Is almond milk high in histamine?
Almond milk is probably mostly low in histamine, but it was not measured in our sources: almonds had none, though plant milks can pick up histamine in processing. Two of 10 published diets exclude nuts.
- Histamine
- Not measured
- Other amines
- Not measured
- Liberator
- Claimed, unproven
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Lab measurements, Spain (almonds) 1 | Measured | Seven almond samples had no detectable histamine; almond milk itself was not measured. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | 2 of 10 exclude nuts; almond milk is not on the chart. | |
| Review of low-histamine diets, 2021 2 | Nuts are on lists of suggested histamine liberators, a claim with no supporting human studies. | |
| Review of amines in beverages, 2022 3 | Plant milks are water extracts that are pasteurised or UHT-treated; one study found histamine in cereal-based plant milks. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
How freshness and processing change it
Shop-bought almond milk is pasteurised or UHT-treated. Homemade almond milk has not been heat-treated and was not measured; make small batches and keep them cold. Storage after opening was not studied for either.
Not measured. Almonds had no histamine; processing is a possible source. (estimate)
Not measured. Not heat-treated, so keep it cold and use it quickly. (estimate)
Why we rate almond milk 1
Almond milk was not measured in the studies we use, so this page builds an estimate from the nut it is made from and from what is known about plant milks in general.
Almonds themselves look good. A University of Barcelona team tested seven almond samples and found no histamine, no tyramine and no cadaverine, with putrescine at 2.47 mg/kg, far below the 10 mg/kg average at which our scale moves a food up a step. Nuts as a group had no histamine in 47 samples in the team's 2021 survey. Their 2020 review, pooling 41 nut samples, found an average of 0.45 mg/kg and a highest single sample of 11.86 mg/kg, so histamine in nuts is rare but not unknown.
The drink adds steps. A 2022 review of amines in drinks describes plant milks as water extracts of the nut, grain or seed, with the solids separated off and the liquid pasteurised or UHT-treated. The same review reports a study in which plant milks made from cereals contained histamine, even though cereals themselves have almost none. That study did not cover nut milks, as far as the review describes it, and we could not check it. It is the reason we do not rate almond milk 0: it shows that a plant milk can end up with histamine its raw material did not have.
The published diets treat nuts mildly. Two of the ten diets in the 2021 review exclude nuts, and nuts appear on lists of so-called histamine liberators, a claim the review says has no supporting human studies. Almond milk itself is not on the chart.
We rate almond milk 1, "mostly low", as an estimate. Next to oat or rice milk, which we rate 2 because of the cereal-milk study, it is the lower-rated choice, and soy milk, the one plant milk in our tables, had no histamine in three samples. If you have a tree nut allergy, almond milk is not an option whatever its histamine.
Questions about almond milk and histamine
Is almond milk low in histamine?
Probably, but it was not measured in our sources. Almonds had no histamine in seven samples, and the one study that found histamine in plant milks covered cereal milks. We rate almond milk 1 as an estimate.
Is almond milk better than oat milk on a low-histamine diet?
On current evidence, yes, slightly. Neither was measured directly, but a study of cereal-based plant milks reported histamine, so we rate oat milk 2 and almond milk 1.
Evidence behind this page
- Seven almond samples from the Spanish market had no detectable histamine, tyramine or cadaverine; putrescine averaged 2.47 mg/kg. 1
- Nuts sold in Spain had no detectable histamine across 47 samples; two of ten published low-histamine diets exclude nuts, and nuts appear on lists of suggested histamine-releasing foods without supporting human studies. 2
- Across 41 nut samples pooled in a 2020 review, histamine averaged 0.45 mg/kg, with a highest value of 11.86 mg/kg. 5
- Plant milks are made by water extraction, separation of the solids and pasteurisation or UHT treatment; a study of plant milks from cereals and pseudo-cereals found histamine to be the most abundant of the amines measured. 3
- Three soy milks from the Spanish market had no detectable histamine. 1
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 et al. 2018)
- 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 et al. 2021)
- Visciano P, Schirone M. Update on Biogenic Amines in Fermented and Non-Fermented Beverages. Foods 11(3):353, 2022. doi:10.3390/foods11030353 (Visciano P et al. 2022)
- Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI). Food compatibility list for histamine intolerance. histaminintoleranz.ch (accessed November 2026), 2026. Link (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) 2026)
- 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 (Comas-Basté O et al. 2020)