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I had a recent discussion where it was claimed that one's diet has a huge effect on the intensity of allergic reactions.

I was wondering if food which is unrelated to one's allergies (e.g. eating peanuts and having a peanut allergy does not count) can still have an effect.

Some more sources:

If you’ve got allergies (food or environmental), however, histamine-containing foods can trigger symptoms.

10 Eating Tips to Help You Minimize Allergy Symptoms

Oddthinking
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Sim
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  • Now seriously, histamine is a product released by mast cells *after* the allergic reaction has been triggered. I guess then it may affect either allergic or not allergic people. During an allergic reaction, increased levels of histamine due to food intake may contribute to worsen the effects. But all these are guesses. I have briefly look for histamine in food in the research literature and there seems to be some association with food intolerance and cause of allergy-like symptoms. – ddiez May 19 '15 at 08:07
  • Actually my first comment did not make sense! This question is about eating food with histamine, not food you are allergic to. Sorry for that. Deleted. Hopefully my second comment is a bit more on track. – ddiez May 19 '15 at 08:42
  • actually the question is more about the influence of food you are NOT allergic to on your allergy reactions. 'Histamine' is only an argument put forward by one of those sites. – Sim May 19 '15 at 09:12
  • Yes @Sim, that is why I removed my first comment. My second comment is about histamine in food, not about food allergy. But, as I mentioned, histamine is usually produced after the allergic reaction has taken place, and is one of the mediators of inflammation. Therefore, histamine in food may produce allergic-like symptoms even if you are not allergic. Also, it may cause an allergic reaction to worsen due to increased levels of histamine. But as I said, I have only found a few papers describing this topic- but not read them in detail. Will wait for someone more knowledgable to chime in. – ddiez May 19 '15 at 09:40
  • Are we referring to allergies in general (like hayfever) or food-based allergies ? – Jan Vladimir Mostert May 22 '15 at 07:43
  • in general, though if some types of allergies are affected and some are not this'd be as good an answer. – Sim May 22 '15 at 12:21
  • If a certain food eliminates an allergy / allergy symptom, would that be considered reducing the severity to 0? – Jan Vladimir Mostert May 22 '15 at 13:17
  • definitely. Though it is about diet. Using it as a cream would not count. – Sim May 22 '15 at 14:26

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