Histamine Intolerance

Histamine intolerance (HIT) is caused by your body’s adverse reaction to histamine. It is caused because your body is unable to breakdown the histamine.

What is histamine?

Histamine is a naturally occurring chemical, produced by the body during an allergic reaction. It causes blood vessels to dilate and increase their permeability as part of the body’s normal immune response to allergens such as pollen. Histamine also occurs naturally in some foods. But, if histamine levels in the body become too high this can have a detrimental effect.


What causes histamine intolerance?

When histamine enters the body it is broken down by the enzyme diamine oxidase.  Histamine intolerance occurs when the body has too little of this enzyme for sufficient processing of histamine and/ or the body consumes more histamine than it can break down and so histamine levels build.

Who’s affected by histamine intolerance?

Histamine intolerance has been genetically linked, where some people are born with significantly reduced diamine oxidase levels. But sometimes, certain medication and types of disease can affect the gut so that it doesn’t respond to histamine in the normal way.


« Gluten Free Diet Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance »