What foods should not be eaten if you are allergic to histamine?

The three types of food that should be avoided for histamine allergy are those with high histamine content, those that promote histamine release, and those that inhibit the activity of histamine-degrading enzymes. During an acute attack, all diets with medium to high histamine levels should be strictly avoided.

In the past two years, I helped a girl who was diagnosed with histamine intolerance and allergies compile a list of dietary pitfalls. In the first year, she didn't take it seriously. She secretly ate two pieces of drunken braised shrimp that had been left out all night during the National Day dinner. Within half an hour, her neck and face became swollen and hot, and her whole body became swollen. The wheals were so itchy that she cried, so she went to the emergency room and received anti-allergy shots to recover. The doctor said at that time that the histamine content in the piece of shrimp she ate was dozens of times higher than that of fresh shrimps. It was a complete "allergen bomb" for her allergic constitution.

Many people’s understanding of dietary taboos regarding histamine allergies is still limited to “can’t eat seafood”, but it’s actually more than that. Fermented foods are basically the hardest hit areas. Whether it is fermented condiments such as fermented bean curd, natto, and tempeh, or fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut, pickled bamboo shoots, and kimchi, or dairy products such as blue cheese, Parmesan cheese, and fermented butter, or even fermented wines such as beer, fruit wine, and rice wine, a large amount of histamine will be generated during the fermentation process. A single bite of it may trigger discomfort.

What people often overlook are stale ingredients. Even ordinary pork, fish, and green leafy vegetables. As long as leftovers are left at room temperature for more than 4 hours or refrigerated for more than 24 hours, the histamine content will increase significantly, especially seafood and livestock that have been thawed repeatedly. Poultry meat produces histamine much faster than you think. Another friend of mine who has mild symptoms ate braised duck wings that had been stored in the refrigerator for three days. At first, he only had an occasional itchy skin. That time, he had diarrhea for two days and had a rash all over his back. It took almost a week to get better.

Nowadays, there is a lot of debate on the Internet about "Can you eat citrus, tomatoes, strawberries, and kiwis?" There is actually no unified answer. These foods themselves do not contain high histamine content, but some people will stimulate the body to release endogenous histamine when eaten, and some people are also sensitive to the salicylic acid in these foods, so whether it will trigger allergies depends entirely on personal tolerance. I was fine with snacks such as tangerines and strawberries, but my eyelids became swollen when I ate cherry tomatoes. This happened three times after I tried it. In the end, I put cherry tomatoes on my blacklist. If you are not sure, you can try a small amount once or twice, and don't eat too much at one time.

There is another invisible pitfall that is easy to step on. Some foods are not high in histamine, but they will inhibit the activity of diamine oxidase in your body that decomposes histamine. This is equivalent to giving histamine a "green light" to run around in the body. The most typical ones are high levels of white wine, red wine, and excessive amounts of strong tea and coffee. Sometimes you may just take a bite of air-dried sausage with a low histamine content, paired with half a glass of cold beer. The enzymes in your body can decompose the histamine, but the alcohol suppresses the activity of the enzymes, directly triggering an allergic reaction. In this case, many people will mistakenly think that they are allergic to sausages, but in fact, they are combined into a trap.

I have met several friends who are allergic to histamine. Everyone’s feeling is that the general taboo list on the Internet can only be used as a reference. The most reliable thing is to keep a food diary. Write down what you eat and whether you have any reactions. Gradually, you will be able to figure out your tolerance threshold. After all, everyone People have different allergies. You may be fine if you eat a small amount of something that others can't touch. The same goes for other people. You may be affected by it if you touch it just a little bit. There is no need to set limits for yourself by following other people's lists, and don't try high-risk foods indiscriminately.