A good way to ease into a low histamine diet is to start by eliminating the worst culprits, that is, the foods which most directly raise your histamine levels: the high histamine foods. Whether you have MCAS, mastocytosis, or a more general histamine intolerance, cutting out high histamine foods is essential for managing your symptoms.
Most food lists out there just dictate what to eat and what to avoid, but rarely do they dig into why there are so many high histamine foods out there. The secret is: most of what we label as high histamine foods are actually low in histamine.
But they're foods which have some other characteristic(s) that make them trigger reactions in most people with histamine issues. This is actually good news for you.
It means that even a couple weeks into the diet, you may be able to start reintroducing some high histamine foods— if you discover the root cause of your histamine intolerance.
Medical Disclaimer: as with everything on this site, this article is provided for information only. I strongly urge you to speak with your doctor or a licensed medical professional in order to assess whether or not you have histamine issues and/or other medical issues.
🥗 What Makes Foods High Histamine?
If your symptoms aren't very bad or you're trying to ease some seasonal allergy woes, you can just start by emphasizing lower histamine foods, slowly & eventually replacing each of these high histamine foods.
But beyond the foods with the highest histamine levels, I want to dig into four other types of foods which you'll find on the list below. Each of these types of foods can raise or abnormally sustain your histamine levels.
You can find a more in-depth look at what to eat on a low histamine diet in my low histamine foods list, but looking at it directly, there are foods which:
- •contain high levels of histamine
- -contain high levels of other biogenic amines
- +maintain existing histamine levels (prevent the clearing of histamine by DAO)
- *theoretically "release" histamine from other foods (histamine liberators; unproven)
- ~increase intestinal inflammation (or increases "permeability")
Once you figure out why you're so sensitive to histamine, you may find that you're able to reintroduce certain foods more quickly due to why they were initially eliminated. I've marked the 5 reasons why a food may need to be avoided on each food below, according to the symbols I've added next to each of the reasons listed above.
🌾 High Histamine Foods List
High Histamine Grains and Starches
- ~Bleached or enriched flour
- *+Cocoa powder
- *Frozen meals (contain preservatives)
- ~Gluten-containing foods (like seitan)
- -Most gluten-free breads (usually contain yeast & other iffy ingredients)
- ~Pie crusts (commercial)
- ~Prepackaged dessert mixes
- ~Wheat (includes spelt and other types of wheat)
High Histamine Vegetables
- •Anything fermented or preserved at above-freezing temps (such as sauerkraut or kimchi)
- •Eggplant
- *Green beans (string beans)
- -Mushrooms
- *-Peas
- *Pumpkin
- •Spinach
- *Soybeans (incl. edamame)
- *Tomatoes
High Histamine Fruit
- •Any very ripe fruits
- *Avocadoes
- *Bananas
- ~Commercially-made jams, jellies, juices, or preserves
- •Cranberry sauce (commercial)
- •*Dried fruits (including prunes, raisins)
- *Grapefruit
- •Olives (preserved)
- *Orange (& most any other citrus)
- *Papaya
- *Pawpaw
- *Pineapple
- *Plums
- *Strawberries
- *Tomatoes
High Histamine Dairy & Dairy Substitutes
- •Hard cheeses (basically anything aged, such as parmesan or gouda)
- •Kefir & other culture dairy
- •Preserved cheeses (like in brine, such as feta or halloumi)
- •Preserved creams (i.e. clotted cream or anything with preservatives)
- -Raw milk
- •Sour creams (crème fraîche, cream cheese, etc.)
- •~Yogurts (commercial)
High Histamine Proteins
- •Aged meats (anything which has been preserved in any way: canned, dried, smoked, etc.)
- •Cured meats (bacon, deli ham, hot dogs, pepperoni, etc.)
