As the blossom appears and the trees begin their annual cycle, many of us reach for relief through antihistamines. While these can offer temporary relief, we are often asked whether there’s a natural or root-cause way to alter the way that the body’s immune system views pollen.
While for most the symptoms are itchy watering eyes, rhinitis and sinus congestion, for some unlucky folks, pollen season also brings with it food cross-reactivity resulting in itchy mouth or sore stomach with a wide range of fruits, vegetables and nuts (if you react to apples, carrots or celery seasonally then you probably have Pollen Food Allergy Syndrome).
What’s the Root Cause?
The chemical causing the itching, swelling and general misery is called histamine. This is released from immune cells called Mast Cells when the immune system encounters something it sees as a potential threat. Histamine acts as a signal to the body to ‘attack’ the perceived threat – releasing chemicals that make blood vessel walls leaky (causing fluid swelling in the eyes mouth and nose when the pollen is encountered there). Medications called anti-histamines block the effects of histamine on the tissues and reduce these effects.
Obviously, pollen avoidance strategies can be considered, but staying indoors in fine weather (with or without a HEPA filter to improve air quality), is not a practical long term solution.
What are the Functional Medicine Quick Fixes?
While antihistamines may well be the most effective way to manage pollen allergy in the short term, they aren’t effective for everyone, and cause drowsiness side effects for others. In Functional Medicine, we have effective alternatives where needed (or preferred):
Mast Cell Stabilisers:
For some patients, we find that treatments that act ‘up-stream’ of the histamine problems, to block the release of histamine from the mast cells themselves can be more effective therapies. In clinic, we use both prescription Mast Cell Stabilisers (Ketotifen and Cromoglicate), as well as a number of natural agents with both anti-inflammatory and mast cell settling benefits. However, natural also provides us with many natural mast cell stabilising compounds. Some of my favourite natural antihistamine supplements are quercetin, nettle root, luteolin and Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA). These agents help to calm the immune system at a deeper level and can reduce total histamine levels rather than just blocking the effects after it’s already been released.
Are there any longer term solutions to stop Hayfever from happening at all?
Yes! Although traditional medicine would say you’re stuck with it, at Functional Nexus we often see patients who have suffered severely from hay fever suddenly find that, for the first time in many years, the pollen season rolls around without them noticing. Typically this occurs because of hard work resulting in significant changes to gut health, as well as diet changes and nutritional support over a number of months.
While these techniques for settling pollen allergy might not work for you this year, these are things to think about to help settle inflammation and mast cell excitability in the longer term. For those with non-seasonal allergies, the techniques below are ones to get started on straight away.
Balancing the histamine ‘bucket’
There are many ways to help maintain healthy histamine levels. This chemical is normal in the body and it has important roles. It’s only when the histamine levels reach a certain threshold that we become symptomatic as the excess ‘overflows’ and causes unwanted side effects. However, keeping the levels in the normal range requires maintenance and work for many.
Lowering Histamine Exposure
Histamine is a chemical our immune systems release when it encounters a perceived threat. However, what many people don’t know is that our histamine level, can also be added to from dietary sources. In fact, some of the most healthy foods we can think of are naturally high in histamine, or act as histamine ‘releasers’ (triggering the mast cells to dump their load). Foods which increase histamine levels include:
- Fermented foods: Sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, marmite, nutritional yeast, mature cheese, dark chocolate (made from fermented cacao beans), soy sauce.
- High Histamine Fruits and veggies: Spinach, avocado, tomato, strawberries, bananas, kiwi
- Histamine ‘releasers’: Citrus fruits, alcohol
There’s a great leaflet on which foods are likely to raise histamine levels here
Increasing Anti-histamine Foods
These are foods which can help with mast cell stabilisation and reduce Pollen Allergy symptoms when used alongside other strategies:
- Fruits and veggies: Watercress, onions, garlic, pomegranates, apples, peaches, blueberries
- Herbs and spices: Ginger and turmeric
- Teas: Chamomile, peppermint, nettle
Supporting gut health
In health, the gut enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO), helps to clear the histamine from food so that the absorption is reduced. However, where there is disturbance to gut function (increased intestinal permeability or loss of DAO enzyme production due to inflammation or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth), histamine absorption increases and high histamine foods can have a greater impact.
For many, reducing the intake of gluten or foods that their immune systems are sensitive to, can help to reduce gut permeability and inflammation levels. By focusing on healing the gut and reducing overall inflammation, we can often calm the entire immune response. This leads to a significant reduction in seasonal symptoms over time.
Improving histamine Clearance
Under normal circumstances, most people can process and clear this histamine quite efficiently. However, imbalanced hormones, stress and some nutritional deficiencies (especially low B12 and B9), can reduce effective histamine clearance – resulting in the histamine ‘bucket’ overflowing more easily.
Practical Steps for Self-Care
There are several things you can do right now to support your body during the peak pollen months.
1. Support Your Natural Antihistamines
Swapping high histamine foods for those with anti-histamine properties helps to reduce your histamine load. Switch spinach for rocket and watercress, swap out tomatoes on your salads for beetroot and pomegranate seeds, switch fermented (dark) chocolate for white chocolate.
