Low-histamine drinks

This section covers everyday drinks without alcohol: tea, coffee, fruit juices, coconut water and kombucha. Wine, beer, cider and spirits are in the separate low-histamine alcohol section, because alcohol affects how the body breaks histamine down and needs its own explanation. Plant milks also have their own section.

Tea has the best data. A University of Barcelona survey of foods sold in Spain found no histamine in nine teas, and only two of the ten published low-histamine diets in the team's 2021 review exclude tea. A 2016 study from Italy split tea by type. Seven green teas had none, either as dry leaves or brewed. Nine of fourteen black teas had traces, at most 20.0 micrograms per litre in the cup, which the authors link to the oxidation step used to make black tea.

Fruit juices were measured in a study of commercial juices collected in the team's 2018 review. Ten apple juices had no histamine. Grapefruit juice averaged 0.31 mg/kg, orange juice 0.46 mg/kg and pineapple juice 2.44 mg/kg. The fresh fruit had none, so the study's authors put the histamine down to hygiene during processing or storage. The Barcelona team's own three orange juices had none, but orange juice is high in putrescine, a related amine, at about 45 mg/kg.

Coffee, herbal teas, coconut water and kombucha were not measured in the studies we take numbers from. A 2022 review of amines in drinks says the main amines in coffee are putrescine, spermidine, spermine and serotonin, with histamine reported in low-quality and defective beans. A 2024 clinical review lists herbal teas and fresh juices among foods low in histamine. Kombucha is fermented by bacteria and yeasts, and fermented foods are among the foods most likely to carry histamine. Pages for these drinks are marked "not measured" and rated from how each is made.

Sources

1. Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Low-Histamine Diets: Is the Exclusion of Foods Justified by Their Histamine Content? Nutrients 13(5):1395, 2021. doi:10.3390/nu13051395
2. Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Rabell-González J, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Biogenic Amines in Plant-Origin Foods: Are They Frequently Underestimated in Low-Histamine Diets? Foods 7(12):205, 2018. doi:10.3390/foods7120205
3. Spizzirri UG, Picci N, Restuccia D. Extraction Efficiency of Different Solvents and LC-UV Determination of Biogenic Amines in Tea Leaves and Infusions. Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry 2016:8715287, 2016. doi:10.1155/2016/8715287
4. Jochum C. Histamine Intolerance: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Beyond. Nutrients 16(8):1219, 2024. doi:10.3390/nu16081219
5. Visciano P, Schirone M. Update on Biogenic Amines in Fermented and Non-Fermented Beverages. Foods 11(3):353, 2022. doi:10.3390/foods11030353