Don’t feel bad tossing last week’s takeout: You might be doing your health a favor.
Symptoms of systemic mastocytosis (SM) can be activated by a number of different environmental, physical and emotional factors. One such trigger is histamine, which can be found naturally in food that has been stored for more than one or two days — and is likely lurking in the Tupperware at the back of your fridge. Thankfully, there’s ways to make food storage safer.
Why do leftovers trigger symptoms?
People living with systemic mastocytosis can have an allergic reaction to high levels of histamine. Histamine is one of the substances released by triggered mast cells.
Certain foods tend to be high in histamine, or can cause mast cells to release more histamine into the body. Histamines are especially high in foods that are processed, aged or fermented. Certain methods of cooking can also increase the amount of histamines in food. Grilling and frying, for example, increase histamine levels; boiling, on the other hand, decreases them. To help manage symptoms, some patients with SM follow a low-histamine diet that minimizes these foods.
Read more about SM treatment and care
Leftovers pose a special concern. When cooked food is stored over several days, bacteria break down the amino acids, a process that leads to the formation of histamine. This is especially true for fresh meat, poultry and fish. (Vegetables are less likely to be affected.) This adds to the histamine levels already present in a food or dish.
Tips for keeping histamine out of your fridge
The best way avoid high levels of histamine in food is to eat fresh, unprocessed foods — like whole grains and salmon — and avoid leftovers. But that’s much easier said than done: Whether your cooking skills are limited to scrambled eggs or you’re trying to feed a family on a budget, buying and cooking fresh, whole foods on a daily basis just isn’t realistic for many people. Thankfully, there’s small steps that can help make a difference no matter what your dinner routine looks like:
- Check expiration dates at the store, and choose the freshest options.
- Shop for items on your grocery list that don’t need refrigeration first, to limit how long cold items are exposed to warmer temperatures.
- Choose vacuum-packed items over plastic-wrapped meat and fish.
- Store meats and other more-perishable items in the back and the bottom of the fridge, where it’s coldest.
- Turn the temperature of your fridge down a few degrees below its standard setting.
- Try to cook smaller portions to avoid having leftovers.
If you do need to store leftovers, following a few steps can help make them safer:
- Cool food quickly after cooking: Refrigerate or freeze leftovers within one hour. To quickly cool cooked food, put the pot into a sink full of cold water. The longer leftovers are left out unrefrigerated, the greater the chance that histamine levels will increase.
- Avoid using a microwave to heat food: The temperature of microwaved food is uneven, and some sections probably won’t be heated through properly. This causes higher levels of histamine.
- Avoid reheating food multiple times: Reheating multiple times can increase the buildup of histamine.
Remember that even when refrigerated, leftovers can develop high levels of histamine if kept for more than one or two days.
Keep antihistamines at hand in case of an allergic reaction, and be prepared with two doses of epinephrine in your systemic mastocytosis emergency kit if you suffer from anaphylaxis.
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