Honey itself is generally considered low in histamine, but it can trigger histamine release due to pollen, other biogenic amines (like putrescine), and its effect on blood sugar, making it problematic for some with histamine intolerance. While it's a natural sweetener, its components can cause histamine symptoms like sneezing or headaches, so individual tolerance varies greatly.
Low-histamine foods you can enjoy include:
Sweeteners: Lower Histamine and Higher Histamine Foods
Stevia, monk fruit, and inulin are your best choices. Anything that raises your blood sugar will increase histamine levels. So, sugar and related items will raise histamine levels.
Yes, histamine can cause headaches, particularly migraines, through histamine intolerance (when the body can't break down enough histamine) or mast cell activation, leading to inflammation, vasodilation, and neurotransmitter disruption that triggers head pain, often linked to foods like aged cheese, wine, or fermented items.
Eating sugar or any other high carb food - and yes, this includes 'histamine safe' foods like coconut sugar, date syrup and maple syrup as well as high glycemic index fruit like grapes - causes your blood sugar to spike and crash multiple times a day.
Honey as Part of a Low-Histamine Diet
While it may contain trace amounts of allergens and other biogenic amines that may lead to higher histamine levels, these levels are typically too low to cause issues for most people.
Vitamin C. Vitamin C is a very common and well-known nutrient to strengthen the immune system and reduce inflammation. Vitamin C is also required to produce the necessary enzymes for the process of histamine breakdown, making it a vital anti-histamine nutrient.
Excess histamine can cause a variety of different symptoms which very often mimic allergic reactions. The most common symptoms are rashes (e.g. hives), itching, flushing, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), indigestion, breathlessness, palpitations, migraines, dizziness, anxiety/panic, joint aches and nasal congestion.
Vitamin B12 supports the methylation process—a biochemical pathway that helps the body detoxify and regulate histamine levels. When B12 is lacking, methylation slows down, leading to higher histamine concentrations in the blood.
Many people believe they experience a “histamine dump.” This phenomenon usually happens at night when your body releases a sudden surge of histamine. A histamine dump can interrupt your sleep and cause headaches, flushing, itching, anxiety, and a racing heart.
Breakfast for histamine intolerance with recipe ideas
So if you suffer from histamine intolerance, you should prefer calmer sports such as strength training, Pilates or yoga. Interesting fact: Cardio training releases histamine and other inflammation substances, but the effect only takes temporary (up to 72 hours).
While no single "most powerful" natural antihistamine is definitively crowned, Quercetin is widely considered the top contender due to its ability to stabilize mast cells and block histamine release, with Vitamin C, Ginger, and Black Seed Oil also showing strong potential, often working best in combination or alongside other remedies like probiotics and turmeric.
High histamine levels are often caused by a deficiency in the enzyme DAO, which helps to break down histamine.
8 Low Histamine Bread Products
If you've ever woken up in the middle of the night with unexplained itching, anxiety, or even hives, you might be experiencing a histamine dump. This sudden surge of histamine in the body can disrupt sleep and leave you feeling exhausted the next day.
And it also plays a major role in histamine intolerance: Magnesium supports the enzyme dao (Diaminoxidase) as a co-factor, which builds histamine. A magnesium deficiency can reduce the DAO activity and thus help to reduce histamine.
Taking doses of vitamin B-12 might cause:
An intolerance to histamine is thought to be due to a lack of an enzyme called diamine oxidase. In this Factsheet you will find the most common foods that may be a problem to someone with a histamine intolerance and how best to go about identifying and eliminating problem foods.
People with mastocytosis have an increased risk of developing a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction. This is known as anaphylaxis. The increased risk of anaphylaxis is caused by the abnormally high number of mast cells and their potential to release large amounts of histamine into the blood.
Under normal circumstances your GP should be able to make a diagnosis, or send you to the right medical department that could investigate further.
Almonds and macadamia nuts are often cited as lower in histamine compared to some other varieties. Walnuts and cashews, for instance, tend to have higher histamine content.
Does vitamin D increase histamine? No, vitamin D helps reduce histamine by stabilizing mast cells and preventing their excessive activation.
High histamine levels are found in food such as tuna, mackerel, anchovy, spinach, wine, cheese, sausage and fermented foods2,18.