Is potato high in histamine?
Potato is low in histamine: ten potatoes tested in a lab survey had none, and only small amounts of other amines. It is not among the foods published low-histamine diets exclude.
- 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 10 samples; putrescine averaged 4.14 mg/kg. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | Potato is not on the review's chart of foods the diets exclude. | |
| SIGHI food list 3 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potatoes sold in Spain 1 (Table 1) | 10 | not detected | putrescine mean 4.14 mg/kg (1.05–11.68); tyramine mean 0.58 mg/kg; cadaverine mean 0.22 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
The potatoes measured were raw, shop-bought tubers. We found no study of histamine in cooked potatoes kept as leftovers, or in chips, crisps or instant mash, so those forms are not rated here. Cooking neither adds nor removes histamine, and there was none to start with.
Raw potatoes had no detectable histamine. (measured)
Why we rate potato 0
Potato is one of the easier answers on a low-histamine diet. When a University of Barcelona team measured biogenic amines in vegetables sold in Spain, none of the ten potatoes they tested had detectable histamine. The other amines were low too: putrescine averaged 4.14 mg/kg, tyramine 0.58 mg/kg and cadaverine 0.22 mg/kg. Other studies the team gathered in the same table reported putrescine in potatoes from about 0.1 to 22.4 mg/kg, which is still below the averages found for peas, sweet corn or green peppers.
Potato is worth a closer look because of its family. Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are all nightshades, and some diet advice treats the whole family as suspect. The measurements do not support that. In the same survey, eggplant averaged 39.42 mg/kg of histamine and tomato 2.51 mg/kg, while potato and red pepper had none. Whatever makes eggplant and tomato high, it is not something every nightshade shares.
The published diets agree. Potato does not appear on the 2021 review's chart of foods that ten published low-histamine diets exclude, and nothing in our other sources singles it out.
We rate potato 0, "low". That makes it one of the most useful staples for a low-histamine diet, and a good swap for foods that are rated higher: mashed or roasted potato in place of eggplant in a bake, for example. The usual caveat for any cooked food applies, though. Our rating is for fresh potatoes cooked and eaten. Dishes that combine potato with cheese, cured meat or tomato take on the rating of those ingredients, and the checker on this site will flag them line by line.
Questions about potato and histamine
Are potatoes a problem because they are nightshades?
Not for histamine. Potatoes had no detectable histamine in lab tests, while tomato and eggplant, from the same family, did. Some people avoid nightshades for other reasons, which are outside what this site rates.
Is sweet potato also low in histamine?
Sweet potato is a different plant, and we have not found a study that measured its histamine. Its own page gives an estimate from how it is grown and stored, and says that it was not measured.
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)