Histamine Intolerance on a Carnivore Diet

What is histamine intolerance and how is it connected to gut health and oxalate dumping?

My personal experience with histamine intolerance since I switched to a mostly carnivore diet back in May of 2022 has been a huge learning curve.

I still have histamine intolerance symptoms that rear their head from time to time, and so today I’m going to share some of what I’ve learned about histamine intolerance, how it can be connected to oxalate dumping and the ways that I’ve learned to manage it.

First Up - What IS Histamine?

Histamine is a signaling molecule that sends messages between cells.

It helps to keep us awake which is a good thing because otherwise we’d be dozing off all the time.

It causes contraction of smooth muscle tissues like the uterus or stomach.

It causes blood vessels to dilate, it can cause our heart rate to speed up, and it tells cells in our stomach to make stomach acid.

Histamine also works with our immune system to fight off invaders. These can be things that might end up in our body from the air that we breath or the food that we eat - like parasites or harmful pathogens.

This is just a brief explanation of some of the roles of histamine in the body, but you can see already that it’s pretty important. Right?

Well Histamine is SO important that there are histamine receptors on almost every cell in the body. In fact every system of the body has histamine receptors on almost every cell.

And knowing this is important. But we’ll be coming back to WHY it’s important in just a little bit.

Some Foods Are High in Histamine

The next thing we need to know is that histamine can also be consumed in foods or in drinks, and this can also increase the histamine levels in our body.

Some foods are naturally higher in histamine. Some foods liberate histamine and many foods will increase in histamine content with age.

For example pork is a food that can be naturally high in histamine.

Egg whites and citrus fruits are known to be histamine liberators which means they may make your body release more histamine when you consume them.

And aged foods such as dried or cured meats, aged cheeses and fermented foods can be high in histamine because they are aged. Coffee can also be high in histamine.

Now what about leftover foods? They come under the aged food category, because foods that have been stored in the fridge can increase in histamine with time, and the longer they’re stored, the more histamine they may contain.

So eating these foods can increase your histamine levels!

Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash

What IS Histamine Intolerance?

The next thing we need to know is what histamine intolerance actually means. The term is a little misleading because it’s not really that our body is intolerant to the histamine it makes.

Basically it is when our body has too much histamine floating around and is unable to break it down.

You see we have what is often referred to as a ‘histamine bucket’. If all is working well in our body, histamine is produced, does its job and then is broken down by DAO or diamine oxidase. DAO is an enzyme that breaks down histamine and I’ll talk more about DAO soon.

But when this process (the DAO breaking down the histamine) doesn’t happen as it should, histamine can build up in our body, just like water filling a bucket. Everything is fine until that histamine bucket overflows… But once it does, it causes all sorts of mayhem and it can certainly make our lives mighty miserable!

So now let’s get into the next piece of the puzzle - inflammation.

Histamine Causes Inflammation

Histamine creates inflammation. Yes it does… It creates inflammation to allow our bodies to fight infections and to heal. So this is important.

Inflammation increases blood flow to the area and allows white blood cells to do their job of fighting off whatever is causing the problem.

For example, let’s say you get a splinter in your finger. Very quickly your immune system knows it’s there. The splinter is a foreign object and your body wants it gone.

Histamine plays a role in creating the inflammation that you see and feel when the area around the splinter swells and goes red. Left long enough it may even create puss as your immune system gets to work, bringing in the white blood cells and mounting a reaction against the splinter, that all going well will eventually be evicted - if you don’t get to it first.

So we now know that histamine is a good guy! It’s essential for life and when everything is working correctly we don’t even notice that it’s busy doing its thing.

But when histamine levels get too high, then we know all about it!

Histamine Intolerance Symptoms

So we’ve learned some useful things here. We now know that histamine creates inflammation. We also know that every system of the body has loads of cells with histamine receptors.

So what this means is that histamine intolerance can affect every system of the body and the symptoms can be incredibly varied.

Histamine intolerance symptoms can include things like…

· Anxiety

· Panic attacks

· Depression

· Headaches

· Migraines

· Brain fog

· Gut or GI issues

· Diarrhea

· Nausea or vomiting

· Itching skin or rashes

· Hives

· Skin flushing

· Hay fever or allergy symptoms

· Sinus congestion or stuffy nose

· Eczema

· Asthma

· Acne

· Fatigue or lack of energy

· Sleep issues – insomnia or lack of sleep

· Sleepiness - when you should be awake

· Menstrual irregularities or period pain

· Hormonal issues

· Heart palpitations or racing heart

· Shortness of breath

· Low blood pressure

· Swelling of the lips, tongue or throat

And these are just some of the more common histamine intolerance symptoms. It’s quite a list huh?

So how does the body reduce histamine levels? Well remember I mentioned DAO a while back?

DAO or Diamine Oxidase breaks down histamine.

