Headaches, skin rashes, and digestive problems… seemingly unrelated symptoms with a common cause—histamine. While this chemical is essential for many bodily functions, too much of it can leave you feeling miserable.
The good news? You can take practical steps to restore balance and feel better. When you understand what leads to elevated histamine levels, you can take advantage of science-backed strategies for managing your histamine levels naturally.
From what’s on your plate to how you relax, combined with carefully selected supplements, we explain how to flush out histamine so you can live symptom-free.
Understanding Histamine Buildup
Before you can reduce histamine levels, it’s important to know what histamine is, why your body needs it, and where it comes from.
To begin, histamine is a biogenic amine—a molecule that occurs naturally in your body. When your immune cells encounter threats to your well-being such as partially digested food particles, environmental allergens, or pathogens like bacteria or viruses, histamine is released from mast cells and specific types of white blood cells called basophils (1).
Histamine helps coordinate immune responses to neutralize these invaders. It is also involved in digestive processes through stomach acid secretion, and in passing messages between cells as a neurotransmitter.
When everything goes according to plan, histamine is degraded once it has completed the job it was called on to perform. However, when your body can't break it down fast enough, it can accumulate and cause a range of uncomfortable and sometimes debilitating symptoms (2).
The buildup of histamine can happen due to genetics, certain medications, or an overwhelmed digestive system. One of the more common triggers is foods, which include fermented foods, aged cheeses, alcohol, and even some fresh foods like avocados, strawberries, spinach and tomatoes.
How to Flush Histamine From the Body
Right, now that the background information is fresh in your mind, let’s start exploring ways to flush histamine from your body. Your strategy should include a range of diet and lifestyle interventions. You want to reduce the amount of histamine you consume through food and decrease the amount released by your body.
Low-Histamine Diet
Managing histamine levels starts with what you put on your plate. Some foods are naturally high in histamine while others are referred to as histamine liberators because they trigger its release in the gut.
Common foods high in histamine include (3):
- Fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi.
- Aged cheeses.
- Alcoholic beverages include beer, wine, and ciders.
- Aged and cured meat and fish.
- Canned meat and fish.
- Cured and deli meats.
- Fruits like banana, pineapple, and strawberries.
- Vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplant, and spinach.
Also avoid foods that trigger the release of histamine, which include foods like citrus fruits, papaya, egg whites, chocolate, nuts, fish, pork, cheese, green peppers, wheat germ, and bean sprouts (4).
Focus on incorporating fresh, low-histamine foods like:
- Fresh meat, poultry, and fish.
- Fresh fruits including apples, pears, grapes, blueberries, and watermelon.
- Fresh vegetables except those on the high-histamine food list like tomatoes, spinach, and fermented vegetables.
- Gluten-free grains including oats and rice.
- Coconut oil and grass-fed butter.
Download the free low-histamine diet guide to help you take the first steps for overcoming your histamine intolerance:
Lifestyle Factors
Lifestyle modifications also play a crucial role in lowering your histamine levels. Regular, moderate exercise helps support natural detox pathways, but be careful not to overdo it—intense exercise can trigger histamine release.
Stress can also increase histamine production. So, finding effective ways to manage your stress levels is a key factor in regulating histamine. Try meditation, yoga, keeping a gratitude journal, or spending time outdoors (5).
While histamine can influence your sleep and cause insomnia, getting 7-9 hours of good quality zzz’s every night can also help reduce histamine levels. Practice good sleep hygiene by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, keep your bedroom quiet, cool, and dark, and switch off your screens at least an hour before retiring for the night (6).
Natural Ways to Detox Histamine
The human body is cleverly designed to eliminate histamine, preventing its buildup. Unfortunately, in some people, the process is disrupted. However, even if things aren’t working as they should, there are ways to support your body’s natural histamine detoxification processes.
Supplement Support
The following supplements have proven benefits for helping your body rid itself of excess histamine:
- Vitamin C (1,000-2,000mg daily) helps break histamine down (7).
- B vitamins support methylation, which is a process needed for histamine metabolism.
-
DAO enzyme supplements can aid digestion of the histamine that may enter the body via the food you eat.
Herbal Allies
Plants contain many potent bioactive chemicals that support general health. Some are also beneficial for reducing histamine and its effects in the body, for example:
- Quercetin acts as a natural antihistamine.
-
Stinging nettle leaf tea provides anti-inflammatory support and helps reduce histamine levels (8).
Gut Health Optimization
Histamine intolerance begins in the gut, often due to an imbalance in the gut microbiome and a damaged intestinal lining, often referred to as a leaky gut (9).
It means larger food molecules can pass through the gut lining into your bloodstream, causing your immune cells to react and triggering a potential allergic reaction.
