ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Food Allergy Awareness Week is the perfect time to determine if you may be mislabeling your body’s reaction to certain foods. Umbrellux DAO offers a self-evaluation kit for only $10 that includes a slender tube of diamine oxidase (DAO) supplements that if taken 15 to 30 minutes before eating or drinking, can help determine if the reaction is histamine or allergy related. If the reaction is histamine related, the relief is immediate.
“Since there is not an accepted diagnostic test for histamine intolerance, I often recommend to my patients that they give DAO supplementation a try, without making any other treatment changes, because there is no downside to the supplement and it could eliminate unnecessary and expensive allergy testing,” said Wendy Busse, registered dietitian. “There’s more research that needs to be done, but there are a few clinical trials that show DAO supplementation improves histamine reactions. The problem is, few doctors are familiar with the symptoms and solutions of histamine intolerance, so patients can spend years trying to figure out their reactions with unnecessary testing and ongoing suffering with diet restriction.”
A study published this year in JAMA Network Open concluded that it is crucial that adults seek counseling and testing with any suspect food allergy to avoid reduced quality of life with fear of food. The study found that half of the participants did not actually have a food allergy, but believed they did. Currently up to 10-30% of the western population have lactose intolerance, compared to 3-5% who have a food allergy and 2-5% who have histamine intolerance.
The difference between food allergy and intolerance is that food allergies involve an immune system reaction to a particular food, such as peanuts, eggs or milk. These reactions can be serious and even life threatening. However, most food intolerances originate in the digestive system, and occur when your body can’t properly breakdown a component of a food, most often due to a deficiency in an enzyme like lactase, which breaks down lactose (milk sugar), or DAO, which breaks down histamine. Busse says it’s important to rule out food allergies with your clinician before investigating potential food intolerance.
Many foods that are good for you may have high levels of histamine including tomatoes, bananas, avocados, eggplant, cheese, yogurt, nuts, chocolate and fermented foods like kimchi, kombucha and sauerkraut. Beer, wine and certain liquors are also triggers due to their high histamine content and the fact that alcohol itself blocks DAO activity. High histamine “trigger foods” can cause both immediate and/or delayed reactions of flushing, hives, headache, watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose or common digestive issues like gas, bloating and diarrhea, if your body is deficient in the DAO enzyme and cannot break down the histamine.
“The food avoidance list for histamine intolerance can be overwhelming,” said Busse. “However, Umbrellux DAO can help the body breakdown the histamine in food, and this will help minimize embarrassing and uncomfortable reactions, allowing more variety in food choices and leading to improved quality of life.”
Umbrellux DAO is the only original food-grade DAO enzyme available in the United States. The patented designed-release formula ensures the delivery of the DAO enzyme to the small intestine where it works with the body’s own DAO to assist in neutralizing histamine. Umbrellux DAO may be taken daily to maintain long-term balance of DAO in the body. Visit www.umbrelluxdao.com to purchase, or for more information on DAO deficiencies, visit: www.daodeficiency.org and www.wendybusse.com.
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