If you have histamine intolerance, you may be relying on Diamine Oxidase (DAO) supplements to stay well, but how do you know you’re buying a product that contains active enzyme? If it’s not active in sufficient quantities, it’s not working. You may not only be wasting your money, but risking  your wellness too.

At Allergy Best Buys we’ve always purchased the best we can buy, direct from the manufacturer. No corners cut. No middle men. The results of recent comparative brand testing shared with me by the lab at Dr Healthcare are frankly shocking. I’d love to share the entire report with you but for legal reasons I can only share highlights, and have obscured the brand names of DAO products which underperformed. In some cases there was absolutely no active enzyme present in tested samples.

The food supplements industry is not nearly as well regulated as the pharmaceutical industry. Here’s what the research shared with me uncovered.

Most DAO supplements are derived from extract of porcine kidney. This provides the most stable form of DAO enzyme for supplementation. In the table below you can see the level of active DAO enzyme present per dose as tested. The two products labelled a were found to contain active DAO enzyme above the 0.2 mU/mg advertised on the packaging. Those labelled b (names obscured for legal reasons) were found to contain active DAO enzyme significantly below advertised, or below that necessary to be effective in controlling histamine intolerance. In two brands tested there was NO DETECTABLE ACTIVE ENZYME.

In recent years, vegan DAO alternatives have gained popularity. The vegan form of the DAO enzyme works perfectly well and has a good shelf life as long as it’s prepared properly in supplements and bulk stored in refrigerated conditions. At room temperature it degrades more rapidly than porcine-derived DAO. Not all manufacturers share this fact, or store their product in refrigerated conditions.

In the table below you can see the level of active vegan DAO enzyme present per dose as tested. The product labelled a was found to contain active DAO enzyme above the 0.2 mU/mg: an effective supplementation level. Those labelled b were found to contain NO DETECTABLE ACTIVE ENZYME.

At Allergy Best Buys, vegan DAO supplements (we only sell DAOfood Veg) are transported to us and stored in strict temperature controlled conditions. According to manufacturer instruction, the enzyme remains sufficiently stable in UK transport through our normal carriers over the course of a few days for us to have 100% confidence in its efficacy. Once it arrives with our customers, it must again be stored the fridge to maintain that efficacy.

As a company we are committed to transparency, and to doing all we can to ensure that we sell the best quality, effective DAO supplements available. There may be a lack of regulatory standards at the current time, but that in no way means that it’s right to be selling ineffective supplements to people with histamine intolerance.

If you can detect outrage in the tone of this blog post, you’d be correct. If you’d like more information about how the research for the post was carried out, do email in and we’ll share what can: customerservices@allergybestbuys.co.uk

This information is shared in good faith and has been checked for accuracy by the lab team at Dr Healthcare.

Click the links for more information on DAOfood, DAOfood Plus and DAOfood Veg

PS. At the time of writing I am aware that certain suppliers of DAO supplements are passing themselves off as bona fide manufacturers, with the manufacturer playing ‘whack-a-mole’ to get them stopped. So what are the imposters actually selling? It’s the Wild West out there for sufferers of histamine intolerance.