Nuts/Seeds and histamine: 34 foods rated

Walnut is one of the two nuts the elimination lists name, with the cashew, and this axis puts it highest of the group for that reason. What it is not is a nut that becomes an amine problem by going rancid: rancidity is the oil reacting with oxygen, and oxidised oil yields aldehydes and off-flavours, not amines - those need water and bacteria, and a dry kernel offers neither. Walnut oil is the most unsaturated of the common nuts, so it does go off fastest. Buy them in the shell or from a cold shelf for that reason, which is a good one and a separate one. One measurement backs the position rather than the list: Yilmaz determined serotonin in twelve nuts and the raw walnut came out highest of all of them, 155 µg/g against 0.05 for the pine nut.

• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Yilmaz C et al., Food Chem 272 (2019) 347-353, for serotonin measured in twelve nuts, raw and roasted
• SIGHI food-compatibility list, for the elimination-list classification

Brazil nuts keep worse than any common nut: highly unsaturated fat, sold shelled, which is the worst combination there is for storage. That is a rancidity problem, and rancidity is oxidation rather than amine formation - the bacteria that make amines need water, and a dry kernel has too little for them. What places brazil nuts on this axis is the nut group in the elimination lists rather than any measurement of their own. Yilmaz measured the Brazil nut among twelve but publishes only the extremes of the range — the pine nut and the walnut raw, the macadamia and the pecan roasted — so no Brazil-nut figure exists. There is no Brazil-nut figure in it, so this note still rests on the list.

• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Yilmaz C et al., Food Chem 272 (2019) 347-353, for serotonin measured in twelve nuts, raw and roasted
• SIGHI food-compatibility list, for the elimination-list classification

Cashews are named alongside walnuts in the liberator literature, and they have a second route worth knowing: they are almost never sold raw, because the raw shell carries an irritant related to poison ivy - so what you buy has been steamed or roasted, and stored afterwards. Storage is where the amines come from. The Swiss list rates it 1 of 3 under “cashews, cashew nut” and marks it A for other biogenic amines and L for liberators of mast cell mediators. The letters are a presumed reason, not a measurement.

• McCabe-Sellers et al., J Food Compos Anal 2006
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the entry, its rating and its letters

Hazelnuts are usually sold roasted and skinned, and both operations shorten their shelf life - the skin is where much of the antioxidant sits, and removing it leaves the oil less protected. A hazelnut that tastes of paint is oxidised, and that is the state to avoid here. One amine has been measured across this group and it does not sort the nuts the way the elimination lists do: Yilmaz found serotonin running from 0.05 to 155 micrograms per gram raw across twelve nuts, hazelnut among them, with roasting cutting the maximum to a tenth. The abstract publishes only the extremes, so there is no hazelnut figure in it — which is worth saying rather than implying one.

• McCabe-Sellers et al., J Food Compos Anal 2006
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Yilmaz C et al., Food Chem 272 (2019) 347-353, serotonin in twelve nuts, raw and roasted

Lentils carry biogenic amines like other pulses, and the amount depends on what happened to the seed: measured content rises during germination and falls with cooking in water that is then discarded. Dried and boiled is the lower form; sprouted lentils and lentils left in their cooking liquid are the higher ones. That pattern was measured in broad bean, chick pea and lupine rather than in the lentil itself: cooking left those seeds free of biogenic amines, which turned up in the boiling water instead.

• Shalaby A, Nahrung 44:1 (2000), 23-27, biogenic amines in mature and germinating legume seeds and during cooking
• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020

Macadamias have the most saturated fat of the common nuts, which makes them the slowest to go rancid and the most forgiving in a warm cupboard. Neither fact moves them on this axis, because rancidity is oxidation and not amine formation. They are here as part of the nut group in the elimination lists and on no measurement of their own - which is the honest reason, and a thinner one than the level suggests. That is not quite the whole story any more: Yilmaz measured serotonin in twelve nuts and roasted macadamias came out lowest of all of them, 0.03 µg/g.

• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Yilmaz C et al., Food Chem 272 (2019) 347-353, for serotonin measured in twelve nuts, raw and roasted
• SIGHI food-compatibility list, for the elimination-list classification

Peanuts are named with walnuts and cashews as liberators, and they carry a risk the other nuts do not: they are a legume, stored in bulk and prone to mould, and mould growth is what raises amines fastest in a stored crop. Fresh, dry and well kept is the whole instruction. The Swiss list, by contrast, rates “peanuts” 2 of 3 without giving it the L it reserves for liberators.

