Is pumpkin high in histamine?
Pumpkin is mostly low in histamine: lab tests found none or only traces (up to 1.90 mg/kg), with moderate putrescine. Two of ten published low-histamine diets exclude it.
- Histamine
- Varies by sample
- Other amines
- Notable levels
- 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 | Traces in some of 12 samples (average 0.28 mg/kg); none in the 13-sample update. Putrescine averaged 9.87 mg/kg. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | 2 of 10 exclude pumpkin. | |
| SIGHI food list 3 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pumpkins sold in Spain (2018 survey) 1 (Table 1) | 12 | mean 0.28 mg/kg, range nd–1.9 mg/kg | putrescine mean 9.87 mg/kg (2.95–24.23); cadaverine mean 0.54 mg/kg; tyramine not detected |
| Pumpkins sold in Spain (2021 update) 2 (Table 1) | 13 | not detected | putrescine mean 9.87 mg/kg (95% of samples at or below 19.17) |
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 measured pumpkins were fresh. Whole pumpkins keep for months, but we found no study of amines during that storage, or in canned pumpkin purée. Pumpkin soup kept as leftovers is a stored cooked dish and is not rated here.
None or traces of histamine; putrescine just under 10 mg/kg. (measured)
Why we rate pumpkin 1
Pumpkin is a borderline case, and we show both readings of the evidence. In a 2018 survey of vegetables sold in Spain, a University of Barcelona team tested twelve pumpkins. Most had no histamine, but some had traces, giving an average of 0.28 mg/kg and a highest value of 1.90 mg/kg. When the same team published an updated table in 2021, with thirteen samples, it reported no detectable histamine in pumpkin at all.
For comparison, tomato averaged 2.51 mg/kg in the same work and spinach 31.77 mg/kg. Even the highest pumpkin sample was below the tomato average.
The other amine in pumpkin is putrescine, which averaged 9.87 mg/kg with a top value of 24.23 mg/kg. The 2021 review groups pumpkin with citrus, bananas, soybeans and nuts as excluded foods that contain relevant amounts of putrescine but no significant histamine. Some researchers think putrescine competes with histamine for the gut enzyme that breaks it down, though the evidence comes from old laboratory and animal work.
The published diets mostly leave pumpkin in: two of the ten diets in the 2021 review exclude it.
We rate pumpkin 1, "mostly low". Histamine was absent or at trace levels, and putrescine sits just under the 10 mg/kg average we use as our threshold, so on balance we keep it one step above zero rather than claim there is nothing there. In practice, fresh pumpkin cooked and eaten soon is unlikely to be a large histamine load. Butternut and other winter squashes were not measured, so we do not rate them on this page.
Questions about pumpkin and histamine
Are pumpkin seeds low in histamine?
The seeds were not part of these measurements. Nuts had no detectable histamine in the 2021 review and two samples of sunflower seeds had none in 2018, but we have no pumpkin-seed figure to rate on its own.
Evidence behind this page
- Twelve pumpkins sold in Spain averaged 0.28 mg/kg of histamine, from not detected to 1.90 mg/kg, and 9.87 mg/kg of putrescine. 1
- The team's updated 2021 table, with 13 samples, reports no detectable histamine in pumpkin. 2
- Two of ten published low-histamine diets exclude pumpkin, and the 2021 review lists it among excluded foods with relevant putrescine. 2
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)