Is apricot high in histamine?
Apricot is low in histamine: four apricots tested in Spain had no histamine, putrescine, cadaverine or tyramine, and only 1 of 10 published low-histamine diets excludes it.
- Histamine
- Not detected
- Other amines
- Low
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Lab measurements, Spain 1 | Measured | No detectable histamine, putrescine, cadaverine or tyramine in 4 apricots. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 1 | 1 of 10 excludes apricot. | |
| Storage study in the 2018 review 2 | Amines in apricots and cherries kept at 0 °C in modified-atmosphere packs fell by 20% over 20 days. | |
| SIGHI food list 3 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apricots sold in Spain 1 (Table 1) | 4 | not detected | putrescine, cadaverine, tyramine and spermine not detected; spermidine mean 5.86 mg/kg (4.16–7.68) |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
The one storage study we found points the reassuring way: apricots and cherries packed in a modified atmosphere and kept at 0 °C had 20% less amine content, mostly putrescine, after 20 days. No study in the review compared fruit kept in the fridge with fruit kept at room temperature. Dried apricots, apricot jam and tinned apricots were not measured, so our rating covers fresh fruit only.
No histamine in 4 samples; spermidine was the only amine found. (measured)
Why we rate apricot 0
Apricots come out of the lab data about as clean as a food can. A University of Barcelona team tested four apricots sold in Spain for six amines. Histamine was not detected in any of them, and neither were putrescine, cadaverine, tyramine or spermine. The only amine found was spermidine, at an average of 5.86 mg/kg. Spermidine is a polyamine that plants use for their own growth; the team's 2018 review notes that DAO, the gut enzyme that breaks down histamine, can break it down too, but less readily. For comparison, bananas in the same survey had 37.94 mg/kg of putrescine, and citrus fruits 79.75 mg/kg.
The published diets mostly agree. Only one of the ten low-histamine diets compared in the team's 2021 review excludes apricots, which puts them at the bottom of that review's chart with cherries, grapes, olives and milk. None of the sources we use lists apricot as a suspected "histamine liberator".
The obvious weakness is the sample size. Four apricots is a small number, and all of them came from shops in one country. There is a little more on storage: a study collected in the 2018 review followed amines in apricots and cherries packed in a modified atmosphere and kept at 0 °C, and found that amine content, mostly putrescine, fell by 20% over 20 days rather than rising.
We rate fresh apricots 0, "low". Nothing measured in them gives a reason to expect a histamine problem, and the lists agree. That does not mean no one reacts to apricots; tolerance varies, and a reaction to a food can have causes other than histamine.
Dried apricots, apricot jam and tinned apricots were not measured. Drying concentrates whatever the fruit contains, and dried fruit is stored for months, so we do not carry the fresh-fruit rating over to them.
Questions about apricot and histamine
Are dried apricots high in histamine?
Dried apricots were not measured in the studies we use, so we do not rate them. Fresh apricots had no detectable histamine, but drying concentrates what is in the fruit and dried fruit is stored for months, so the fresh rating does not carry over.
Are apricots low histamine?
Yes, on the evidence we have. Four apricots tested in Spain had no histamine and no putrescine or tyramine, and only one of ten published low-histamine diets excludes them.
Evidence behind this page
- Four apricots sold in Spain had no detectable histamine, putrescine, cadaverine or tyramine; spermidine averaged 5.86 mg/kg. 1
- One of ten published low-histamine diets excludes apricot. 1
- In a storage study of cherries and apricots in modified-atmosphere packs at 0 °C, amine content, mainly putrescine, fell by 20% after 20 days. 2
- DAO can also break down the polyamines spermidine and spermine, though with a lower affinity than histamine. 2
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 et al. 2021)
- 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)
- 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)