Food Intolerance, Liver Cleansing and Digestive Disorder Treatment in London - Dirk Budka
 
 
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Biogenic Amines & Histamine Intolerance



for detailed information about HISTAMINE INTOLERANCE @20

COMING in 2009: "HISTAMINE INTOLERANCE and reaction to other Biogenic Amines" by Dirk Budka


Foods are made up of many natural occuring compounds and they have varying effects on us.
Biogenic amines are formed by the breakdown of proteins into amino acids in foods. They are normally quickly broken down with the help of specific enzymes. Missing or sluggish enzymes can lead to a build up of biogenic and trace amines. (Examples: Tyramines, Agmatine, Putrescine, Spermidine, Histamines, etc.) This can lead to mild and more serious diseases, can increase intolerance levels and a build up of amines leads in most cases to misdiagnosis especially in IBS related symptoms, migraines, mild depression, skin problems, etc.

2-5% of all adults suffer from Histamine Intolerance (HIT). This official estimate (source: T. Schleip, Germany) shows that HIT (also: enteral histaminosis) is now a vastly more serious health problem than all food allergies put together!

Digestive problems (prolonged diarrhoea or constipation), bloating, stomach pain, heartburn, tension headaches, migraines, palpitation, low blood pressure, urticaria, hay fever and asthma can all be signs of a histamine intolerance (HIT). Histamines are biogenic amines like tyramines, cadaverines, putrescines, etc. which all can trigger allergy-like reactions. Incorrect diagnoses in the past and present lead to unnecessary suffering for those affected (including the diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, IBS, often used when a conventional or complimentary practitioner is at his/hers wits' end). Pain and suffering has often been dismissed as psychosomatic.
Today food scientists and allergists suspect that approximately 15% of all asthma-cases are causally related with HIT/amine-cases. Food allergies are IgE mediated (creation of antibodies). This immune reaction does not happen in a Histamine Intolerance. This is the reason why HIT is a so called pseudo-allergy. The only way to detect a HIT is a very detailed and restricted elimination-diet and a test for the enzymes Diaminoxidase (DAO) and N-methyltransferase).

What is a histamine? ... this chemical substance has been known about for 90 years and is a by-product of the amino acid histidine. You find histamines in many foods, especially in those with a prolonged shelf-life. Many producers are not ready or willing to put details of the histamine quantities on their food labels (like on some products in Germany and Switzerland). Because the body creates histamine as well (it is used, as one example, to stimulate secretion of stomach acid or cell growth and is stored in mast cells and in basophile granulocytes), we differentiate between histamine-rich foods and foods which act as histamine-liberators.

The diamin-oxidase (DAO), an enzyme that acts in the intestines, does break down the histamines. However, in case of a HIT the DAO is too weak and the release of the histamines creates the following problems:

disturbances of the digestive system,
vasodilution of the circulatory system,
disturbances of the central nervous system,
skin changes,
disturbances in the respiratory system.


FOODS HIGH IN HISTAMINES (just some examples)

CHOCOLATE

MEAT:
all minced meat, all sausages, some hams, salami, liver

FISH:
all tinned fish, all smoked fish, trout, herring

CHEESES:
all ripe cheeses, only very young, fresh cheeses have a lower histamine level,

BREADS/CAKES etc.
Yeast is extremely high in histamines

VEGETABLES:
sauerkraut, avocado, aubergine, spinach, tomatoes, kimchi

FRUIT: (histamine liberators)
Kiwi, raspberries, plums, papaya, pears, grapefruit, pineapple.

Dirk Budka works since many years in Amine-Research.

more information about histamines/biogenic amines are on Dirk Budka's STOP READY MEALS website. To go there CLICK HERE