Healing your gut is, therefore, another key factor in flushing histamine from your body. The more unhealthy bacteria in your colon and the more permeable its lining, the more histamine will be produced.
Improving gut health means eating a diet rich in nutrients that support the growth of beneficial bacteria. These nutrients include fiber-rich plant-based foods (10).
When these gut microbes flourish, they produce chemical compounds called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) which are essential for the general health of the digestive tract and can lead to overall improved wellbeing. The specific SCFA called butyrate, fuels the cells of the gut lining and helps to repair them, reducing their permeability (11).
Fermented foods are typically recommended to introduce beneficial bacteria into the gut. In the case of histamine intolerance, such foods should be avoided as they are histamine containing. That doesn’t mean you can’t reap the rewards of these microorganisms. Taking a low-histamine probiotic supplement can help ensure your gut is brimming with friendly microbes.
Practical Tips for Implementation
- Begin with a two-week low-histamine diet to assess your body’s response and the change in your symptoms.
- Keep a food and symptom journal to identify patterns.
- Cook fresh and eat fresh—leftovers can accumulate more histamine over time.
- Implement effective stress management techniques. Take a walk around the park with a friend, try yoga and meditation, or practice gratitude.
- Develop a healthy bedtime routine to ensure a good night’s rest.
- Take a diamine oxidase (DAO) enzyme supplement before eating meals that are potentially high in histamine. You can also take the supplement prophylactically should you not know whether the food contains histamine or not.
- Support your body’s histamine degradation processes with strategically chosen supplements and natural antihistamines.
- Eat to support gut health, focusing on high-fiber foods from the recommended low-histamine food list.
- Take a low-histamine probiotic supplement to further enhance digestive well-being.
Histamine Detox for Overcoming Histamine Symptoms
Managing histamine levels is a journey, not a sprint. Start with small changes and observe your response. Give your body time to adapt and flush out histamine.
Remember, the goal isn't to eliminate histamine completely—it's to find your personal balance. Histamine is an important biological chemical with many beneficial functions in your body.
With consistent attention to diet, lifestyle, and supportive supplements, many people find significant relief from histamine-related symptoms.
While these strategies can help reduce histamine sensitivity, consult your healthcare professional for guidance and support, especially if you have persistent symptoms.
References
- Stone KD, Prussin C, Metcalfe DD. IgE, mast cells, basophils, and eosinophils. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2010 Feb;(2):S73–80.
- Maintz L, Benfadal S, Allam J-P, Hagemann T, Fimmers R, Novak N. Evidence for a reduced histamine degradation capacity in a subgroup of patients with atopic eczema. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2006 May;(5):1106–12.
- Altomara D. Foods High in Histamine & Why You Should Avoid Them. WebMD. WebMD; 12AD.
- Zhao Y, Zhang X, Jin H, Chen L, Ji J, Zhang Z. Histamine Intolerance—A Kind of Pseudoallergic Reaction. Biomolecules. 2022 Mar 15;(3):454.
- Theoharides TC. The impact of psychological stress on mast cells. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 2020 Oc;(4):388–92.
- Clinic C. What Is Sleep Hygiene? Tips To Improve. Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic; 2023.
- Ghalibaf MHE, Kianian F, Beigoli S, Behrouz S, Marefati N, Boskabady M, et al. The effects of vitamin C on respiratory, allergic and immunological diseases: an experimental and clinical-based review. Inflammopharmacology. 2023 Feb 27;(2):653–72.
- Stinging nettle information. Mount Sinai New York. Mount Sinai Health System.
- de Vos WM, Tilg H, Van Hul M, Cani PD. Gut microbiome and health: mechanistic insights. Gut. 2022 Feb 1;(5):1020–32.
- Ferraris C, Elli M, Tagliabue A. Gut Microbiota for Health: How Can Diet Maintain A Healthy Gut Microbiota? Nutrients. 2020 Nov 23;(11):3596.
- Xiong R-G, Zhou D-D, Wu S-X, Huang S-Y, Saimaiti A, Yang Z-J, et al. Health Benefits and Side Effects of Short-Chain Fatty Acids. Foods. 2022 Sep 15;(18):2863.
Anita Tee
My name is Anita Tee. I'm a nutritional scientist specializing in histamine intolerance. I hold a Master of Science in Personalized Nutrition and a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and Psychology.
For the past ten years, I have used my experience in nutritional and medical health sciences to create a scientifically backed, natural approach to healthcare that relies 100% on evidence-based research.
As I previously suffered from - and overcame - histamine intolerance, my focus is to increase recognition and expand the available resources and protocols for resolving the disorder. To date, I have helped over 4,000 individuals fully resolve or better manage their histamine intolerance symptoms.