DAO is made in the kidneys and the placenta when we’re pregnant, but most of it is made in the gut or to be more precise, the small intestine.

This means that gut health is super important because DAO can’t be made in an inflamed, leaky gut. And having sufficient DAO is important to be able to break down histamine and stop our histamine bucket from overflowing!

Now studies show that Histamine may play a role in gut inflammation and there are likely a number of ways this can happen. One example is when there are pathogenic bacteria such as Klebsiella aerogenes which can cause an increase in histamine that ultimately causes inflammation in the gut.

Another thing that can contribute to an inflamed gut is oxalate dumping, which of course is very common when we start eating a carnivore diet. Oxalate dumping can cause gut (and whole body) inflammation and then ultimately a rise in histamine levels.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

So What IS Oxalate?

I have some good videos already talking about oxalate and I’ll link to those below, but basically oxalate is a plant toxin that can build up in your body over years. It is acidic, it creates inflammation and it is a poison that if in a high enough concentration in your blood, will kill you.

But thankfully our bodies are smart, and so when levels of oxalate get too high because we’ve just drank that huge spinach smoothie or eaten that bag of almonds, it stores the excess oxalate that can’t be quickly removed in the tissues of the body, to get it out of the blood.

And that’s perfect if we only overconsume oxalate occasionally, or seasonally as humans would have done in the past when food wasn’t so easy to come by. But because these foods are available to us all the time now, most of us are consuming plant foods that contain high amounts of oxalate day in and day out. So the excess oxalate builds up and our bodies never get the chance to clear it out.

Oxalate is found in many plant foods and so those who have been focusing on a healthy diet (think vegan or vegetarian) with loads of fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds (like I did), are bound to have oxalate stored in their tissues.

But it’s not just the healthy eaters that this affects.

Even those who’ve been eating a junk food diet prior to their carnivore journey, will no doubt have been consuming oxalate, because Oxalate is high in many varieties of potatoes (think fries), and cacao (think chocolate) and nuts, and sweet potatoes, and black tea, and the list goes on.

Oxalate levels can also increase massively in those of us affected by mold. Now that is a big topic that I won’t go into here. But just know that it’s thing if you’ve suffered from mold exposure, and that histamine and oxalate is likely to be a big issue for you.

The Oxalate Dumping Nightmare

When we stop consuming all that oxalate, our bodies will sooner or later decide to start removing stored oxalate from our tissues and dumping it – getting it out of the body via the urine, the bowel or the skin.

Those with a small oxalate burden may not even notice this happening, or it may only last for a short time.

But for some of us, it’s a long, and somewhat painful process…

Oxalate dumping often happens at the beginning of our carnivore journey, but not always. And it’s not predictable.

I’ve had many people comment on my videos who have been eating a carnivore diet for several years with everything going perfectly, then suddenly their bodies decide to start dumping oxalate.

That can be confusing initially because they don’t understand what’s going on. They just know that they’ve gone from great health, to suddenly having health issues. They may think their diet isn’t working for them anymore, and it can take a bit of time and research to work out what’s happening.

What makes it more confusing is that often these two things (the oxalate dumping and histamine intolerance) are happening simultaneously and the symptoms are overlapping.

And this happens because oxalate can stimulate a histamine response.

As I’ve already said, Oxalate is toxic and your body wants to get rid of it. It’s that simple.

Oxalate dumping can happen off and on for years and if you want to know more about it, I highly recommend reading Sally K Nortons book on the subject. You can find that here.

And now that we know a bit about oxalate and how it causes inflammation and contributes to this whole hot mess, let’s get back to histamine intolerance and DAO.

Photo by Elly Brian on Unsplash

Lack of DAO Causes Histamine Intolerance

Now DAO is the enzyme that breaks down histamine and most of it is made in the small intestine. But an inflamed and leaky gut can’t release enough DAO to break down the histamine in your body!

So although there are many ways to help manage histamine intolerance, like eating a low histamine diet, or taking DAO supplements or desiccated kidney supplements, getting and keeping gut inflammation down is key.

And this is where I’ve found myself at this point – realising that keeping my gut inflammation down is key to resolving my histamine intolerance symptoms.

But it’s tricky when my body still seems to be dumping oxalate regularly. And what’s frustrating is that it does that more so if I try to go strict carnivore as I’ve discussed in my recent video where I tried to do BBBE (beef, bacon, butter and eggs) for world carnivore month and ended up quitting due to histamine intolerance symptoms.

Now I’ve taken a few supplements over the past three years to help manage my gut and histamine issues as I’ve learned more about how this all works. When things were bad, I took desiccated kidney (because the taste of kidney makes me gag), and Taurine (which I now take daily but I’m wondering if I need to up my dose).

I’ve also recently started taking a small dose of a natural vitamin C as it’s an natural antihistamine that is in short supply on a carnivore diet, and although the general consensus is that we need less vitamin C because we’re not consuming much in the way of carbs, those of us who are suffering with histamine intolerance may be the exception.

