9 Foods High in Tyramine and How To Avoid Them

To find what these potential dietary don’ts are—and what tyramine is to start with—we consulted Dani Lebovitz, MS, RDN, a meals training skilled and the founding father of Kid Food Explorers primarily based in Franklin, Tennessee.

What’s tyramine?

“Tyramine, a pure substance in our our bodies, helps handle blood stress and mind alerts,” Lebovitz explains. Deriving from the amino acid tyrosine, it’s additionally present in widespread meals and drinks. (It is in the identical chemical group because the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.)

Whereas tyramine has an necessary job in your physique, issues can get dangerous when you take monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), a category of medicines used to deal with melancholy and anxiousness. MAOIs assist regulate mood by blocking monoamine oxidase, an enzyme that removes neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine (stuff you want for secure temper ranges) out of your mind. However MAOIs additionally forestall the breakdown of extra tyramine within the physique—as a result of keep in mind, tyramine is expounded to these neurotransmitters.

Until you observed or know for positive that tyramine is a set off for you, there’s no want to chop high-tyramine meals out of your eating regimen.

Having a surplus of tyramine can result in complications, chest ache, and blurred imaginative and prescient, in addition to blood stress spikes which will require quick medical consideration. These taking MAOIs could keep away from certain foods¹, and similar goes for individuals susceptible to migraines. And whereas tyramine consumption could be included in that, specialists warning in opposition to making dietary adjustments with out consulting a educated dietitian or doctor. “It is all about how your physique processes tyramine,” she explains. “Reducing again on meals excessive in it might probably make an enormous distinction in managing these situations.” However there aren’t any ensures, so converse along with your healthcare supplier about tyramine-rich meals earlier than you forego purple wine or ramen with out motive.

What meals include tyramine?

Talking of which: Plenty of meals include tyramine, however fermented or aged meals and drinks are likely to have probably the most tyramine. That is as a result of microbes convert tyrosine (the amino acid) into tyramine as the foods age². So the extra “aged” or fermented one thing is, the extra seemingly it’s to have numerous tyramine.

Meals excessive in tyramine

Lebovitz says that the next meals are sometimes very excessive in tyramine:

• Aged cheese (similar to Parmesan, Swiss, Stilton, and Gorgonzola)
• Dry-cured meats (like salami or pepperoni)
• Pickled meals (like kimchi, sauerkraut, or pickles)
• Salt-dried seafood
• Liver
• Sure beans (like Haricot beans)
• Fish sauce
• Soybeans, tofu, and different soybean merchandise
• Miso

Alcohol can also be excessive in tyramine because of its strategies of manufacturing. “Alcoholic drinks like beer—particularly draught and craft beers—together with purple wines are identified for his or her excessive tyramine ranges,” Lebovitz says.

In the event you’re attempting to keep away from high-tyramine meals and drinks, Lebovitz says you would possibly wish to reduce on espresso as a result of the impact of too much caffeine (like complications and a racing heartbeat) can mimic these of tyramine. “Due to this fact, people delicate to tyramine can also profit from moderating their caffeine consumption,” she says.

“Alcoholic drinks like beer—particularly draught and craft beers—together with purple wines are identified for his or her excessive tyramine ranges,” Lebovitz says.

Low-tyramine meals

In the event you and your healthcare crew discover that you may gain advantage from a low-tyramine eating regimen, there’s no scarcity of wholesome meals to get pleasure from. Per Lebovitz, they embody the next:

• Fruits: Apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, plums, and bananas that aren’t overripe
• Greens: Leafy greens, carrots, tomatoes, potato, zucchini, and turnips
• Dairy: recent milk, yogurt, and non-fermented cheeses similar to cream cheese, cottage cheese, and ricotta
• Protein: recent meats, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, canned legumes (excluding fava and broad beans)
• Entire grains: rice, pasta, and bread

As a common rule of thumb, Lebovitz says you may achieve following a low-tyramine eating regimen by consuming the meals above in a immediate method and listening to how they’re saved and ready. “For recent produce, devour it inside a few days of buy. For canned or frozen meals, use them quickly after opening, too,” she advises. On the subject of recent animal proteins, she suggests consuming or freezing them the identical day of buy.

Ought to everybody restrict tyramine?

No, not everybody must stress about tyramine. Some individuals could have to take further care to restrict their consumption of tyramine meals primarily based on their well being situations and medicines. Others could also be extra delicate to it than others, and a few individuals could course of it simply effective. Until you observed or know for positive that tyramine is a set off for you, there’s no want to chop high-tyramine meals out of your eating regimen.

It’s at all times finest to seek the advice of your health-care supplier earlier than making any main adjustments to your eating regimen—particularly when you’re managing medical situations. “In the event you suppose you could have a tyramine sensitivity, holding a meals log generally is a useful software to determine patterns and potential triggers,” Lebovitz shares. “Assembly with a dietitian [who can] supply customized steering can also be useful.”