• McCabe-Sellers et al., J Food Compos Anal 2006
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• SIGHI — Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance, food-compatibility list (2024-08-29), for the entry, its rating and the absence of a liberator letter

Pecans reach most people inside sweet baking, after months in a warehouse and then a week in something left on a counter. Their fat profile is close to the walnut's, so they go rancid quickly - which is oxidation, a question of whether the nut is still good, and not the question this axis asks. What places them here is the nut group in the elimination lists. The pie is worth a thought for its own reasons: cream, eggs and a long warm bake. And the baking is not neutral in the one measurement there is: Yilmaz found roasted pecans highest of the roasted nuts for serotonin, 15.3 µg/g, where roasting takes every other nut down. That is one amine and not histamine, so the level stands where the group put it.

• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Yilmaz C et al., Food Chem 272 (2019) 347-353, for serotonin measured in twelve nuts, raw and roasted
• SIGHI food-compatibility list, for the elimination-list classification

Pine nuts are the most expensive nut per gram and therefore the most likely to be old: they are bought in small quantities, kept for a long time, and used a spoonful at a time. They also arrive mostly inside pesto, alongside aged cheese and garlic - the nut is the least of that sauce on this axis. The one measurement this nut has of its own points the other way: Yilmaz determined serotonin in twelve nuts and the raw pine nut came out lowest of all of them, 0.05 µg/g against the walnut's 155. That is serotonin and not histamine, so it settles nothing here — what stands on this page is the nut group speaking, not this nut.

• McCabe-Sellers et al., J Food Compos Anal 2006
• Maintz & Novak, Am J Clin Nutr 2007
• Yilmaz C et al., Food Chem 272 (2019) 347-353, for serotonin measured in twelve nuts, raw and roasted

Red lentils are split and hulled, so they cook in ten minutes rather than forty - the shortest cooking of any pulse. Less time in the pot is less time for anything to happen, and they are usually cooked from dry rather than soaked overnight, which removes the step where amines have most often been measured to rise. That pattern was measured in broad bean, chick pea and lupine rather than in the lentil itself: cooking left those seeds free of biogenic amines, which turned up in the boiling water instead.

• Shalaby A, Nahrung 44:1 (2000), 23-27, biogenic amines in mature and germinating legume seeds and during cooking
• Comas-Baste et al., Biomolecules 2020

Adzuki beans carry little histamine dry, and boiling lowers it further - amines leach into the cooking water and are poured away. Sprouting does the opposite: a germinating seed produces amines as it wakes up, so sprouts are a different food here from the pulse they came from.

The almond is a dry seed, and a dry seed produces no amines - bacteria need water to work. Rancidity does not change that: it is the oil reacting with oxygen, which yields aldehydes and off-flavours rather than amines - a good reason to smell before eating, and not a histamine one.

Anise is a dried seed used as a spice, in pinches. Nothing in it produces histamine, and the quantity would not matter if it did.

Beans carry little histamine dry, and boiling lowers it further - amines leach into the cooking water and are poured away. Sprouting does the opposite: a germinating seed produces amines as it wakes up, so sprouts are a different food here from the pulse they came from.

The broad bean is a fresh, unfermented seed, and it carries little histamine. Germination is the one preparation that changes it - a sprouting seed produces amines as it wakes up, so bean sprouts are a different food here from the pulse they came from. The pod is the part the MAOI literature names, and it names it for dopamine rather than for tyramine — Shulman's review is where the restriction was measured rather than repeated, and Gardner's later one kept broad bean PODS on the short list while dropping most of what surrounded them. That was measured on this bean rather than assumed: Shalaby followed broad bean, chick pea and lupine raw, germinated and cooked. Every amine tested was present in the ungerminated seed, tryptamine dominated and rose considerably with germination - and ON COOKING THE SEEDS BECAME FREE OF BIOGENIC AMINES, WHICH APPEARED IN THE BOILING WATER. Boil, drain, and do not keep the water.

