I.M.120 Helping you to BE YOUR BEST SELF

It is that time of year. Spring flowers accompanied with pollen that can trigger sneezing and itching for many of us. Often times we will reach for the antihistamine, but did you know that Benadryl can stimulate obesity?

It turns out that histamines are valuable at stimulating burning of fat and blocking hunger. Therefore, anything that blocks production of histamines can interfere with fat burning and cause increase in hunger drive. This has been born out in clinical studies correlating use of anti-histamines with increased fat mass. In one study looking at people who are using Anti-histamine versus those who were not on them, the difference in bodyweight was approximately 10 kg for men and 7 kg for women!

Some better options to consider if weight is a concern for you are chromolyn, or the nasal inhaler Flonase. These two agents are both available over-the-counter. Several prescription options are available including; montelukast (singular), Zaferlukast (accolate) and other agents.

It also turns out that high sugar and high sweet substances have a histamine blocking affect. This may account for the reason why sweetened foods stimulate our appetite and make it harder to lose weight, even if they are sweetened with 0 calorie artificial substances.

Of course, you could always leave your allergies untreated. It's likely the increase in calories that you burn while sneezing will help keep your waist trim.