Histamine in Bone Broth
There is a lot of talk around histamine in bone broth in the pet industry lately and we are here to create more understanding around what can be an intimidating, confusing subject.
Here is our input on histamine and how your dog could be affected by it and what bone broth has to do with it all, anyway.
What is histamine?
It is made of mostly nitrogen which is important for daily bodily functions like protein synthesis and immune system, brain and hormone function. The body usually gets all the histamine it needs from its own cells, however food can often times have some as well and healthy foods are often especially high in histamines.
How does histamine affect my dog?
Histamine is naturally occurring in the body and necessary for proper body functions, however if there is an over-abundance or over-production of it, it can cause potential concerns for your dog. Now this doesn't just happen without reason. Dogs who struggle with gut inflammation are going to have a harder time breaking down histamine. This is due to an elevated temperature in the gut, which doesn't allow the enzyme responsible for histamine break down to function at its best. This will create a vicious cycle of excessive histamine build up and continuous gut inflammation.
What causes gut inflammation?
Continuous consumption of highly processed foods like dry, extruded kibble has been known to cause irritation often leading to leaky gut and inflammation. Additionally, antibiotics, steroids and non steroidal anti-inflammatory medications can also cause damage and inflammation.
How does bone broth play a role?
Bone broth is extremely healing for the digestive tract due to its variety in collagen types and detoxing effect on the body. It will help reduce gut inflammation with in turn helps reduce histamine intolerance because the enzymes can get back to functioning properly.
However, not all bone broth is curated equally and sourcing plays a very important role. It is important to source from healthy, grass-fed animals who live a low stress life and were humanely handled until their last day. It also plays a role how much skin and meat is left on the bone. The more meat and skin that is cooked, the higher the histamine content will be. Naturally, our chicken and turkey bone broths have higher histamine content due to skin and meat on the backs and necks we use to curate our broths.
All healthy foods are going to be higher in histamine and a healthy dog will be able to process histamine and break it down. However that is not to say that bone broth should be avoided until your dogs gut is healed. It is quite the opposite, in our opinion, because it has such incredible healing and detoxing effects on the body, that continuous use can help your dog regulate their gut lining and reduce inflammation.