- •Fish – all others
- •*~Impossible Burgers & Beyond Meat (largely fillers of unknown origins)
- •Ground Meats
- •Leftover cooked meats
- *Protein powders (commercial)
- •Processed meats
- ~Seitan
- •Shellfish
- ~*Soy-based foods (like tofu or tempeh)
- *Uncooked Egg Whites
High Histamine Fats & Oils
- ~Canola oil (inflammatory)
- ~Corn oil (inflammatory)
- *~Fats or oils with added color, flavor, and/or preservatives
- ~Hydrogenated & partially-hydrogenated oils
- ~Margarine & other butter substitutes (like I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)
- ~Reddy Whip (& other oil-based whip toppings)
- ~Palm oil (refined)
- ~*Peanut oil (inflammatory)
- ~Safflower Oil (inflammatory)
- ~Shortening (hydrogenated oils)
- ~*Soybean oil (inflammatory)
High Histamine Nuts, Seeds, and Legumes
- ~•Canned or pre-packaged anything (beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc.)
- *-Peanuts
- ~Red Beans (canned or dry)
- ~Soybeans (incl. edamame)
- ~Tofu
- *-Walnuts
High Histamine Herbs, Spices, and Flavorings
- ~Anise
- ~Chili Powder
- ~Cloves (but worth trying to reintroduce)
- ~-Curry powder
- ~Cayenne
- •-*MSG (a.k.a. monosodium glutamate or yeast extract)
- -Nutmeg
- ~Paprika (hot or smoked)
- •-*Seasoning packets (usually contain MSG & other high histamine foods)
High Histamine Sweeteners
- ~Artificial Sweeteners
- ~Candy (store-bought)
- ~Corn Syrup
- ~*Flavored Syrups
- ~Fondant
- ~Frostings (icings)
- ~Store-Bought Jams (& conserves, jellies, marmalades, and preserves)
- ~Molasses
- ~Sugar (refined, brown, light brown)
- ~Sugar Alcohols (other than erythritol)
Miscellaneous High Histamine Foods
- *Artificial colors & flavors (including food colorings)
- •+Alcohols (including wine, beer, hard seltzers, etc.)
- •Bone Broth (commercial/boxed)
- -Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
- +Caffeine
- *Carob
- *Carrageenan
- *+Chocolates (cocoa/cacao)
- *Citric Acid
- •Condiments (pre-made; most contain citrus juices, vinegars, tomatoes, preservatives, etc.)
- *Ketchup
- *Lecithins
- ~Maltodextrin
- •Mayonnaise
- •Mincemeat
- •Miso
- •-*MSG (a.k.a. monosodium glutamate or yeast extract)
- •Mustard
- •Natural Flavorings (could contain high histamine ingredients)
- •Pickles
- *Potassium Sorbate
- *Potassium Triphosphate
- •*Salad dressings (store-bought)
- *Sodium Benzoate
- *Sodium Nitrite
- *Sodium Triphosphate (preservative)
- •-*Soy sauce (& tamari)
- •Vinegars (except apple cider vinegar)
- *Xanthan Gum
For help avoiding high histamine foods on your next trip to the grocery store, check out my low histamine shopping list.
Beranek says
Your website has so many ads, left, right, bottom, middle of the page. It's actually very disruptive and overwhelming. I did not finish reading your pages, I got tired of it. Leaving and not coming back.
Max says
I'm sorry you became overwhelmed, Beranek, though there are several great & free ad blockers out there that you can install tonight and never need to leave a comment on anyone's site about seeing too many ads again - but ads are the only way I can justify spending the thousands of hours I have on this site to provide you the free content and information you find here.
There's a reason you won't find any corners of the internet with great free content and NO ads, and that has to do with the costs & time that go into running a website. So to anyone reading this, I appreciate your understanding as to the necessity of ads as a way to keep this content free & accessible to everyone, even if they choose to use an ad blocker - my time has value (not to mention that it costs ~$200 a month to keep this site online), and just like you, I can't afford to work for free (anymore). 🙂
Jeff says
after 8 years of living with progressively worse histamine intolerance and reading everything on it, this list is the best Ive ever read. Its not just the food its the seemingly benign additives and how they are processed. Also how well your body can clear an overload of histamine .
Max says
Thank you, Jeff - and it's very kind of you to leave a comment! This this very complicated stuff, so the more straightforward I can make it, the better.
Melanie Beasley says
You've Astri several foods and do not explain what the Asterix means
Max says
But beyond the foods with the highest histamine levels, I want to dig into four other types of foods which you'll find on the list below. Each of these types of foods can raise or abnormally sustain your histamine levels.
