Foods to Eat to Heal Chronic Hives: Can a Low-Histamine Diet Help?
Health ConditionsSkin ConditionsHives

Can a Low-Histamine Diet Relieve Chronic Hives?

Can a Low-Histamine Diet Relieve Chronic Hives?
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Published on May 20, 2025
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If you have chronic hives (chronic spontaneous urticaria) that simply won’t go away, you’re probably eager to find something to alleviate symptoms. So it’s only natural to wonder whether certain foods might be to blame, especially if your medical team can’t quite pinpoint a specific trigger.

It’s so natural, in fact, that one particular diet — low histamine — has gained traction online among people wishing chronic hives would vanish. We spoke with an allergist and registered dietitian nutritionist about whether you should give it a try.

Histamine and Chronic Hives

To understand why a low-histamine diet might help ease the symptoms of chronic hives, it helps to understand what’s going on in your body when you encounter a trigger.

It’s thought that chronic hives develop when specific immune system cells called mast cells release a chemical compound called histamine in your body. But more research is needed to fully understand the cause of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU).

Histamine release is a normal part of how mast cells react when faced with allergens. The chemical is what causes sneezing, a runny nose, and itchiness during spring allergy season, for example.

 But for the 1.4 percent of people with CSU, this response is thrown into overdrive, leading to chronic hives that last more than six weeks and even up to five years.

“The standard treatment is with antihistamine medications that block histamine receptors,” says Anil Nanda, MD, an allergist and immunologist in Lewisville, Texas, and the chair of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Dermatology Committee. The thinking goes, then, that anything that lowers the amount of histamine in your body — like getting less histamine from the foods you eat — might help ease symptoms.

“It makes sense theoretically, but there’s not a lot of data on this,” says Dr. Nanda. One study found that adopting a low-histamine diet helped adults with chronic hives, but the study only included 22 people.

Other research, which reviewed results from 20 different studies, found little evidence that adopting a low-histamine diet — or any kind of structured diet — helps ease the symptoms of chronic hives.

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How to Follow a Low-Histamine Diet

Eliminating all histamine from your diet would be nearly impossible, because it’s in a lot of different foods, says Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, RDN, CDCES, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and owner of 360Girls&Women.

Consider limiting these foods and drinks that are high in histamines:

  • Alcohol
  • Avocado
  • Bananas
  • Beans
  • Canned fish
  • Cashews
  • Cheese
  • Chocolate
  • Citrus fruit
  • Dried fruit
  • Eggplant
  • Eggs
  • Fermented foods, such as kimchi, sauerkraut, and tempeh
  • Mackerel
  • Peanuts
  • Soy products, such as edamame, soy sauce, and tofu
  • Spinach
  • Squash
  • Strawberries
  • Tomatoes
  • Vinegar and foods that contain it, such as ketchup, mustard, olives, and pickles
  • Walnuts
  • Yogurt
Lower-histamine foods that should be fine to eat include:

  • Almonds
  • Apples
  • Blueberries
  • Chia seeds
  • Coconut oil
  • Flaxseed
  • Fresh meat and poultry (not aged or smoked)
  • Fresh salmon
  • Fresh vegetables that aren’t on the list above
  • Mangoes
  • Nondairy milk
  • Olive oil
  • Peaches
  • Potatoes
  • Quinoa
  • Rice and other gluten-free grains
Keep in mind that it may take at least three weeks to notice any changes in symptoms after adjusting your diet.

What to Know Before You Try a Low-Histamine Diet

It’s understandable to want a solution for symptoms, especially if you’re not thrilled with the idea of long-term use of antihistamine medications. “But there’s just not a lot of data on a low-histamine diet helping out with hives,” Nanda stresses.

Before overhauling your diet, it’s best to talk to a healthcare provider — ideally, a board-certified allergy and immunology specialist — about other possible causes of symptoms, he adds. A primary care physician, registered dietitian, or other trusted healthcare provider may be able to help, too. “Self-treating when you don’t know what’s going on can be dangerous,” says Anderson-Haynes.

