Introduction
If you’re dealing with histamine intolerance or mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), you’ve probably been told to follow a low histamine diet. And while it can definitely help with symptom relief, it’s not something we feel you should stick to forever. At Eat Drink Live Well we are passionate about a diverse, enjoyable diet – and truly believe that our meal times should give us joy, not stress!
Cutting out nutrient-dense foods long-term can lead to deficiencies and unnecessary food fear. Instead, think of a low histamine diet as a temporary tool—one that gives your body a break while you work on fixing the root causes of your histamine issues. The goal? To get back to enjoying a varied, nourishing diet without the worry of constant flare-ups.
How a Low Histamine Diet Helps
Histamine plays a big role in your body—it’s involved in immune function, digestion, and even brain health. But if your body struggles to break it down properly (thanks to things like gut imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, or chronic stress), histamine builds up and triggers symptoms like headaches, skin rashes, anxiety, and digestive issues.
A low histamine diet helps by reducing the histamine load for a while, giving your body a breather so you can work on deeper healing. Foods that may frequently trigger symptoms due to their histamine content or ability to liberate histamine the body include healthy foods such as ferments (yogurt, sauerkraut, tofu, aged cheeses) and fruits and vegetables including tomatoes, strawberries, spinach, avocados and aubergines. If you take out high histamine foods for a few weeks and find symptoms reduce, that’s a signal that histamine may be playing a part in your symptoms. But it’s not going to rebalance the bigger, underlying symptoms that might be triggering histamine responses. If you just avoid the foods, you’re not solving anything.
The key thing to remember is that a low histamine diet should only ever be a short-term strategy, not a forever fix.
Why You Shouldn’t Stay on a Low Histamine Diet Forever
1. You Might Miss Out on Key Nutrients
Some of the most nutrient-packed foods—like avocados, tomatoes, and fermented foods—are high in histamine. If you cut them out long-term, you could be missing out on healthy sources of fats, phytonutrients (plant chemicals), vitamins and minerals that support overall health, energy levels, moods and gut function.
2. It Doesn’t Fix the Root Cause
Histamine intolerance isn’t just about the food you eat—it’s often a symptom of something deeper, like gut imbalances, poor detoxification or toxic exposure (including moulds), or hormonal shifts. If you only focus on avoiding high-histamine foods without addressing these underlying issues, you’re just managing symptoms rather than resolving the problem.
3. It Can Lead to Food Fear and Restriction
Many people on a low histamine diet start feeling anxious about food, avoiding restaurants and social gatherings out of fear of reactions. Over time, this can create an unhealthy relationship with food, which ironically, can make histamine symptoms worse (stress is a big histamine trigger!). At Eat Drink Live Well we are passionate about food, and want you to love it too. Following a low histamine diet long term is not something we advocate, we prefer to figure out the root causes so you can rediscover the joy of eating diverse foods.
4. Your Body Can Build Tolerance
With the right support—like gut healing, stress management, and targeted nutrition—your body can usually better deal with the histamine content of foods, and break down histamine more effectively around your body. This means that it is often possible to start reintroducing histamine-rich foods over time without the same intense reactions. We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy a diverse, healthy diet as the cornerstone of health.
How to Transition Back to a Balanced Diet
The good news? You don’t have to stay stuck on a restrictive diet forever. Getting back to balance is all about supporting your body and giving it what it needs to process histamine efficiently. That’s where we start, personalising the roadmap out slowly with everyone.
Your gut plays a huge role in histamine breakdown, so looking after your digestion and microbiome is key. That could mean eating more prebiotic foods to feed beneficial gut bacteria, or finding ways to support stomach acid and enzyme production so food is broken down properly. We also focus on raising foods that help to support the gut lining – where the DAO enzyme, that breaks down histamine, is released from.
Identifying and addressing other triggers that may be challenging your histamine pathways is a key component of the roadmap out of a low histamine diet. That may include toxins, hormones and infections. And let’s not forget stress—because, as frustrating as it is, stress can ramp up histamine levels. Finding ways to relax, whether it’s through movement, breathwork, or simply getting outside in nature, can go a long way in making histamine reactions less intense.
The key is to take it step by step, knowing that your body has the capacity to heal and adapt. Over time, you’ll likely find you can enjoy more of the foods you love without worrying about flare-ups.
Final Thoughts
A low histamine diet is a helpful reset, but it’s not a long-term solution. The real goal is to address the root causes of histamine intolerance so you can enjoy a varied, nutrient-rich diet without constant food anxiety.
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Scientific References
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- Schnedl, W. J., Lackner, S., Enko, D., Schenk, M., Mangge, H., & Holasek, S. J. (2019). Histamine intolerance: More than just an intolerance. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20(18), 3412. doi:10.3390/ijms20183412
- Kovacova-Hanuskova, E., Buday, T., Gavliakova, S., & Plevkova, J. (2015). Histamine, histamine intoxication and intolerance. Allergology International, 64(4), 285-290. doi:10.1016/j.alit.2015.06.001
- Pinzer, T. C., Tietz, E., Waldmann, E., Schink, M., Neurath, M. F., Zopf, Y., & Raithel, M. (2018). Circadian rhythm of histamine metabolism in histamine intolerance. Clinical Nutrition, 37(6), 1905-1911. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2017.08.013
- Izquierdo-Casas, J., Comas-Basté, O., Latorre-Moratalla, M. L., Lorente-Gascón, M., Duelo, A., Soler-Singla, L., & Vidal-Carou, M. C. (2019). Low serum diamine oxidase (DAO) activity levels in patients with migraine. Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry, 75(1), 9-12. doi:10.1007/s13105-018-0654-8