Now I know that some of you are going to say…

‘But Vitamin C converts to oxalate!’

Before you get your knickers in a knot, I’m not talking big doses here. Because we don’t consume carbs on a carnivore diet, even a small dose of a natural vitamin C can make a difference without adding an oxalate burden. So no need to panic.

Reducing Gut Inflammation

So the obvious question now is how do we reduce the inflammation in our gut?

Well in my case, at almost three years of eating this way, it still seems that when I’m oxalate dumping my gut becomes inflamed and then histamine intolerance makes everything worse, and I’m picking that this is something that happens to others as well.

If you have obvious gut issues, like I do, then of course removing any foods that you may be sensitive to is going to be your first priority because as long as you’re eating those foods, you’re going to have gut inflammation.

But once you’re sure that you’re only eating foods your body loves, then you may have to try other options.

The things that have made a difference for me over the last three years have been making and consuming the SIBO yogurt (you can find the most popular one here), taking Sacchromyces Boulardii which really seemed to help me, focusing on getting my gallbladder functioning by taking TUDCA and using castor oil packs, and now taking Taurine as I already mentioned.

But I still find that it doesn’t take too much for my histamine bucket to overflow. So what else can I try?

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

I need to find a way to keep the inflammation down in my gut, even when I’m oxalate dumping, so that it can make the DAO to break down the histamine.

And this is what I’m thinking. There’s a supplement I’ve used off and on that has really helped my gut over the last three years. But I didn’t want to have to take this every day so I’ve never taken it consistently.

But after really thinking about the gut inflammation part of this issue and the fact that DAO can’t be made when the gut is inflamed, I’ve decided to change my mind and take this product daily for a longer time to see if it helps.

My thinking is that if I can get my gut inflammation and histamine levels down and keep them down, then my body may be able to heal faster and ultimately end this roller coaster of histamine and gut issues.

So the supplement I’m talking about is available here in NZ. It is called Gut Health and it contains:

• Glutamine

• Slippery elm (Ulmus rubra) stem bark powder

• Pectin

• Quercetin

• Acacia

• Meriva® Curcumin phospholipid complex

• Aloe vera leaf inner juice

• Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) leaf fresh

• Marshmallow (Althaea o cinalis) root dry

It also contains

• Zinc

• Acidity regulators, Natural flavours (mango and orange), natural sweetener (stevia)

And yes, that was one of the reasons I didn’t want to take it all the time - the acidity regulators, flavours and stevia.

But the stuff really makes a difference to my gut and it did for my Mother as well.

It was actually Mum that introduced me to it. She took it consistently for probably a year and it made a massive difference to her bowel issues which were way worse than mine. So I’m figuring if it can make that much difference to her, at 80 years old, with her current diet which is a fairly healthy version of a standard diet, then it should make more of a difference for me on a mostly carnivore diet. Fingers crossed.

So I’m now taking that Gut Health product daily and I’ll see how that pans out. You never know. I might be able to try BBBE again soon and be successful.

The Possible Role of H Pyrlori in Histamine Intolerance

The one other thing that I wanted to mention that can cause or contribute to histamine intolerance is H Pylori. That is the bacteria that can, but doesn’t always, cause stomach ulcers.

Apparently it is VERY contagious!

It is estimated that over 50% of people have H Pylori but some don’t have symptoms. However they may apparently get them later in life. And it’s so infectious that if I was to treat myself and my husband has it, even if he has no symptoms, then I’ll just get re-infected.

It’s hard to know without testing, but it’s definitely a possibility given my history and so I may just treat us both for it using Oregano oil. I’ve used that in the past when I did my SIBO protocol, but I didn’t give it to my husband at the same time.

I was actually treated for a suspected stomach ulcer when I was in my twenties even though it was never confirmed that I had one. I was given a drug that reduced stomach acid for two years and that was supposed to fix my gut problems. But of course it didn’t.

So this is something I’m also considering.

If you have histamine intolerance on your carnivore diet, know that gut health is really important and although the carnivore diet seems to resolve gut issues for most people, those of us for whom it doesn’t work obviously have other things going on.

I suspect that oxalate dumping plays a role for some as it seems to for me.

Mold issues can play a role and I have to wonder if this is still ongoing in my case… I’m currently looking into information on Horopito – a NZ herb that is apparently amazing for candida and mold.

SIBO or dysbiosis can also play a role.

And liver or gallbladder issues can play a role.

I’ve had personal experience with all of these and have gradually worked my way through them and improved my histamine intolerance, but it’s not quite perfect – yet!

Gut issues and histamine intolerance can be complicated. Especially when you’re trying to work it all out yourself! I wish you luck and if you have any comments or questions, pop them below and I’ll get to them as soon as I’m able.

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