Lobster

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

Lobster contains moderate levels of histamine. Lobster is sold live and cooked minutes before eating, which is the shortest cold chain any seafood has - almost no window for bacteria to work. What puts it on this axis is the crustacean liberator effect rather than its own histamine, and leftovers, which gain amines fast once the shell is broken. The Swiss list rates it 2 of 3 under “lobster” and marks it H! for rapid histamine formation and L for liberators of mast cell mediators. The letters are a presumed reason, not a measurement. The legal 100 and 200 mg/kg limits are written for the histidine-rich scombroids, not for this crustacean — which does not exempt it from the clock.

Lobster contains only low levels of FODMAPs. Lobster is muscle, water and shell: no fructan, no lactose, no polyol and nothing else a gut bacterium ferments, so this axis does not reach the animal at all. It reaches the plate — the bisque thickened with flour and shallot, the garlic butter, the mayonnaise in the roll.

Lobster contains only low levels of oligosaccharides. Lobster contains no carbohydrate chain of any kind - animals do not store fructans or galactans. What would change the answer is the sauce, never the shellfish.

Lobster contains only low levels of nickel. Lobster is a crustacean rather than a filter feeder - it eats what it catches instead of straining the water, which is why it sits well below oysters and mussels here. The second French Total Diet Study ranks the food groups for nickel rather than valuing them, and tofu heads that ranking. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.