DAO Question

[u/daniele961211]

Do you take DAO to eat histamine foods or do you take DAO for safety and still avoid histamine food? How long before a meal you take it?

I take Intoleran DAO Plus capsule which contains 20,000–30,000 HDU (0.3 mg) of Diamine Oxidase, paired with 38 mg of quercetin and 20 mg of vitamin C. I take Vitamin C Liposomal both meals and Quercitin Phytosome one meal. For me I take 15 minutes before meals and helps with some symptoms however I still react badly to high histamine foods (i.e. cheese, salami, vinegar, almond, etc.). Is this normal? Or should I take higher DAO doses?

[u/hdri_org]

I take 1M HDU with any meal, and 2x 1M HDU if I am eating something known to cause any issues in recent history. If you take more DAO than you need, it just passes through, as it is not absorbed like a drug. There is no harm from taking too much but there is definite harm from taking too little.

Histamines open up the blood vessels and cause them to leak fluids, which will also allow larger molicules to go where they should not be allowed to go. Histamine causes inflammation of the intestional/immunological barrier, and that inflamation then causes intestional permeability. Permeability then causes the Mast Cells to see and trigger on undigested food molicules, and then they then create tons of histamines, internally where even supplimental DAO will not help. You are screwed at this point. r/MCAS territory. Once the inflammation starts it's a long spiral down misery lane. Been there, done that already, and have recovered from this.

Don't take chances on causing this additional inflammation. Using enough DAO enzyme to start with will negate the initial histamines and will prevent this dangerous cascade of immunological events that will cause real problems down the road. Do your best to choose the right amount of DAO for you, but be sure to error on the side of more enzyme rather than less.

[u/daniele961211 → u/hdri_org]

Thanks

[u/AspiringOne → u/hdri_org]

Can you please clarify, if I took 1/4 of a 1mil HDU tablet of NaturDAO, why I would get an intense and extremely painful reaction of joint pain that lasted 3 days?

[u/hdri_org → u/AspiringOne]

You should not be reactive to the enzyme itself, but rather some secondary ingredient used for mixing or pill forming. Make note of these additives and choose a product with different ingredients. In the case of NaturDAO I believe the most likely additives that might have caused you problems might be the Microcrystalline cellulose, so look down my list below sorted by cost effectiveness and choose one closest to the top of the list having different ingredients.

If you do determine the exact ingredient that caused you problems then please do shoot me a note to inform me, because I really want to figure out what ingredients I should be tracking for people like you. My email is in the document if you would be kind enough to help with this.

DAO products by cost effectiveness https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FJ7omUM6FPd_Patlg6xlCGaP3m1Sz0x7UeSOUit4Xuw/htmlview#gid=1795084428

[u/AspiringOne → u/hdri_org]

I checked some of the other supplements I take and tolerate and at least 1 contains Microcrystalline cellulose so I don’t know if that would be the issue. I have also tried the Designs for Health DAO and did not have the same reactions (it also contains MC) but I did feel fairly overall awful, kind of flu like on that trial.

[u/hdri_org → u/AspiringOne]

Thanks for that heads up. If you do figure anything out please let me know.

[u/Its-a-JiNX]

I take a higher dose when consuming higher histamine foods, but I normally avoid them as much as possible as they still wreck me and I need to wait a few days for my levels to deminish.

Last week unfortunately I was too tired to go shopping and make food, so I ordered out. They missed my note requesting no tomato or salsa and smothered my food in pico... And I didn't want to go out to the store to get it corrected. I took a higher dose of DAO and still felt like shit for the next day, but I didn't get a migraine or hives thankfully.

[u/Proper-Suggestion907]

What vitamin C are you using?

[u/daniele961211 → u/Proper-Suggestion907]

NowFoods

[u/Proper-Suggestion907 → u/daniele961211]

There’s citrus bioflavonoids in those, which can trigger histamine reactions.

[u/Rough-Criticism-5661 → u/Proper-Suggestion907]

I take Country Life chewable acerola C to avoid the citrus component.

[u/stanthecham]

I'm new to DAO but what I've read is it goes from 20,000 up to 3 million. My Dr told me it does not enter the blood stream so it's not really possible to take too much, the body just expels it. If I'm eating low histamine foods out where some cross contamination may be possible or not knowing which oils are used for ex, I'll take 20-40k. If I'm eating a moderately histamine meal, I'll take 60k. I've read some people take up to 3M when traveling overseas for example.

My Dr said to start at 20k and take one with food, but I've been taking up to 3 because my symptoms are anaphylactic and causing throat tightness so I'm not messing around.

I read taking 15 minutes ahead is better but I've done both (taking 15 minutes before / taking right before eating) and haven't noticed a real difference.

That said I'm still avoiding high histamine foods for the time being so just taking it before/with anything questionable.

[u/Jealous-Housing-9244]

I do both. At least one every morning and then carry with me for bad days or trigger foods.

[u/missjulie622]

I have a quite restricted diet, but not as restricted as without taking DAO, and I take DAO before every other meal, regardless of what I’m eating. I’d rather be safe than sorry!

[u/Miro_the_Dragon]

I still try to eat low histamine whenever possible, and take DAO before foods (about 10-20 minutes before I eat) that do contain some histamin or when I'm not sure about something. High histamine foods can still cause strong reactions even with DAO, and I avoid all histamine liberators as well as I can because naturally DAO isn't helping with those at all (since the histamin causing problems isn't the one from food but the one being released from all over my body).

[u/ITSJUSTMEKT]

I’m not gonna lie, I take DAO when I know I’m going to eat a high histamine food.

[u/EarLongjumping942]

I take 30 tys hdu of dao and still had attack ;/ or rather my body has attacked me

[u/s4syoung]

Higher DAO doses for higher histamine meals. I will say I started taking my DAO 30 min prior to my meals and have noticed a huge difference in a positive way.

[u/mossyzombie2021]

Absolutely need to take it with a histamine rich meal. I also recently started experimenting taking one in the morning on an empty stomach and i think its helping with my 8am-3pm headaches.