Low-histamine diets are one of the most common recommendations discussed among people with chronic urticaria.
However, from my perspective, focusing only on the amount of histamine in food is the wrong criterion when the objective is resolving chronic urticaria.
One of the biggest mistakes is confusing histamine intolerance with urticaria.
They are not the same thing.
Histamine intolerance is related to problems breaking down histamine, commonly associated with low levels or reduced activity of the DAO enzyme (diamine oxidase).
Chronic urticaria follows a different mechanism.
Histamine Is Not the Real Problem
In urticaria, the important question is not only how much histamine exists.
The most important question is:
Why is histamine being released?
In urticaria, mast cell activation and histamine release are central parts of the reaction.
Therefore, from my point of view, the objective should not be only reducing external sources of histamine.
The objective should be understanding why the body is triggering this reaction.
The Traditional Chinese Medicine View
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the analysis is completely different.
Food is not evaluated only by chemical composition.
Foods are also evaluated according to their thermal effect on the body.
The most important criteria are related to concepts such as:
- Yin and Yang
- Heat and Cold
- internal balance
A food can be low in histamine but still increase internal Heat according to Traditional Chinese Medicine.
At the same time, a food considered higher in histamine may have a completely different thermal effect.
This is why I do not use histamine content as the main criterion when approaching chronic urticaria.
Symptom Reduction Is Not the Same as Correcting the Imbalance
A low-histamine diet can create the perception that urticaria is improving because symptoms may become less intense.
However, reducing the intensity of a reaction is different from correcting why the reaction happens.
From my perspective, this approach has a very limited objective.
It accepts that the reaction will continue and only tries to reduce the consequences.
Traditional Chinese Medicine looks at the problem from another direction:
Why is the body creating the conditions that allow this reaction to happen?
That is the question that needs to be answered.