5 Kinds of Food To Add to Your Diet if You Have Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria

Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), or recurring long-term hives with no clear cause, is usually treated with medications. Lifestyle changes can’t replace these drugs, but prioritizing certain foods in your diet could help reduce your symptoms.

Histamine is a chemical that your body releases to trigger allergic reactions, including hives. However, histamines can also be found in certain foods, and eating them may worsen your CSU. Choosing low-histamine proteins could help reduce some allergic symptoms.

When it comes to meat and fish, the histamine content depends largely on freshness and the preparation method. Chicken, lamb, beef, cod, trout, and other proteins are low-histamine if they’re fresh or immediately frozen after being caught.

But smoked, salted, dried, or canned meats and fish may have high amounts of histamine. The same is true for leftover protein, even when it’s kept at low temperatures.

Vegetables are a great addition to your diet if you have CSU—most are low in histamines and safe to eat regularly. Reliable choices include:

• Broccoli
• Lettuce
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Peppers
• Onion
• Asparagus

Tomatoes, eggplant, spinach, and avocados are exceptions. They are known to trigger histamine release in some people and may be worth limiting as a first step. It’s also best to avoid canned or pickled vegetables, as they tend to be higher in histamines.

Many fruits may worsen CSU because they trigger the body to release more histamine from immune cells. Some fruits, however, should be safe to consume if you’re trying to decrease your histamine levels, including:

• Pears
• Apples
• Cherries
• Peaches
• Apricots
• Watermelon
• Blueberries

It may be best to avoid fruits such as strawberries, citrus fruits, bananas, kiwi, pineapple, plums, and papayas, particularly if you notice your hives are worse after eating them.

Studies show that people with CSU tend to have lower vitamin D levels, though it’s unclear why. Supplementing your diet with this essential vitamin may help ease your symptoms.

Foods like salmon, trout, eggs, cheese, and fortified milk or cereals can help boost your vitamin D intake.

You can also take a vitamin D supplement, though it’s best to have a healthcare provider test your vitamin D levels before taking one.

Similar to histamines in food, some people with CSU may find that their symptoms get worse after they eat foods with artificial dyes, preservatives, flavorings, or other additives.

To limit these in your diet, it’s best to avoid processed foods and packaged snacks. Opting for whole foods is the simplest way to lower your exposure and could be helpful for some people with CSU. Build your meals around plain, whole ingredients, like:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Legumes and beans
• Whole grains

When you do buy packaged or processed foods, check the ingredient label carefully. Additives that have been linked to hives include:

• Food dyes: Tartrazine (yellow dye no. 5), carmine, and annatto
• Preservatives: Benzoates and sulfites
• Flavoring: Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Dietary changes can’t be a replacement for your prescribed medications—antihistamines and drugs that target the immune system remain the standard first-line choice of treatment for CSU. But making some dietary changes may reduce how often you experience symptoms.

Here’s how to identify whether changes in diet could help with your CSU:

• Begin with an elimination diet: Remove the most likely triggers at once, including high-histamine foods, artificial additives, and alcohol. Stick with these changes for at least three weeks. Research shows this is the minimum time necessary to know whether a dietary change is working for you.
• Keep a symptom diary: Write down everything you eat, when you eat it, and when your hives appear. Note details like how the food was prepared and whether it was fresh or packaged.
• Reintroduce foods: Every few days, add one food to your diet that you had previously cut out. This is the most reliable way to identify which foods, if any, make your symptoms worse.

Because elimination diets can create nutritional gaps, a registered dietitian can help you maintain a balanced diet.