Black pepper

Black pepper is notable for salicylate, histamine, tyramine and nickel. Clear on FODMAPs, lactose, gluten, fructose, oligosaccharides, sorbitol, sucrose and oxalates.

Yes — Black pepper is high in salicylate. Black pepper measures 45.72 mg of salicylate per kilogram, fourth of the five spices in the survey — not the highest, but the one most likely to be used at every meal. The habit matters more than the dose here: a pinch at a time, several times a day, is what builds the load.

Black pepper contains moderate levels of histamine. Black pepper is the liberator you meet most often, because it is on the table at every meal rather than in one dish. No single grind matters; the cumulative daily dose is the reason it is on the list at all. If your load is already high, this is a background you can lower without changing what you eat.

Black pepper contains only low levels of tyramine. Black pepper is dried plant material used in pinches. It has no protein for bacteria to decarboxylate, and nothing has fermented it - the two conditions tyramine requires are both absent.

Black pepper contains only low levels of nickel. Black pepper is a dried berry, ground - and grinding dried plant material concentrates whatever the vine took from the soil. It is low only because a grind is a fraction of a gram. The nickel here follows a study of SPICES that analysed the powder directly instead of digesting it first. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.