Butylated hydroxytoluene

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

Butylated hydroxytoluene contains moderate levels of histamine. BHT (E321) does the same job as BHA in the same products, and the two are often used together because they protect fats at different stages of rancidity. Its standing here is the same and the evidence is the same: thin, observational, kept in the protocols by association. There is also a regulatory number for this one, and it moved in the direction people rarely expect: re-evaluating BHT, EFSA raised its ADI to 0.25 mg per kilo of body weight a day from 0.05, on a rat NOAEL of 25 mg/kg, and found it not of concern for genotoxicity. Adults are unlikely to reach that ADI. CHILDREN at the 95th percentile of intake in Finland and the Netherlands do exceed it. That is a toxicological limit and not an intolerance threshold - the two are different objects - but it is the only hard figure this additive has here. None of them carries histamine. The antioxidants are on this page because the pseudoallergen elimination protocols remove them as a family, and the reactions reported are pseudoallergic rather than amine-mediated.

Butylated hydroxytoluene contains moderate levels of salicylate. BHT is BHA's close relative, used for the same purpose in the same products, and it cross-reacts with salicylate for the same phenolic reason. There is also a regulatory number for this one, and it moved in the direction people rarely expect: re-evaluating BHT, EFSA raised its ADI to 0.25 mg per kilo of body weight a day from 0.05, on a rat NOAEL of 25 mg/kg, and found it not of concern for genotoxicity. Adults are unlikely to reach that ADI. CHILDREN at the 95th percentile of intake in Finland and the Netherlands do exceed it. That is a toxicological limit and not an intolerance threshold - the two are different objects - but it is the only hard figure this additive has here.

Butylated hydroxytoluene contains only low levels of nickel. BHT is a synthetic antioxidant built from petrochemical feedstock. No nickel is in the formula; a trace of the synthesis is what can ride along. For this additive there is no legal nickel ceiling at all. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.