2. Reduce exposure
Simple actions like washing your hair before bed can stop you from spreading pollen onto your pillow. Using a saline nasal rinse can also help physically clear the pollen from your nasal passages before it has a chance to trigger a reaction.
3. Trial Natural Mast Cell stabilisers
Quercetin, which is found in red onions, broccoli and apples, is particularly helpful. We also love BioCare’s Quercetin complex: https://naturaldispensary.co.uk/8_quercetin-complex-90s
When Things Get Out of Hand
If you find that your symptoms are becoming debilitating or if you are struggling with brain fog and exhaustion alongside your allergies, it may be time for a deeper look.
We can use advanced testing to check your gut health and look for specific nutrient deficiencies that might be making you more sensitive. Sometimes, a reactivated underlying infection can also keep your immune system in a state of high alert. If you are feeling overwhelmed, please know that you do not have to just suffer through it every year.
Three Soothing Recipes for Allergy Season
These recipes focus on ingredients that help lower inflammation and support your immune system’s natural balance.
Apple, Ginger and Turmeric shots
Made without citrus and harnessing the natural anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine properties This is a lovely way to start your morning during high pollen days:
Ingredients
4 small apples cored, roughly chopped
50g fresh ginger root peeled, roughly chopped
20g fresh turmeric root or ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
Directions
- With a juicer:
- Feed the ingredients through your juicer into a bowl or large glass and enjoy
- Blended Shot Method:
- Blend the ingredients with a small amount of water or apple juice, then strain through a fine mesh sieve
- Hot Tonic Method:
- Simmer sliced ginger, turmeric, and apple in water for 10-15 minutes, strain, and add honey to taste.
2
servingsSo many healthy salads contain high histamine ingredients – but this is one that will help you reduce the sneezing and itching:
Ingredients
120 g rocket
120 g watercress
60g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
60g fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
250g cooked beetroot (not pickled)
1/2 cucumber
80g pomegranate seeds
2 tbsp Pomegranate molasses
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey or maple syrup (optional)
Salt to taste
Directions
- Roughly chop the salad leaves and add to a large bowl with the chopped herbs.
- Cut beetroot and cucumber into 0.5cm cubes and add to the leaves alongside the pomegranate seeds.
- In a jar, shake the oil, honey and pomegranate molasses until emulsified with a pinch of saly (or to taste).
- Dres the salad and mix thoroughly before serving.
Low Histamine ‘Nomato’ sauce
This alternative to high histamine tomato-based pasta sauces tastes great and can be used on pizza bases, pasta and in bolognaise (although it will turn your pasta pink). The onion, apple and garlic add a great quercetin boost to your meal.
Ingredients
2 white onions
4 cloves of garlic
4 medium carrots
1 small butternut squash cut in to cubes
500g pack cooked beetroot (not in vinegar)
2 sticks of celery
2 apples
1 tbsp olive oil
500ml water
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tsp of apple cider vinegar (optional)
1 tsp dried basil and oregano (or fresh green herbs to taste)
salt to taste
Directions
- Clean and chop up all of the vegetables.
- Heat up the olive oil and add the chopped celery and onion to the pot on a low heat and cook, stirring a few times, until the onions are translucent.
- Add the garlic, and let it cook with the onion and celery for a minute
- Add in the rest of the vegetables, the apples, water, a tsp of apple cider vinegar, stock cube and herbs.
- Bring it to the boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer for 25- 30 minutes until all of the veggies are soft
- Blend till you get the texture you prefer
- Salt to taste and if you prefer, add a bit more apple cider vinegar.
Moving Beyond Temporary Fixes
While the recipes and steps above provide immediate comfort, our real focus at Functional Nexus is helping you build a resilient system that does not panic every time a tree blossoms.
Most people wait until they are already sneezing to take action, but the most effective solutions actually happen well before the season starts.
Planning in advance is one of the kindest things you can do for your future self. If we can work on your gut health and lower your systemic inflammation in the autumn and winter, your histamine bucket will be much emptier when spring arrives. This proactive approach allows your immune system to remain stable rather than being constantly on the defensive.
The Science of Root Cause Healing
Our approach is grounded in the latest clinical research. Scientific studies have shown a clear link between the diversity of our gut microbiome and the severity of our allergic responses. When we have a rich and varied ecosystem of beneficial bacteria, they help regulate our immune cells and prevent them from overreacting.
By using targeted nutrition and lifestyle changes, we can actually influence the pathways that drive your hayfever symptoms. We aren’t just masking the problem with a pill. We are working at a cellular level to change how your body interacts with its environment.
Hayfever is rarely an isolated issue and is frequently seen alongside digestive problems, skin issues, or even a sensitivity to certain foods. By identifying your specific issues, can create a bespoke and successful plan for your long term wellness.
Next Steps
If you would like to explore your health journey more deeply and move toward a life where you aren’t constantly checking the pollen count, we are here to support you. We have helped many patients move from simply surviving the spring to truly enjoying it.
Book a conversation with our Treatment Planning Team today to discuss your health requirements and how we can help you get well and stay well.
