Is plum high in histamine?
Plum is low in histamine: tested plums had none and no putrescine, only a little tyramine, and 2 of 10 published diets exclude them on an unproven "histamine liberator" claim.
- Histamine
- Not detected
- Other amines
- Low
- Liberator
- Claimed, unproven
- 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 or cadaverine in 6 plums; tyramine averaged 4.02 mg/kg. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 1 | 2 of 10 exclude plum. | |
| Review of low-histamine diets, 2020 2 | Plums have been reported to release the body's own histamine; the mechanism has not been shown. | |
| Review of plant foods, 2018 3 | Amine levels in plums are too low to justify excluding them. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plums sold in Spain 1 (Table 1) | 6 | not detected | tyramine mean 4.02 mg/kg (0.96–7.07); putrescine and cadaverine 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
The plums tested were fresh, shop-bought fruit, and we found no study of amines as plums ripen or are stored. Prunes (dried plums), plum jam, plum sauce and plum juice were not measured. Prunes are dried and stored for months, so we do not carry the fresh-plum rating over to them.
No histamine or putrescine in 6 samples; tyramine 4.02 mg/kg. (measured)
Why we rate plum 0
Plums are one of the few fruits in the lab surveys with no putrescine at all, which makes their place on some low-histamine "avoid" lists hard to explain from the measurements. A University of Barcelona team tested six plums sold in Spain. None had detectable histamine, putrescine or cadaverine. The one amine they did find was tyramine, at an average of 4.02 mg/kg and a highest value of 7.07 mg/kg. The team's 2018 review notes that plum and avocado stand out among fruits for tyramine, but at levels of about 7 mg/kg or below in every study. For scale, dry-fermented sausages in the same 2021 table averaged 140.9 mg/kg of tyramine.
The reason plums are excluded at all is the "histamine liberator" claim. A 2020 review from the same group lists plums with papaya, kiwi, strawberries and pineapple as fruits that have been reported to make the body release its own histamine, and says the mechanism has not been worked out. The 2018 review concludes that the amine levels in plums are too low to justify excluding them. In the 2021 count, two of the ten published diets exclude plums, the same number as kiwi and papaya.
We rate fresh plums 0, "low". There is no measured histamine, the tyramine is low, and eight of ten diets keep plums in. We show the liberator claim so you know where the advice comes from, but our method does not raise a rating for it, because there is no human evidence behind it. As with any food, if plums seem to trigger symptoms, keep a note and discuss it with your dietitian.
Prunes are a different product. They are plums that have been dried and then stored for months, and they were not measured in the studies we use, so this rating does not cover them. Plum jam, plum sauce and plum juice were not measured either; plum sauce in particular usually contains vinegar and other ingredients.
Questions about plum and histamine
Are prunes high in histamine?
Prunes were not measured in the studies we use, so we do not rate them. Fresh plums had no detectable histamine, but prunes are dried and stored for months, so the fresh-plum rating does not carry over.
Are plums a histamine liberator?
Some lists say so. A 2020 review says plums have been reported to release the body's own histamine but that the mechanism has not been shown, and a 2018 review found amine levels in plums too low to justify excluding them.
Evidence behind this page
- Six plums sold in Spain had no detectable histamine, putrescine or cadaverine; tyramine averaged 4.02 mg/kg (0.96–7.07). 1
- Plum and avocado stand out among fruits for tyramine, although it has not exceeded about 7 mg/kg in any study; plum is one of the few fruits with no putrescine reported. 3
- Plums are among the fruits reported to trigger release of the body's own histamine, although the mechanism has not been elucidated. 2
- The 2018 review concludes that amine levels in kiwi, papaya, strawberry, pineapple and plum are too low to justify excluding them. 3
- Two of ten published low-histamine diets exclude plums. 1
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)
- 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)