An allergist will likely be best suited to review available medications for CSU, discuss any concerns you have about them, and answer any questions specific to the symptoms you experience as well as your diet, says Nanda.

Working closely with your team of care providers may result in discovering what’s really sparking symptoms, although most cases of CSU have no clear cause.

It may not seem like there’s much risk in cutting back on eggs and tomatoes, for example, but over time, sticking to a low-histamine diet and cutting out broad categories of foods may cause you to miss out on crucial nutrients. “You may even get malnourished if you’re not balancing it correctly,” says Anderson-Haynes.

“I don’t think this is a diet you should live on forever,” she adds. Ideally, “We want to find out the reason why you’re having these reactions.”

A better idea: Write down in a food journal what you’re eating, how your body reacts, and whether the hives change when you cut out certain high-histamine foods, says Anderson-Haynes. This can help you and your healthcare providers notice patterns and possibly find out what’s triggering the hives.

The Takeaway

  • While most cases of chronic hives have no known cause, it’s believed that a low-histamine diet might help alleviate symptoms.
  • The theory is that a low-histamine diet, which limits foods such as cheese, citrus, and fermented foods, may help ease symptoms of chronic hives. But following this diet over the long term can be overly restrictive and may lead to nutrition deficiencies.
  • There’s little clinical evidence supporting a low-histamine diet for chronic hives, but you can try it in the short term under the guidance of a doctor or registered dietitian.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Chronic Spontaneous/Idiopathic Urticaria (Chronic Hives). American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
  2. Segú-Vergés C et al. Unveiling Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria Pathophysiology Through Systems Biology. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. April 2023.
  3. Son JH et al. A Histamine-Free Diet Is Helpful for Treatment of Adult Patients With Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria. Annals of Dermatology. April 2018.
  4. Cornillier H et al. Effect of Diet in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria: A Systematic Review. Acta Dermato-Venereologica. 2019.
  5. Rowe P et al. Low Histamine Diet [PDF]. The Chronic Fatigue (ME/CFS) Clinic at Johns Hopkins. April 2025.
  6. Jaros J et al. Diet and Chronic Urticaria: Dietary Modification as a Treatment Strategy. Dermatology Practical & Conceptual. January 2020.
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Jon E. Stahlman, MD

Medical Reviewer
Castle Connolly Top Doctor

Jon E. Stahlman, MD, has been a practicing allergist for more than 25 years. He is currently the section chief of allergy and immunology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta's Scottish Rite campus and the senior physician at The Allergy & Asthma Center in Atlanta. He served as the president of the Georgia Allergy Society, has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor, and was listed as a Top Doctor by Atlanta magazine. His research interests include new therapies for asthma and allergic rhinitis as well as the use of computerized monitoring of lung function.

He received his bachelor's and medical degrees from Emory University. He completed his pediatric residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and his fellowship in allergy and clinical immunology at Harvard University’s Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. After his training, Dr. Stahlman conducted two years of clinical research at Boston Children’s Hospital and was part of the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where he taught medical students and allergy and immunology fellows.

Stahlman is board-certified and recertified in allergy and clinical immunology. He served as a principal investigator on phase 2 through 4 studies that are responsible for most of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved therapies for allergies and asthma available today.

Outside of the office, he centers his interests around his wife and three daughters, coaching soccer for many years, and his hobbies include cycling and triathlons.

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Sarah Klein is a Boston-based health journalist with over 15 years experience in lifestyle media. She has held staff positions at Livestrong.com, Health.com, Prevention, and Huffington Post. She is a graduate of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, and a National Academy of Sports Medicine–certified personal trainer. She moderated a panel on accessibility in fitness at SXSW in 2022, completed the National Press Foundation's 2020 Vaccine Boot Camp, and attended the Mayo Clinic's Journalist Residency in 2019.

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