Via practica 3/2024

Histamine intolerance

Histamine intolerance (HI, HIT) may also be referred to as enteral histaminosis or hypersensitivity to oral/food histamine. It is the inability to degrade exogenous histamine due to impaired diaminooxidase (DAO) activity, resulting in symptoms of histamine excess. HI should be understood as a variable set of symptoms, neither a nosological entity nor a syndrome. The diagnosis of this metabolic disorder is made solely on the basis of clinical criteria and the demonstrated effect of a low histamine diet. No biomarkers are available for HI specificity. Both functional and absolute DAO deficiency can be caused by genetic, pharmacological or a broad heterogeneous group of primary enteropathies (secondary HI).

Keywords: histamine, histamine intolerance, DAO, diamine oxidase, low-histamine diet, food intolerance