Introduction

Amines are chemicals that occur naturally in a wide variety of foods. Many types of meat contain nitrites and nitrates and these can be converted to nitrosamines in the stomach.

Symptoms of intolerance:

• Recurrent migraines (most frequently)
• Asthma
• Food allergy, e.g. digestive upsets, etc
• Nitrosamines are implicated in the stomach, mouth, lung, liver, oesophageal and laryngeal cancers

Amine-Containing Foods

MEATS, CHICKEN & FISH

• Low – beef, chicken, lamb
• Moderate – chicken liver, ham, salami, salmon, tuna
• High – bacon, mackerel, pork, sardines
• Very high – beef liver, caplin, chicken skin, fish marinades, fish meat, herring, sardines, sausage, corned beef, frankfurts, tuna

CHEESE

• Negligible – cottage cheese
• Very high – brie, camembert, Cheshire, cheddar cheese, cracker-barrel, danish blue, dutch Gloucester, Edam,
  Emmental, English Cheshire, Gouda, gruyere, Jarlsberg, Leicester, Leiderkratz, Limburger, mozzarella, Munster,
  parmesan cheese, processed cheese, provolone, Roquefort, romano, stilton, Swisse, Wensleydale

SWEETS

• High – milk chocolate, white chocolate

CONDIMENTS

• High – bonox, meat extracts, soy sauce, Vegemite

DRINKS

• Moderate – Ale, champagne, sake, stout
• High – beer, chianti, claret, drinking chocolate, fruit wines, port, red wine, sherry, white wine

FRUITS

• Negligible – apple, apricot, gooseberry, lime, peach, pear, rhubarb, strawberry
• Low – black currant, cherry, honeydew melon, mandarin, redcurrant, rockmelon
• Moderate – dates, kiwi fruit, passionfruit, pawpaw, tangerine
• High – avocado, banana, grapes, lemon, pineapple, plum, raspberry

VEGETABLES

• Negligible – asparagus, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, celery, corn, cucumber, french bean, green pea, lettuce, lima bean, onion, potato, radish, soybean, turnip, zucchini
• Moderate – broccoli, cauliflower, dill pickle, olives
• High – eggplant, mushrooms, tomato
• Very high – saurkraut, spinach

NUTS

• Negligible – acorn, American chestnut, buckeye nut, horse chestnut, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, pistachios
• Low – almonds, beechnut, cashews, coconut, macadamia nuts
• Moderate – Brazil nuts, Filbert
• High – English walnuts, mockernut, pecans, sweet pignut
• Very high – black walnuts, butternut