Mast Cell Disorders Forum

Mast Cell Disorders Forum
http://mastcelldisorders.wallack.us/yabb/YaBB.pl General Mast Cell Disorders Discussion >> Nutrition >> Yogurt and Kefir http://mastcelldisorders.wallack.us/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1317314895 Message started by missybean on 09/29/11 at 05:48:15

Title: Yogurt and Kefir
Post by missybean on 09/29/11 at 05:48:15

I was wondering I know some of you eat yogurt and drink kefir. Is yogurt a no no on the low histamine diet? I thought cultured and fermented foods or off limits. I want to start making my own coconut milk and almond milk yogurt.
Melissa

Title: Re: Yogurt and Kefir
Post by jbean on 10/01/11 at 10:42:32

I think it varies for the person and how they might react to it. I have heard + and - from specialists on this one.

I have been having a lot of gi issues, but my gi exam showed very little mast cells in the gi and stable tryptase... still, what was the cause? In my case, may be a little IBD that runs in the family and acts up when I stress out. My masto meds just were NOT making a dent in it, so I looked a little deeper.

I have found, thus far, that a little bit of Kefir everyday seems to help. My gi specialist recommended this as a little more "natural" approach if some of the gi issues might be from overgrowth of "bad" bacteria. I got some from Trader Joes. It seems to make everything calm down a bit for me, as it adds in more of the gi friendly bacteria that helps the microflora be more normal.... that's the theory anyway. I don't think there are many studies on this yet. Given all the antihistamines we usually take, that would tend to dehydrate us and that might factor into motility problems.

I think you just have to try it out and see how it goes. Fermented things do seem to bug us, so of course, you have to be cautious. For me, I found it seemed to help a bit so far.

If you find a good solution for this, let me know. I am really struggling with this and trying the Kefir a little more frequently now too. Will let you know how it goes. I am a firm believer in trying the most natural approaches possible to bring the body into balance. I think maintaining a good physiological balance is very important for our condition. You have to think like that "Baby Bear" in the Goldilocks story..... got to have everything be "JUST RIGHT!"

Title: Re: Yogurt and Kefir
Post by Joan on 10/01/11 at 16:33:14

For people who can't tolerate milk products or fermented products, probiotics can be taken by capsule. Best to get an enteric coated one, but Align and PB8 seem to make it through okay. Some of the new ones are dairy free.

Title: Re: Yogurt and Kefir
Post by zippy890 on 10/10/11 at 05:51:34

I made homemade kefir and kombucha from kefir grains and kombucha mushrooms for over a year. I LOVED it ! But I found that I was becoming increasingly reactive while drinking them. In the end, I think it made my mast cell condition worse. I had to quit them altogether.

As I said, I LOVED these drinks. So maybe I drank too much of them.
I would recommend caution, and paying attention to how you are doing over time.

I wish I could drink kefir, as there is a nutraceutical kefir product called MAF314 which is supposed to ...um... recouple the vitamin D transporting molecule, which is theoretically split by nagalase ... and the nagalase is ...um... induced by or contained in some viral envelope proteins (I hope I got that right). Anyway, the end result is a subtle immune deficiency, which is "supposedly" corrected by MAF314 (Macrophage Activating Factor). MAF is sold as an injectible in Europe btw to treat HIV and cancer.

Germane to Masto ? I don't know.

Todd in Tenn.