Are corn flakes high in histamine?
Corn flakes are low in histamine: eight samples of corn and chocolate breakfast cereal sold in Spain had none, and very little of the other amines. The milk you pour on them had none either.
- 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 in eight samples of corn and chocolate breakfast cereal; putrescine averaged 0.32 mg/kg. |
| Another study in the 2018 review 1 | Measured | Putrescine of 2 to 2.2 mg/kg in ten samples of the same type of cereal; histamine was not reported. |
| Review of low-histamine diets, 2020 2 | Measured | 28 cereal samples averaged 0.12 mg/kg of histamine, none above 0.89 mg/kg. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 3 | Breakfast cereals are not on the review's chart of foods the diets exclude; chocolate is excluded by 6 of 10. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast cereal, corn and chocolate, sold in Spain (group) 1 (Table 3) | 8 | not detected | putrescine mean 0.32 mg/kg (nd–0.93); tyramine and cadaverine not detected |
| Cereals (group) 2 (Table 1) | 28 | mean 0.12 mg/kg, range nd–0.89 mg/kg | median 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
Boxed cereal is dry and had no histamine when bought. The milk matters more for freshness: milk sold in Spain had no detectable histamine in five samples, and a carton kept open for days was not measured.
Measured as part of a corn and chocolate cereal group: no histamine. (measured)
In the same group, with no histamine; one step up because 6 of 10 diets exclude chocolate. (measured)
Not measured. Rice and oats had no histamine. (estimate)
Not measured. Nuts had histamine in some samples, up to 11.86 mg/kg. (estimate)
Why we rate corn flakes 0
Corn flakes come closer to being measured than most packaged foods. The University of Barcelona team's survey of foods sold in Spain included eight samples of breakfast cereal listed as "corn, chocolate", and none had detectable histamine, tyramine or cadaverine. Putrescine averaged 0.32 mg/kg, ranging from not detected to 0.93 mg/kg, one of the lowest putrescine figures in the team's tables. Another study collected in their 2018 review found 2 to 2.2 mg/kg of putrescine in ten samples of the same kind of cereal and did not report histamine.
The table does not break the group down, so we cannot tell how many samples were plain corn flakes and how many were chocolate cereals. That is why this page says "measured as a food group" rather than "measured".
The wider cereal data agree: the 28 cereal samples pooled in the team's 2020 review averaged 0.12 mg/kg of histamine, and none had more than 0.89 mg/kg. The 2018 review explains that cereals in principle contain no amines other than putrescine, which comes from the plant itself. Corn flakes are cooked, rolled and toasted corn with no fermentation step, and histamine forms mainly when bacteria act on histidine during fermentation or spoilage. Breakfast cereals are not on the 2021 chart of foods excluded by ten published low-histamine diets.
We rate corn flakes 0, "low". Chocolate-flavoured corn cereal sits in the same measured group with no histamine, but six of the ten published diets exclude chocolate, so we move it up one step to 1. Puffed rice and oat cereals were not measured, but rice and oats had no histamine in the same survey, so we rate them 0 as an estimate. Varieties with nuts we rate 1 as an estimate: in the team's 2020 summary nuts had no histamine in most samples, but some did, up to 11.86 mg/kg.
A bowl of cereal is also a bowl of milk. Milk sold in Spain had no detectable histamine, or any other amine tested, in five samples, and only one of the ten diets excludes it. Many corn flakes are flavoured with malt, made from sprouted barley, which was not measured; it is a minor ingredient. Granola and muesli, with their nuts and dried fruit, have their own pages.
Questions about corn flakes and histamine
What cereal is low in histamine?
Plain corn flakes are the best-documented choice: a group of corn and chocolate breakfast cereals had no histamine in eight samples. Puffed rice and oat cereals were not measured, but rice and oats had none.
Are chocolate cereals high in histamine?
Corn and chocolate cereals were measured as one group, and none of the eight samples had detectable histamine. We rate chocolate cereal 1 because six of ten published low-histamine diets exclude chocolate.
Evidence behind this page
- Breakfast cereal listed as corn and chocolate cereal had no detectable histamine, tyramine or cadaverine in eight samples; putrescine averaged 0.32 mg/kg (nd–0.93) (Table 3). 1
- Another study reported putrescine of 2–2.2 mg/kg in ten samples of the same cereal type and did not report histamine (Table 3, study [50]). 1
- Cereals contain no amines other than putrescine, which has a physiological origin (Section 3.3). 1
- Across 28 cereal samples, histamine averaged 0.12 mg/kg, with a maximum of 0.89 mg/kg; across 41 nut samples histamine averaged 0.45 mg/kg, with most samples at none and a maximum of 11.86 mg/kg (Table 1). 2
- Milk sold in Spain had no detectable amines in five samples (Table 1); 1 of 10 published diets excludes milk and 6 of 10 exclude chocolate (Figure 1). 3
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)
- 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)
- 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)