Pharmacological factors
“Natural food products are complex mixtures comprising chemical substances, many of which have not a defined role in human nutrition yet. Most substances without known nutritional function which exist in products that we normally use do not seem to have harmful effects, or they may be present in such small amounts that they do not represent any danger to human health. Nevertheless, in some circumstances these substances may have damaging effects that must be taken into account. Some known substances found in fermented foods are not toxic in normal subjects, but they may be when the subject consuming the food is under treatment with certain drugs that are able to modify their metabolism within the organism.”
Francisco GRANDE COVIÁN, 1981
There is set of drugs involved in the deficiency or low activity of Diamine Oxidase enzyme. They block or inhibit enzymes involved in the metabilization of histamine, DAO in particular, or release endogenous histamine. This is a very significant risk, as over 90 drugs have been reported to be involved, many of them widely used.
It has been estimated that 20% of the population use some of these drugs, increasing the risk of suffering symptoms or pathologies derived from histamine accumulation.
In pathologies such as migraine, an effect of the consumption of these drugs may be the chronification of symptoms, as most drugs prescribed to palliate the effects of the illness are DAO inhibitors or endogenous histamine-releasing drugs.
Some of the reported drugs are: analgesics, antidepressants, antirheumatics, antiarrhythmics, antiarrhythmics, antihistamines and mucolytics, among others, being these last ones used especially in children.