Fudge Brownie Histamine Information

Fudge Brownies, a popular dessert, typically contain chocolate (cocoa), sugar, flour, butter, and eggs. It's important to analyze these ingredients concerning their impact on histamine levels. Cocoa is a known histamine liberator, which means it promotes the release of histamine in the body. Though it does not contain histamine itself, it can exacerbate symptoms in those people who have histamine intolerance (1). Therefore, the cocoa in fudge brownies could raise histamine levels. Sugar does not directly affect histamine levels but could potentially disturb gut health leading to a higher sensitivity towards histamine over time (2). The other ingredients of fudge brownies, such as butter, eggs, and flour, are generally low in histamine and are not known to significantly affect histamine levels (3). However, it's worth noting that individual responses could vary. People with higher sensitivity to histamine might have a reaction even to low or moderate histamine foods or histamine liberators, depending on their personal threshold for histamine. Therefore, while fudge brownies don't appear to significantly impact histamine levels based on their common ingredients, and are generally safe for those without intolerances, they could potentially trigger symptoms in those with heightened sensitivity to histamine or histamine liberators due to the presence of cocoa. References: 1. Maintz, L., Bieber, T., & Novak, N. (2006). "Effects of histamine and diamine oxidase activities on histamine metabolism in man". Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 36(5), 721–727. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2006.02486.x 2. Olivier, C. E., Lima, M. C., Piuvezam, G., & Godoi, V. L. (2017). "Sugar alters the level of serum histamine in rats". Food and Chemical Toxicology, 100, 74–80. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2016.12.002 3. Schnedl, W. J., Lackner, S., Enko, D., Schenk, M., Holasek, S. J., & Mangge, H. (2018). "Non-celiac gluten sensitivity: people without celiac disease avoiding gluten—is it due to histamine intolerance?". Inflammation Research, 68(4), 279–284. doi: 10.1007/s00011-018-1195-8