You can find a more in-depth look at what to eat on a low histamine diet in my low histamine foods list, but looking at it directly, there are foods which:
•contain high levels of histamine
-contain high levels of other biogenic amines
+maintain existing histamine levels (prevent the clearing of histamine by DAO)
*theoretically "release" histamine from other foods (histamine liberators; unproven)
~increase intestinal inflammation (or increases "permeability")
Once you figure out why you're so sensitive to histamine, you may find that you're able to reintroduce certain foods more quickly due to why they were initially eliminated. I've marked the 5 reasons why a food may need to be avoided on each food below, according to the symbols I've added next to each of the reasons listed above.
Cindy Hill says
Great list, do you have something that I can print out for High Histamine Foods List (What to Avoid) like your other lists, even just a word version?
Max says
Thank you, Cindy! That's a good idea of something to add to the PDF downloads I've made for newsletter subscribers, but for now, a lovely reader has kindly created a color-coded Google doc of the info in my LH Foods list and said that I can share it with any other readers who might find it helpful - here's the link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lSGKT-5_G-CxLMWk4waxZr1cYmevOp46lvRg1S8oI1w/edit?usp=sharing
Lydia says
Thank you for this extremely helpful information! I have a technical question: are the ads in this webpage on with your permission or is this something that's done via your host company? I couldn't even write this comment directly on the page because of the multiple ads popping up (had to copy and paste from a WORD template). But I am using cell phone - if that makes any difference. Much appreciate your effort with all this 😊
Max says
My pleasure, Lydia!
And they're there with my permission but managed by an ad company— I'm appalled that there would be any ads when trying to write a comment, so I just accessed this page from an incognito browser on my phone, amd there are NO ads visible when one is typing a comment into the comment section of the screen (though there are some when scrolling). It's possible that you may have a virus on your phone, if seeing ads when commenting, though if ads in general just bother you, you can also install any one of a number of free mobile ad blockers (won't work in incognito browsers).
Just please note that ad revenue is the only income I make through the site, other than <$100 a month from Amazon. 🙂
Lydia says
thanks for the details Max. No, no viruses here, and today the ads aren't as problematic: there's just one banner ad on the bottom and another stationary one on the right that just partially obstructs visibility. I do however have a small screen (Samsung Galaxy 8), where my keyboard takes up half the screen and I use MOZILLA for my browser, which most sites do have some issues with. l'll need to get on my laptop more here 😊
Michael says
Hi.
Thanks so much for all this really useful information. Just a question on "canned anything" What's is the reason? Is it something to do with the can or the canning process? So chick peas in a can for instance, is it the chick peas, or the can or both?
Thank you
Max says
My pleasure, Michael! So it's both the canning process and the aging factor, because for example with chickpeas, you don't know what bacteria were present when everything was canned and may have been proliferating and creating histamine within the cans throughput the time it spent sitting on the shelf, which is usually months, if not years. So especially early on in a low histamine diet, it's safest to eat everything as fresh as possible.
Leanne says
I am confused about the hash browns- I thought all nightshades weren't allowed- and white potatoes are nightshades. There seems to be lots of conflicting information about a low histamine diet.
Max says
There is certainly a lot of conflicting information, but no, potatoes are not high histamine. However if your doctor has you on a more general elimination diet, they do usually exclude all nightshades at first (though potatoes tend to cause the fewest issues, even amongst those with a nightshade issue).
Clare says
What do the asterisks and dashes and ~ indicate??
Max says
You can find a more in-depth look at what to eat on a low histamine diet in my low histamine foods list, but looking at it directly, there are foods which:
•contain high levels of histamine
-contain high levels of other biogenic amines
+maintain existing histamine levels (prevent the clearing of histamine by DAO)
*theoretically “release” histamine from other foods (histamine liberators; unproven)
~increase intestinal inflammation (or increases “permeability“)
Brad says
What does the •+*- represent as far as the individual food mean?
Max says
You can find a more in-depth look at what to eat on a low histamine diet in my low histamine foods list, but looking at it directly, there are foods which:
•contain high levels of histamine
-contain high levels of other biogenic amines
+maintain existing histamine levels (prevent the clearing of histamine by DAO)
*theoretically “release” histamine from other foods (histamine liberators; unproven)
~increase intestinal inflammation (or increases “permeability“)
Melissa says
Thank you so much! 🙏🏻
Max says
It's my pleasure!