Biogenic amines
What slows things down
Histamine and tyramine, formed by micro-organisms during fermentation and ripening.
Effects
Histamine and tyramine are born when microbes age a cheese or ferment a cabbage. Most people break them down without a thought; in those who do it poorly, they cause headaches and flushing, and tyramine can send blood pressure soaring in people taking certain antidepressants.
The gut has an enzyme for dietary histamine, diamine oxidase. When it is not very active, by nature, through certain medicines or through alcohol, histamine gets through: flushing, headaches, runny nose, digestive trouble (Maintz and Novak, 2007). Middle-aged women are the most numerous among those who complain of it.
Tyramine is broken down by another enzyme, monoamine oxidase. MAOI antidepressants block it: a platter of aged cheeses can then sharply raise blood pressure. This is the so-called “cheese reaction”, known since the 1960s.
Levels vary enormously from one product to another, depending on hygiene, duration and temperature of fermentation: two cheeses with the same name can differ tenfold.
Sources: Maintz and Novak, AJCN, 2007 · ANSM
The remedy
Without histamine intolerance, the body breaks them down without difficulty: it is a lead to cross-check with how you feel, never a reason to stop fermented foods. The “Histamine” group in Intolerances HIDES the foods; here we only count them.
Where to find it (18)
- Cheese aged < 3 months
- Fermented tofu
- Gochujang / doenjang
- Kefir
- Lacto-fermented gherkins
- Lacto-fermented olives
- Miso
- Natto
- Other fermented vegetables
- Pu-erh tea
- Soy sauce / tamari
- Tempeh
- Umeboshi
- Unfiltered beer on lees
- Unfiltered cider
- Unpasteurized kombucha
- Vinegar with the mother
- Yogurt