Low-histamine nuts and seeds
| Food | Rating | Category | Published diets excluding it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Almonds | Nuts and seeds | 2 of 10 | |
| Chestnuts | Nuts and seeds | 2 of 10 | |
| Hazelnuts | Nuts and seeds | 2 of 10 | |
| Cashews | Nuts and seeds | 2 of 10 | |
| Chia Seeds | Nuts and seeds | — | |
| Flaxseed | Nuts and seeds | — | |
| Pecans | Nuts and seeds | 2 of 10 | |
| Pistachios | Nuts and seeds | 2 of 10 | |
| Pumpkin Seeds | Nuts and seeds | — | |
| Sesame Seeds | Nuts and seeds | — | |
| Sunflower Seeds | Nuts and seeds | — | |
| Walnuts | Nuts and seeds | 2 of 10 |
Nuts are a clear case of a food group that low-histamine lists exclude for reasons other than histamine. A University of Barcelona team tested 47 samples of nuts sold in Spain and found no detectable histamine in any of them. In the same survey, fresh tomatoes averaged 2.51 mg/kg and spinach 31.77 mg/kg. Only two of the ten published low-histamine diets the team reviewed in 2021 exclude nuts, although an earlier comparison by the same group placed nuts among the foods excluded by 20 to 60% of diets.
The team's 2018 review breaks part of that down by kind. Almonds (7 samples), hazelnuts (9), pistachios (7), chestnuts (2) and sunflower seeds (2) had no detectable histamine. What nuts do carry is putrescine, a related amine: the 47 samples averaged 4.40 mg/kg, but pistachios averaged 14.84 mg/kg and reached 39.51 mg/kg. Nuts are also rich in spermidine, a polyamine, at 28.64 mg/kg on average. The gut enzyme DAO breaks down both, so the reviewers suggest these compounds may explain why some people link nuts with symptoms. The evidence that putrescine slows histamine breakdown comes from old animal and laboratory studies.
One figure points the other way. A 2020 review by the same group, adapting a 2014 food-safety reference, reports 41 nut samples averaging 0.45 mg/kg of histamine, at least half with none and the highest at 11.86 mg/kg, without saying which nuts. A 2024 clinical review lists nuts among foods a low-histamine diet avoids at first, and nuts appear on published lists of claimed "histamine liberators", a claim no human study supports.
Seeds are the gap. Apart from sunflower seeds, no seed was measured in the sources we use: chia, flaxseed, pumpkin seeds and sesame have no histamine figures, and their pages say so and rate them as estimates. Walnuts, cashews and pecans were not reported separately, so their pages rely on the nut group figures and are rated one step above almonds and hazelnuts, which were measured on their own.
Peanuts are legumes, not nuts, and are rated with the legumes. Histamine is heat-stable, so roasting does not remove it. Nut butters, nut milks and fermented nut cheeses were not measured.
Sources
- 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
- 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
- Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules 10(8):1181, 2020. doi:10.3390/biom10081181
- Jochum C. Histamine Intolerance: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Beyond. Nutrients 16(8):1219, 2024. doi:10.3390/nu16081219