Abstract

Adverse reactions to food are suspected in one third of the German population, but only 10% of these assumed hypersensitivity reactions can be clinically confirmed. While diagnosis of food allergies is fairly easy due to objective laboratory parameters, non-allergic hypersensitivity reactions are difficult to diagnose because these objective markers are lacking so far. Adverse reactions to histamine are often suspected to be the cause of a wide range of symptoms, especially when no allergic pathomechanism can be identified. In order to confirm such a suspicion, it is inevitable to validate a reproducible association between consumption of food and beverages rich in histamine and symptoms, to identify causative agents and to exclude other disorders. Thereafter, avoidance should be performed on the basis of individual requirements. General advices with a lot of restraints are often unnecessarily strict. Nutrition therapy aims at a reduction of symptoms to a minimum while maintaining a high quality of life.

German version published in Allergologie, Vol. 34, No. 3/2011, p. 152-158

Author Details

Authors

• I. Reese

Departments

• Ernährungsberatung und -therapie, Munich

Address

Dr. Imke Reese
Ernährungsberatung und -therapie
Schwerpunkt Allergologie
Ansprengerstraße 19
D–80803 München
Email: [email protected]

Citation