• Shulman K.I. et al., J Clin Psychopharmacol 9 (1989) 397-402, tyramine assayed in over 100 controversial foods
• Gardner D.M. et al., J Clin Psychiatry 57 (1996) 99-104, the review that narrowed the MAOI diet
• Shalaby A, Nahrung 44:1 (2000), 23-27, biogenic amines in mature and germinating legume seeds and during cooking

Chickpea carries amines: Shalaby found every amine tested in raw seeds of broad bean, chick pea and lupine, and in the chickpea histamine rose gradually as the seed germinated — the only one of the three where it climbed steadily instead of fluctuating. Sprouted is the higher form. Cooking works the other way: the seeds came out free of amines, which had passed into the boiling water, so boiling and draining is the lower form. The paper reports the pattern and not a milligram figure.

• Shalaby A, Nahrung 44:1 (2000), 23-27, biogenic amines in mature and germinating legume seeds and during cooking

Ground hazelnut is a dry seed, and a dry seed produces no amines - bacteria need water to work. Rancidity does not change that: it is the oil reacting with oxygen, which yields aldehydes and off-flavours rather than amines - a good reason to smell before eating, and not a histamine one. One amine has been measured right across this group: Yilmaz found serotonin running from 0.05 microgram per gram in the raw pine nut to 155 in the raw walnut, with roasting cutting the maximum to a tenth. It is serotonin and not histamine, and the abstract publishes only those extremes.

• Yilmaz C et al., Food Chem 272 (2019) 347-353, serotonin in twelve nuts, raw and roasted

The hemp seed is a dry seed, and a dry seed produces no amines - bacteria need water to work. Rancidity does not change that: it is the oil reacting with oxygen, which yields aldehydes and off-flavours rather than amines - a good reason to smell before eating, and not a histamine one.

Mung bean is the pulse most often eaten sprouted, and that matters: the dry bean is low, while bean sprouts have spent days germinating and producing amines. The level here is the bean, not the sprout.

Peas carry little histamine dry, and boiling lowers it further - amines leach into the cooking water and are poured away. Sprouting does the opposite: a germinating seed produces amines as it wakes up, so sprouts are a different food here from the pulse they came from.

The pistachio is a dry seed, and a dry seed produces no amines - bacteria need water to work. Rancidity does not change that: it is the oil reacting with oxygen, which yields aldehydes and off-flavours rather than amines - a good reason to smell before eating, and not a histamine one.

Poppy seed is a dry seed, and a dry seed produces no amines - bacteria need water to work. Rancidity does not change that: it is the oil reacting with oxygen, which yields aldehydes and off-flavours rather than amines - a good reason to smell before eating, and not a histamine one.

The pumpkin seed is a dry seed, and a dry seed produces no amines - bacteria need water to work. Rancidity does not change that: it is the oil reacting with oxygen, which yields aldehydes and off-flavours rather than amines - a good reason to smell before eating, and not a histamine one.

Red beans carry little histamine dry, and boiling lowers it further - amines leach into the cooking water and are poured away. Sprouting does the opposite: a germinating seed produces amines as it wakes up, so sprouts are a different food here from the pulse they came from.

Sesame is a dry seed, and a dry seed produces no amines - bacteria need water to work. Rancidity does not change that: it is the oil reacting with oxygen, which yields aldehydes and off-flavours rather than amines - a good reason to smell before eating, and not a histamine one.

Soya beans carry little histamine dry, and boiling lowers it further - amines leach into the cooking water and are poured away. Sprouting does the opposite: a germinating seed produces amines as it wakes up, so sprouts are a different food here from the pulse they came from.

Split peas carry little histamine dry, and boiling lowers it further - amines leach into the cooking water and are poured away. Sprouting does the opposite: a germinating seed produces amines as it wakes up, so sprouts are a different food here from the pulse they came from.

The sunflower seed is a dry seed, and a dry seed produces no amines - bacteria need water to work. Rancidity does not change that: it is the oil reacting with oxygen, which yields aldehydes and off-flavours rather than amines - a good reason to smell before eating, and not a histamine one.

White beans carry little histamine dry, and boiling lowers it further - amines leach into the cooking water and are poured away. Sprouting does the opposite: a germinating seed produces amines as it wakes up, so sprouts are a different food here from the pulse they came from.