Anti-histamines and Fat Loss/Muscle Gain – Q&A
Question: I have three of your books and find them very informative. I have a question you do not address in your books. Does taking Benedryl (dyphenhydramine) negatively affect either muscle building or fat loss?
Answer: Chronic anti-histamine use can negatively affect calorie partitioning (where calories ‘go’ when you eat them), yes. It’s not something I’ve looked into in great detail at this point but the histamine system is involved in bodyweight regulation and antagonizing it all the time seems to do very negative things in terms of both body weight and body composition.
Of some interest, I know a lot of people who find that lowered carb diets (especially full blown ketogenic diets) allow them to avoid allergy medicine in the first place. Ketogenic diets tend to decrease immune system function a bit and allergies are basically an overactive immune response.
By the same token, when people get sick on keto diets, they often take forever to get over it. So, by lowering carbs and essentially decreasing immune system function, you may not need to take the Benadryl in the first place. On that note, taking high doses of fish oils also modulates immune system and will probably help with this.
Hi Lyle, I have just read Bromocriptine and I am waiting for Ketogenic Diet to arrive ( which will take some time as I live in Dublin, Ireland -not TX).
Two years ago, at 82 kg (190 lb) and 39 inch waist, I went ketogenic, and got to 75 kg (150 lb) where I stalled. As a result of some observations and studies in relation to improving fat mobilisation mentioned by Taubes in Good Cals, Bad Cals, I began using 15 mg Nicotine Patches. Within 12-16 weeks I reached 71 kg (152 lbs). This was fat loss, confirmed by reduced waist diameter diameter of 34 inch.
I am commenting here as I have not found any other place to add to the Q & A at the end of Bromocriptine.
Your proposed pathway for regulation relating to D2 receptor has added another mechanism to my understanding.
One point, I notice that you make no reference to Dostinex (Cabergoline) , another D2 agonist, tho’ I am aware that its half-life is about 3 days as against about 12 hours for Bromo.
For myself, the side effects of Bromo – headache, slight nausea – are not worth it, by comparison with mood shift of more DA!
Thank you for sharing your insights.
Cabergoline is dissussed in page 108 of the Bromo book and the Bromo sales pages would be where to put this comment.
Lyle
What constitutes “chronic” use in this context? I would assume the occasional claritin would not be an issue, but what about a week where I take claritin daily? Or is it more of a long-term, taking an anti-histamine daily for months where this becomes any issue?
Hi, Lyle. I’m currently taking fish oil to suppress my immune system’s response to year-round allergies. When taking 15-16 capsules per day, it seems to work best. However, I am greatly concerned about negative effects on immune function–a couple of studies have shown decreased T-cell count and natural killer cell count in taking 4 g of EPA/DHA per day (roughly 13-14 g of fish oil). Do you have any insight or suggestions?