best Enzymes to Supplement
Diabetes and Pancreatic Insufficiency: An Often Neglected Connection
Gluten Intolerance: What Does It Look Like?
Vitamin C Does Far More Than Support Immunity
Quercetin Phytosome & Luteolin: Dynamic Duo for Immune Health and Longevity
Butyrate Aids Digestive Tract Health: Discover New Tributyrin Plus
PEA Ultra: A Revolutionary Nutrient for Health and Repair
Next Generation Gut Support: Introducing the New Super Dophilus
Fiber and Your Gut Mucosal Lining
Leaky Gut Syndrome: More Than Just A Gut Problem
Behind the Buzz: Alcohol’s Hidden Impact on Gut Health
NSAIDs Injure Gut Lining and Mitochondria
Revitalize Your Gut: How Prebiotics, Probiotics & Postbiotics Work Together
MTHFR Gene Defects, Methylation, and Natural Support
Taming the Mind at Night: Help for Insomnia
