Coffee & histamine: Caffeine intolerance has a reason

Coffee is both a lifestyle and a pleasure. Most Germans drink it every day, enjoy their coffee break at work and celebrate their weekend in a hip café. But when your favorite drink suddenly causes stomach problems, headaches or heart palpitations, the joy is quickly dampened. This is particularly the case with histamine intolerance , when the histamine contained in coffee reacts with the caffeine and thus worsens the symptoms even further.

Since caffeine is absorbed through the intestines and stimulates the gastrointestinal tract, coffee intolerance is anything but rare. If side effects such as stomach pain, nausea, heart palpitations, headaches or heartburn occur after drinking, this is referred to as coffee intolerance. For many people who cannot tolerate coffee, the caffeine is to blame. Either the body has difficulty metabolizing the caffeine (caffeine intolerance) or the caffeine increases the negative effects of histamine (histamine intolerance). Histamine symptoms can occur up to 72 hours after consuming coffee and manifest themselves as follows:

• Skin redness
• Gastrointestinal complaints
• Headaches or migraines
• Heart palpitations
• inner restlessness
• Irritation of the mucous membranes/increased sneezing/runny nose

The fact that coffee can trigger symptoms in people with histamine intolerance seems surprising at first - after all, most types of coffee contain practically no histamine! According to the SIGHI list, coffee is only rated 1 and is therefore low in histamine. Nevertheless, the stimulant can cause problems for people with histamine intolerance because the caffeine stimulates the body's own histamine production and blocks the diamine oxidase enzyme, which is responsible for breaking down histamine in the body. Coffee containing caffeine therefore has the following effects:

1. Coffee blocks the enzyme diamine oxidase , which is responsible for the breakdown of histamine in the body
2. Coffee promotes the release of the body's own histamine and is therefore considered a histamine liberator
3. Coffee stimulates circulation, pulse rate and intestinal activity , which puts additional stress on the body and can intensify the symptomatic reaction
4. Coffee stimulates intestinal activity and acid production in the stomach , which can worsen symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea and diarrhea

If you can't do without the caffeine kick, you should drink an espresso instead of filter coffee. Since this contains less caffeine and acid, most people react with fewer symptoms. However, less does not mean none at all. If you are fed up with stomach aches, nausea and headaches, you are better off switching to decaffeinated coffee. This contains hardly any histamine and only so little caffeine (0.1%) that it does not cause any interactions. With This Is Real Coffee, you can continue to enjoy the pleasure and lifestyle of an aromatic cup of coffee even if you have a histamine intolerance, without fearing the side effects.

Sweeteners, milk and coffee toppings (such as cocoa powder, coffee whitener and flavored syrup) can also release histamines and should therefore be consumed with caution. It is better to order the coffee black or with low-histamine milk and drink a glass of water with it, as water is a natural histamine and helps to relieve the symptoms.