News

“It was late 2004. I was very sick. I had little red spots all over my face. It was awful. I had a chronic high temperature,” recalls Meli Jelinic, president of Arizona-based Naturally Vitamins.

She began going to the best doctors, including the best immunologist, in Arizona. “Neither he nor I knew what was wrong. So he recommended cortisone cream for my face.”

As a member of the natural health industry, Meli was skeptical. She commented, "I was concerned the cortisone would do little more than mask my symptoms."

Meli began speaking with natural health experts and was advised to take a food allergy/intolerance test. Together she and her doctor reviewed the foods she consumed regularly. She did not have an allergy to certain foods, but, she learned, she was intolerant of nuts and other histamine-rich foods.

Indeed, Meli learned a secret that is still rarely known: Countless numbers of people suffer from food sensitivity and intolerance—often without being aware of it.

High prevalence of food intolerance

It is estimated that up to 25 percent of the population suffers from food intolerance. Histamine-related food intolerance is an adverse reaction to foods rich in histamine due to a deficiency of the body’s digestive enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO). Effects can range from common digestive system problems including abdominal pain and spasms, diarrhea, constipation, and flatulence, to headaches and nasal congestion, to skin rash and eczema—all due to the body’s inability to digest histamine-rich foods caused by the lack of proper amounts of the necessary enzyme.

Many food intolerances are confused with food allergies and are caused by elevated levels of histamine in food. These elevated histamine levels can make eating foods such as pizza, fish, wine, beer, nuts, and many other dishes a miserable experience. Until now, one of the only options was to avoid these histamine-containing foods. But most people have a very difficult time eliminating all offending foods from their diet. So they constantly suffer from food-related intolerance.

Once she learned she had food intolerances, Meli began to avoid eating out. Even so, she found it difficult to control her condition, since a wide range of histamine-rich foods can permeate the diet of even the most careful eater. And on those few times when she did go out to eat, she felt like the grand inquisitor, asking tough questions of waiters in an effort to try and weed out offending items.

Then, in 2006, on a visit to Austria, her spouse and founder of Naturally Vitamins, Joe Lehmann, met with doctors who had discovered, isolated and purified the enzyme known to facilitate histamine digestion in the body. At the same time, their research team had discovered that millions of people lack this enzyme in adequate amounts to neutralize histamine once ingested. Clinical trials had already demonstrated that simply taking DAO could completely eliminate all of the symptoms. The product, in fact, had been used throughout Europe for years with rave reviews. Meli returned to the United States with her pharmaceutical samples and began using them.

The supplements worked

Once again, she could visit restaurants and consume nuts and other histamine-rich foods and there were none of the usual symptoms. Her chronic high temperature and skin spotting disappeared. So impressed was Meli with the product that, as the president of one of America’s leading nutraceutical manufacturers, her team here in the United States worked with the Austrian scientists to register the DAO as a new dietary ingredient (NDI) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Today, that new ingredient is called Histame®.

The DAO in Histame is one of the most important new dietary ingredients to be acknowledged by the FDA in a long time. It’s definitely on the short list of what are going to become “hot” products, selling everywhere. Millions of people have food intolerances but don’t even know.

“Too many people live for years with the broadranging discomforts associated with food intolerance without realizing what is causing their symptoms,” says Meli. “Clinical studies show that DAO allows regulation of exogenous histamine, unlike antihistamines which simply block it. This specific enzyme technology is a significant milestone in natural health advancement. We feel privileged to be able to make this valuable contribution to the health of Americans.”

If you suffer adverse reactions after eating certain foods, check out the list of histamine-rich foods accompanying this article and see if they might be the cause of your problems. If so, the solution is simple.

For optimal results, take 1 to 2 Histame capsules within 15 minutes of consuming histamine-rich foods/substances known to cause food intolerance. This product is for children (5 years and older), teenagers and adults consuming foods rich in histamine. Histame is not intended for those who have immune system-related food allergies.