Low-histamine fruit
| Food | Rating | Category | Published diets excluding it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | Fruit | — | |
| Apricot | Fruit | 1 of 10 | |
| Blueberries · disputed | Fruit | 4 of 10 | |
| Cherry | Fruit | 1 of 10 | |
| Coconut | Fruit | — | |
| Grapes | Fruit | 1 of 10 | |
| Kiwi | Fruit | 2 of 10 | |
| Mango | Fruit | — | |
| Melon | Fruit | — | |
| Olives | Fruit | 1 of 10 | |
| Peach | Fruit | — | |
| Pineapple · disputed | Fruit | 4 of 10 | |
| Plum | Fruit | 2 of 10 | |
| Raspberries · disputed | Fruit | 4 of 10 | |
| Watermelon | Fruit | — | |
| Avocado · disputed | Fruit | 3 of 10 | |
| Banana · disputed | Fruit | 4 of 10 | |
| Grapefruit · disputed | Fruit | 6 of 10 | |
| Lemon · disputed | Fruit | 6 of 10 | |
| Lime · disputed | Fruit | 6 of 10 | |
| Mandarin · disputed | Fruit | 6 of 10 | |
| Orange · disputed | Fruit | 6 of 10 | |
| Papaya | Fruit | 2 of 10 | |
| Pear | Fruit | — | |
| Strawberry · disputed | Fruit | 6 of 10 |
Fruit causes more confusion on low-histamine diets than any other food group, because the lists exclude many fruits that contain no measurable histamine. In the most thorough set of measurements we know of, a University of Barcelona team found no detectable histamine in any of the fresh fruits they tested, including avocado, banana, cherry, pineapple and strawberry. Yet a 2021 review of ten published low-histamine diets found that six of them exclude citrus fruit and six exclude strawberries, while four exclude bananas and four exclude pineapple.
Two ideas explain most of those exclusions. The first is putrescine, an amine that bananas and citrus fruit contain in notable amounts: bananas averaged 37.94 mg/kg and citrus fruits 79.75 mg/kg. Some researchers think putrescine competes with histamine for diamine oxidase, the gut enzyme that breaks histamine down, but the evidence comes from a few old animal and laboratory studies. The second is the claim that certain fruits, such as strawberries, citrus, papaya and pineapple, are "histamine liberators" that make the body release its own histamine. There are no human studies supporting that claim.
Each fruit page on this site shows both sides: what was measured, how many published diets exclude the fruit, and why. Fruits with no histamine and little putrescine, like cherries and apricots, are rated 0. Fruits with no histamine but notable putrescine or wide exclusion in the lists, like bananas, oranges and strawberries, are rated 1. Where the measurements and the lists point in different directions, the page is marked disputed, so you can see where the experts do not agree.
Not every fruit has its own measurement. Blueberries and raspberries were measured only as part of a group the Barcelona team calls "red fruits", and limes only as part of "citrus fruits"; those pages say "measured as a food group". Apples, pears, mangoes, melons, watermelon and coconut have no histamine figure at all in the studies we use. Their pages say so plainly, show any figures for other amines, and rate the fruit from how it is grown, stored and processed, marked as an estimate.
Freshness matters less for whole fresh fruit than for fish or meat, but it is not irrelevant: cut fruit and juices left standing give bacteria time to act. Dried, canned and candied fruit were not measured in the studies we use, so our fruit ratings cover fresh fruit only unless a page says otherwise.
Sources
- 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
- 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