Is bell pepper high in histamine?
Bell pepper is mostly low in histamine: none was found in red or green peppers in lab tests, but green peppers carry a lot of putrescine, a related amine. No published diet excludes them.
- Histamine
- Not detected
- Other amines
- Notable levels
- 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 in 17 red and green peppers; green peppers averaged 90.04 mg/kg putrescine. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | None excludes peppers; the review names green peppers as a high-putrescine food the lists leave in. | |
| SIGHI food list 3 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green peppers sold in Spain 1 (Table 1) | 9 | not detected | putrescine mean 90.04 mg/kg (11.7–148.9); tyramine not detected |
| Red peppers sold in Spain 1 (Table 1) | 8 | not detected | putrescine mean 2.42 mg/kg (0.59–5.35); tyramine not detected |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
No study we found followed histamine or putrescine in peppers during storage. Most green peppers are picked unripe and red ones are usually the same fruit left to ripen, so the colour difference is mainly about ripeness, not freshness. Roasted peppers in jars and pepper pastes were not measured.
No histamine and little putrescine (2.42 mg/kg). (measured)
No histamine, but putrescine averaged 90.04 mg/kg. (measured)
Why we rate bell pepper 1
Bell peppers show how much the colour of a pepper can change the answer, even though the histamine answer is the same for both. A University of Barcelona team measured nine green and eight red peppers sold in Spain, and none had detectable histamine. The difference was in putrescine, a related amine. Green peppers averaged 90.04 mg/kg of putrescine and reached 148.9 mg/kg, which puts them at the top of all the vegetables the team measured, level with oranges among fruit. Red peppers averaged only 2.42 mg/kg.
Why does putrescine matter? Some researchers think it competes with histamine for diamine oxidase (DAO), the gut enzyme that breaks histamine down, so a food rich in putrescine might let more histamine from the rest of a meal through. The evidence is limited to laboratory and animal studies, the most recent from 1985, which is why on our scale putrescine can move a food up one step but never further.
The published diets do not exclude peppers at all. The 2021 review that compared ten low-histamine diets points this out as an inconsistency: green peppers, courgette, peas and sweet corn carry relevant putrescine but none of the lists leave them out, while citrus fruit, with similar putrescine, is excluded by six of the ten.
We rate bell pepper 1, "mostly low", because green peppers are so common and we cannot tell which colour you have in mind. Red peppers on their own are a 0, and are the better pick if you want to limit putrescine as well as histamine. Yellow and orange peppers were not in the survey, so we do not rate them separately.
Questions about bell pepper and histamine
Are red peppers better than green peppers on a low-histamine diet?
Neither had histamine in lab tests. Red peppers had far less putrescine (2.42 against 90.04 mg/kg), so they are the safer choice if putrescine is a concern for you.
Is paprika the same as bell pepper?
Paprika is a ground spice made from dried peppers. It was not measured in the studies we use, so this page does not rate it.
Evidence behind this page
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)
- 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)