Is lemon high in histamine?
Lemon is mostly low in histamine: tested lemons had none and little putrescine, unlike oranges. We keep it at 1 only because 6 of 10 published diets exclude all citrus.
- Histamine
- Not detected
- Other amines
- Low
- Liberator
- Claimed, unproven
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
Why sources disagree. Lemons had no detectable histamine and little putrescine in lab tests, but six of ten published diets exclude citrus fruit as a group.
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Lab measurements, Spain 1 | Measured | No detectable histamine in 3 lemons; putrescine averaged 2.33 mg/kg. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | 6 of 10 exclude citrus fruits. | |
| Review of low-histamine diets, 2020 3 | Suggests reactions to citrus may come from putrescine rather than histamine. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lemons sold in Spain 1 (Table 2) | 3 | not detected | putrescine mean 2.33 mg/kg (not detected to 3.67); tyramine not detected |
| Citrus fruits sold in Spain (group) 2 (Table 1) | 38 | not detected | putrescine mean 79.75 mg/kg, up to 173.81 mg/kg |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
Lemons keep well and we found no study of amines during storage. Bottled lemon juice was not measured. Other studies of citrus fruit and juices found histamine from none to about 2 mg/kg, so even processed citrus was low in histamine.
No histamine and little putrescine; rated 1 only because most lists exclude citrus. (measured)
Why we rate lemon 1
Lemon is a citrus fruit, and that single fact is why it ends up on so many "avoid" lists. Six of the ten published low-histamine diets compared in a 2021 review exclude citrus fruit as a group. The measurements behind lemon itself point the other way.
A University of Barcelona team tested three lemons sold in Spain and found no histamine in any of them. More surprising, given how citrus is usually discussed, lemons had very little putrescine: an average of 2.33 mg/kg, against 91.24 mg/kg in oranges and 90.16 mg/kg in mandarins from the same survey. Putrescine is the amine that some researchers think competes with histamine for the gut enzyme that breaks it down, and it is the main explanation a 2020 review offers for reactions to citrus. On that explanation, lemon is the citrus fruit with the least to worry about.
Two cautions. Three samples is a small number, and the other studies the team gathered for citrus fruit and juices in general found putrescine anywhere from 7 to 200 mg/kg, without separating lemons from other fruit. And lemon is usually eaten in small amounts, as juice or zest in cooking and drinks, which is a good reason it is rarely a large source of any amine.
We rate lemon 1, "mostly low", and mark it disputed. On the measurements alone it would be a 0. We move it up one step only because most published diets exclude citrus, and our rule lets wide exclusion move a food from 0 to 1 but no further. If your dietitian has you off citrus during an elimination phase, follow that. Lemon is a reasonable early candidate when you start reintroducing foods.
Questions about lemon and histamine
Is lemon water okay on a low-histamine diet?
Lemons had no detectable histamine and little putrescine in lab tests, so lemon water is low in both. Many published diets still exclude all citrus, so check with your dietitian if you are in a strict phase.
Is lime the same as lemon for histamine?
Limes were not measured separately in the studies we use, so we do not rate them on this page.
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)
- 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)