Women, as we all know, have to live once a month with the feared menstruation for about five days. Most describe those days as painful, gray, sensitive (as you get angry or cry at any time), and they feel tired because they can’t sleep… Sometimes the pain becomes so unbearable that only a drug can relieve it. Can you imagine having to take painkillers every month? Yes, my friends, taking medication monthly for over 40 years!

During the menstrual period the Diamine Oxidase (DAO) activity, that intestinal enzyme which we talk so much about, decreases. A group of researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Kobe (Japan) reports it (1). However, the opposite occurs during during pregnancy, where DAO activity increases exponentially. This is the female body, in constant changing.

You are probably wondering if the drop in enzyme activity during the period is responsible for menstrual cramps. We can not secure it at 100%, but for years we have seen improvement in most women after starting the nutritional treatment for DAO deficiency disorder (low histamine diet + DAO enzyme supplement), including the period days. The first thing they tell us is that they do not need medication to relieve pain, as this is bearable. The next step many describe is the complete disappearance of pain.

Are we in front of a new treatment for menstrual pain? Or maybe only women who always have DAO deficiency improve, and not those who just have it during the period days? The specific low DAO activity during the menstrual days also explains migraine attacks suffered by many women once a month. These crisis are popularly known as “hormonal migraine attacks”. Let us remember that whenever there is a DAO deficiency, histamine from diet accumulates in the body due to the inability to expel it and can cause a range of symptoms. Proving that relationship would mean that following a low histamine diet, especially during the period, could reduce or even eliminate menstrual cramps and migraine in most women!!

Bibliography

(1) HAMADA Y, SHINOHARA Y, YANO M, YAMAMOTO M, YOSHIO M, SATAKE K, TODA A, HIRAI M, USAMI M. Effect of the menstrual cycle on serum diamine oxidase levels in healthy women. Clinical Biochemistry, 2013, Japan.