Are rice cakes high in histamine?
Plain rice cakes are probably low in histamine, but they have not been measured. They are puffed rice, and rice had no detectable histamine; chocolate, cheese and soy sauce coatings change the picture.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rice measured in Spain 1 | Measured | Rice cakes were not tested. Rice had no detectable histamine; putrescine averaged 2.4 mg/kg. |
| Review of low-histamine diets, 2020 2 | Measured | 28 cereal samples averaged 0.12 mg/kg of histamine, none above 0.89 mg/kg. |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 3 | Rice cakes and rice are not on the review's chart of foods the diets exclude; chocolate, a common coating, is excluded by 6 of 10. | |
| Clinical review, 2024 4 | Gives rice as an example of a food low in histamine. | |
| SIGHI food list 5 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
How freshness and processing change it
Rice cakes were not measured. They are dry and keep for weeks in a sealed packet; whether long storage changes their amines was not studied. Coatings and flavourings matter more than the age of the packet.
Not measured. Puffed rice; rice had no histamine. (estimate)
Not measured. Chocolate had no histamine but 6 of 10 diets exclude it. (estimate)
Not measured. Aged cheese and fermented soy are high-histamine ingredients. (estimate)
Why we rate rice cakes 0
Rice cakes were not measured in the studies we use, but few packaged foods are as close to their raw ingredient. They are rice grains heated under pressure until they puff and fuse into a disc, usually with nothing more than a little salt. That makes the rice data the best guide. A University of Barcelona team found no histamine, tyramine or cadaverine in rice sold in Spain, and putrescine averaging 2.4 mg/kg. Other studies collected in the team's 2018 review measured putrescine in rice at 0.2 to 1.2 mg/kg and did not report histamine.
The rice figure comes from only two samples, so the cereal group matters: 28 cereal samples pooled in a 2020 review averaged 0.12 mg/kg of histamine, none above 0.89 mg/kg. The 2018 review explains that cereals in principle contain no amines other than putrescine, which comes from the plant itself. Puffing is a short burst of dry heat with no fermentation, and histamine forms mainly when bacteria break down the amino acid histidine during fermentation or spoilage.
The coatings and flavours are the variable part. Chocolate-coated rice cakes carry chocolate, which six of the ten published low-histamine diets in the team's 2021 review exclude, even though chocolate sold in Spain had no detectable histamine in 15 samples. It did contain tyramine, 3.70 mg/kg on average. We move chocolate-coated rice cakes up one step, to 1, for that wide exclusion. Savoury rice crackers glazed with soy sauce carry a fermented soy product, a group that averaged 73.95 mg/kg in the Spanish survey, and cheese-flavoured cakes carry aged cheese, which averaged 33.10 mg/kg. We rate both 2 as estimates.
Rice cakes are not on the 2021 chart of foods the diets exclude, and a 2024 clinical review gives rice as an example of a low-histamine food.
We rate plain rice cakes 0, "low", as an estimate, and this page says plainly that they were not measured. They make a useful base for a snack or a light lunch. Top them with fresh ingredients, such as freshly cooked chicken, egg, cucumber or a spread you made yourself, rather than aged cheese, cured meat or smoked fish.
Questions about rice cakes and histamine
Are rice cakes low in histamine?
They were not measured, but they are puffed rice, and rice had no detectable histamine. We rate plain rice cakes low as an estimate. Chocolate, cheese and soy sauce coatings change that.
Evidence behind this page
- Rice sold in Spain had no detectable histamine, tyramine or cadaverine; putrescine averaged 2.4 mg/kg. Other studies reported putrescine in rice of 0.2 to 1.2 mg/kg and did not report histamine (Table 3). 1
- Across 28 cereal samples, histamine averaged 0.12 mg/kg, with a maximum of 0.89 mg/kg (Table 1). 2
- Chocolate sold in Spain had no detectable histamine in 15 samples and averaged 3.70 mg/kg of tyramine; cured, semi-cured and grated cheese averaged 33.10 mg/kg of histamine and soy-fermented products 73.95 mg/kg (Table 1). Six of ten published diets exclude chocolate (Figure 1). 3
- A 2024 clinical review gives rice as an example of a food low in histamine. 4
- Histamine in foods is formed mainly by bacteria decarboxylating histidine, so fermented and spoiled foods are the ones likely to accumulate it (Section 1). 3
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)
- 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, 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)
- Jochum C. Histamine Intolerance: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Beyond. Nutrients 16(8):1219, 2024. doi:10.3390/nu16081219 (Jochum C 2024)
- 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)