Probiotics are important in maintaining our gut flora, but they can still cause issues just like any supplement and most issues with supplementation go unreported on the natural health blogosphere. Everyone writes about the pros of taking probiotics, but what are the cons? The cons of taking probiotics is the topic of this upcoming blog series.
Histamine is an organic compound produced by the body. Histamine is produced during immune responses and as a neurotransmitter down regulator. Histamine produced by the stomach and the intestines help to regulate their function. There are four types of histamine receptors in the body, and each receptor performs a different task.1
Most people make histamine out to be a monster. Too much histamine is the cause of my seasonal allergies. Histamine overproduction is the only cause of my anaphylactic reaction when I eat shrimp, which I am allergic. Excess histamine is the reason I have heartburn, so I take a histamine receptor two antagonist like Pepcid to relieve my digestive woes. The main problem is not directly the histamine in all of these individual issues; the real problem is why too much histamine was released or is circulating throughout the body during these health issues.2
The body needs the correct balance of histamine so that your digestive system, immune system, neurotransmitter system, and nervous system work properly.
Proper supplementation of omega 3 fatty acids,3 vitamin D3,4 vitamin B6,5 magnesium,6 and vitamin C7 can help the body maintain proper histamine balance. If you are suffering from having a histamine imbalance, you should try a histamine reduced diet to see if your issues improve.
If you are supplementing probiotics and have histamine issues, you should only supplement histamine-degrading probiotics instead of histamine-producing probiotics until the imbalance corrects itself. The intestines and stomach for proper function require histamine. It is totally unknown if these probiotics increase histamine levels in vivo in humans, I would still limit them if needed. Histamine-producing probiotics should not be used until the body can maintain proper levels of histamine.
Histamine Producing / Degrading Bacteria
Histamine Producers:8
E. coli
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Lactobacillus bulgaricus
Lactobacillus casei
Lactobacillus helveticus
Lactobacillus reuteri
Histamine Degraders:9 10 11
Bifidobacterium infantis
Bifidobacterium longum
Lactobacillus gasseri
Lactobacillus rhamnosus
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus salivarius
- http://sepa.duq.edu/regmed/immune/histamine.html ↩
- http://chriskresser.com/headaches-hives-and-heartburn-could-histamine-be-the-cause ↩
- http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CEAQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fpublication%2F51340706_Effect_of_dietary_intake_of_omega-3_and_omega-6_fatty_acids_on_severity_of_asthma_in_children%2Flinks%2F0deec521b467482560000000.pdf&ei=Q_OiVM_CF8moNoucgfgF&usg=AFQjCNFQh2KqhQDflZQ8yJBG19vkkCHbJA&sig2=aDSUeJwW7DSj3anC5TjDyw&bvm=bv.82001339,d.eXY ↩
- http://acupuncturenutrition.com/hives-histamine-and-vitamin-d/ ↩
- http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=dailytip&dbid=246 ↩
- http://synergyhw.blogspot.com/2013/01/magnesium-part-3-wrath-of-histamine.html ↩
- http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CDkQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjn.nutrition.org%2Fcontent%2F110%2F4%2F662.full.pdf&ei=AvSiVPqWOYilgwTt9oOYDg&usg=AFQjCNE-YWuOpzmn-Mj1JGgCQrHb69j4KA&sig2=GXH0gZ4d2I9r0XH5q48rMA&bvm=bv.82001339,d.eXY ↩
- Preedy, Victor. Processing and Impact on Active Components in Food, Academic Press, 2014. ↩
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3316997/ ↩
- https://www.bulletproofexec.com/why-yogurt-and-probiotics-make-you-fat-and-foggy/ ↩
- http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CGIQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allergynutrition.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F05%2FHistamine-DAO-and-Probiotics-Revised.pdf&ei=fAWjVIeuPIymgwTqkoT4CA&usg=AFQjCNFIDZpr0IUI7dmul4Kv3eqsmW5tUQ&sig2=0dTNaOhWot6pO03o3BpdXA&bvm=bv.82001339,d.eXY ↩