Is granola high in histamine?
Granola is probably mostly low in histamine, but it has not been measured. Its oats had none; its nuts had histamine in some samples, and the dried fruit often added to it was never tested.
- Histamine
- Not measured
- Other amines
- Not measured
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients measured in Spain 1 | Measured | Granola was not tested. 47 samples of nuts, a main ingredient, had no detectable histamine. |
| Review of low-histamine diets, 2020 2 | 41 nut samples averaged 0.45 mg/kg of histamine, most with none and the highest 11.86 mg/kg; nuts are excluded by 20–60% of diets. | |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 1 | Granola is not on the review's chart; nuts are excluded by 2 of 10 and chocolate by 6 of 10. | |
| SIGHI food list 3 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
How freshness and processing change it
Granola was not measured. It is dry and keeps for weeks; whether storage changes the amines in its nuts was not studied. Fresh fruit added at the table, rather than dried fruit in the mix, keeps it closer to what was measured.
Not measured. Nuts had histamine in some samples; dried fruit was never tested. (estimate)
Not measured. Oats and sunflower seeds had no histamine. (estimate)
Not measured. 6 of 10 diets exclude chocolate. (estimate)
Not measured. Same ingredients plus syrups and coatings; read the label. (estimate)
Why we rate granola 1
Granola was not measured in any of the studies we use, so this page builds the picture from its ingredients. Most granola is rolled oats baked with oil and a sweetener such as honey or syrup, usually with nuts and seeds, and often with dried fruit or chocolate added after baking. Those ingredients have very different evidence behind them.
The oats are the best-documented part. Oats sold in Spain had no histamine and only 0.67 mg/kg of putrescine, and 28 cereal samples pooled in a 2020 review averaged 0.12 mg/kg of histamine. Sunflower seeds had no histamine in two samples. A 2024 clinical review gives honey as an example of a low-histamine food.
The nuts are where the data get mixed. In the University of Barcelona team's 2021 survey, 47 samples of nuts sold in Spain had no detectable histamine. A 2020 summary from the same team, covering 41 nut samples, found an average of 0.45 mg/kg, with most samples at none but one as high as 11.86 mg/kg. Nuts also carry putrescine, 4.40 mg/kg on average, and spermidine, 28.64 mg/kg, amines that the gut enzyme DAO also breaks down, so they may compete with histamine; the evidence for that is limited. Two of the ten published low-histamine diets in the 2021 review exclude nuts, and the 2020 review puts nuts among foods excluded by 20 to 60% of diets.
Dried fruit has no measurements at all in our sources. The fresh fruits most used in granola mostly had no histamine when tested fresh, but drying removes water, and the 2018 review explains that when food loses water during cooking, the amines in it become more concentrated. So the fresh figures cannot simply be carried over. Chocolate, often added as chips, had no detectable histamine in 15 samples, but six of ten published diets exclude it.
We rate granola 1, "mostly low", as an estimate, and this page says plainly that it was not measured. The rating comes from the nuts, which had histamine in some samples, and from the untested dried fruit. Granola made from oats, seeds and a little honey, with no nuts or dried fruit, fits the measured ingredients best, and we rate it 0 as an estimate. Home-made granola lets you choose: bake oats and sunflower seeds, and add fresh fruit at the table. Granola bars share the same ingredients plus binders and coatings and were not measured either.
Questions about granola and histamine
Is granola low in histamine?
Granola was not measured. Its oats had no histamine, but nuts had histamine in some samples and dried fruit was never tested, so we rate typical granola 1 as an estimate, and granola without nuts or dried fruit 0.
Are granola bars low in histamine?
They were not measured. They contain the same oats, nuts and dried fruit as granola, plus syrups, chocolate or yogurt coatings, so we rate them like granola: 1 as an estimate.
Evidence behind this page
- Oats sold in Spain had no detectable histamine and averaged 0.67 mg/kg of putrescine; sunflower seeds had no detectable histamine in two samples (Tables 2 and 3). 4
- Nuts sold in Spain had no detectable histamine in 47 samples; putrescine averaged 4.40 mg/kg and spermidine 28.64 mg/kg. Chocolate had no detectable histamine in 15 samples (Table 1). 1
- Across 41 nut samples, histamine averaged 0.45 mg/kg, median not detected, maximum 11.86 mg/kg; across 28 cereal samples it averaged 0.12 mg/kg (Table 1). Nuts are excluded by 20–60% of low-histamine diets (Table 3). 2
- Two of ten published low-histamine diets exclude nuts and six exclude chocolate (Figure 1). 1
- Exclusion of nuts may be explained by their putrescine and polyamine content; spermidine and spermine are also broken down by DAO, with lower affinity (Section 5). 4
- Amines are heat-stable, so cooking changes their levels mainly by transfer to the cooking water or by dilution or concentration as the food gains or loses water (Section 4). 4
- A 2024 clinical review gives honey as an example of a food low in histamine and lists nuts and chocolate among foods to avoid. 5
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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- Jochum C. Histamine Intolerance: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Beyond. Nutrients 16(8):1219, 2024. doi:10.3390/nu16081219 (Jochum C 2024)