Is Cheese High in Histamine?

Michael Eisenwasser 6 min read

Cheese is one of the first things people give up when they start figuring out they have histamine intolerance. And for good reason: for a lot of people, aged cheese is a reliable, fast trigger.

But here's what makes cheese interesting: not all cheese is the same. The gap between the highest-histamine options and the lowest is bigger than almost any other food category. Parmesan and fresh ricotta are both cheese. They behave completely differently in your body.

Worth noting: a lot of people with histamine intolerance also deal with dairy issues, whether that's lactose intolerance, a casein sensitivity, or just finding that dairy makes symptoms worse. I'm one of them. I avoid all dairy and cheese entirely. So what follows is based on what the histamine intolerance community reports and what the research shows, not personal experimentation.

The short answer

Aged cheeses are among the highest-histamine foods you can eat. Things like parmesan, cheddar, blue cheese, and Swiss can contain substantial amounts of histamine accumulated during the aging process. Many people with histamine intolerance react quickly and noticeably to these.

Fresh cheeses, on the other hand, are generally much better tolerated. Ricotta, fresh mozzarella, cream cheese, and cottage cheese sit on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Aging is the strongest risk factor: generally, the longer a cheese has been aged, the more likely it is to be high in histamine. But histamine levels can vary by brand, batch, and how the cheese was stored, so this isn't a perfectly predictable rule.

Why aging makes cheese so high in histamine

Cheese gets its flavor from fermentation and aging. During this process, certain bacteria convert the amino acid histidine, which is naturally present in milk proteins, into histamine. The longer and more extensively a cheese ages, the more opportunity there is for histamine to accumulate.

This is different from foods that are histamine liberators, which trigger your body to release stored histamine. Aged cheese actually delivers histamine directly. You're eating a food with high concentrations already in it.

Aged cheeses also tend to be high in tyramine, another compound that can cause similar symptoms: headaches, flushing, elevated heart rate. The same aging process that builds up histamine also builds up tyramine. So aged cheese can push you from more than one direction at once.

The worst offenders

If you have histamine intolerance, these cheeses are likely to cause problems:

• Parmesan (very long aging, very high histamine)
• Blue cheese and Roquefort (mold-ripened, extremely high)
• Aged cheddar (especially sharp or extra sharp)
• Swiss and Emmental (aged, variable but often high)
• Gouda (aged versions significantly higher than fresh)
• Brie and Camembert (mold-ripened, problematic despite soft texture)
• Gruyere, Asiago, Pecorino

The softer texture of brie and camembert can make them seem like they'd be fine. But these are fermented, mold-ripened cheeses, and the ripening process supports histamine-forming microbes. Many people with histamine intolerance report reacting to them even in small amounts.

The better options

Fresh, unaged cheeses are a different situation entirely:

• Ricotta (minimal aging, generally well tolerated by many people)
• Fresh mozzarella (commonly better tolerated than aged options, especially when fresh)
• Burrata (similar to fresh mozzarella)
• Cream cheese (often better tolerated when plain and fresh, though individual response varies)
• Cottage cheese (generally lower histamine than aged cheeses, watch for additives)
• Mascarpone (minimal aging, generally well tolerated)
• Fresh goat cheese (unaged varieties tend to be lower histamine than aged equivalents)

See the dairy and histamine post if you're unsure whether dairy in general is a problem for you, separate from the histamine question.

What about mild cheddar or "regular" cheese?

Cheddar exists on a spectrum. Extra-sharp cheddar that's been aged for years is very different from mild cheddar that's been aged only a few months. The milder and shorter-aged the cheddar, the lower the histamine tends to be.

This doesn't make mild cheddar a safe choice during an elimination phase. But it explains why some people find they can handle a small amount of mild cheddar on a good day while sharp cheddar is a consistent problem.

Processed cheese slices are harder to categorize. They're made from blends that can include aged cheeses, and their histamine content depends on those inputs and storage. They also often include additives and preservatives that can be problematic in their own right. They're not a reliable "safe" option during an elimination phase.

The freshness factor

Even within the "safe" category of fresh cheeses, freshness still matters. A tub of ricotta sitting in your fridge for a week is not the same as ricotta you just opened. Histamine accumulates as food ages, even in foods that start out low. The same principle that makes freshness so important across the whole low histamine diet applies here too.

Buy fresh cheeses as close to when you'll eat them as possible. Once opened, consume within a day or two. This applies to mozzarella in water, cream cheese, cottage cheese, all of it.

How to test your tolerance

If you want to figure out where cheese falls for you personally:

1. Start with fresh, unaged options. Ricotta or fresh mozzarella on an otherwise clean day.
2. Use a fresh package opened that day. Not something that's been open in the fridge for a few days.
3. Eat a small portion on its own. Not on pizza with tomato sauce, not with wine. You need to isolate the variable.
4. Watch for reactions over the next few hours. Most histamine reactions come on fairly quickly, though some symptoms can take longer to appear. Give yourself at least a few hours before drawing conclusions.
5. Work your way toward harder cheeses slowly. Mild cheddar before sharp, young gouda before aged.

A DAO supplement taken before eating may help some people when testing borderline cheeses, since aged cheese delivers histamine directly rather than triggering your body to release it. That said, if you're experiencing serious reactions, don't use DAO as a way to push through them. Severe symptoms like throat tightness or difficulty breathing need medical attention, not a supplement.

A note on pizza and cheese dishes

Pizza is a case where cheese is rarely the only problem. Tomato sauce is high histamine. Many pizzas include aged cheeses like parmesan or mozzarella that's been sitting out. Some include cured meats.

If pizza triggers you, it's not necessarily the cheese. The combination is the problem. When you're trying to figure out your tolerance for a specific ingredient, you need to test it in isolation, not stacked on top of other triggers.

If you still want pizza, our low histamine pizza recipe uses a no-tomato base and skips the aged cheeses entirely.

Finding your limit

Some people find they can't tolerate any cheese at all during a flare. Others work their way back to eating fresh mozzarella or ricotta regularly. A smaller group eventually reintroduces mild cheddar in small amounts on good days.

Where you land depends on how sensitive you are, what your overall histamine load looks like, and how well your body is currently breaking down histamine.

Tracking what you eat alongside your symptoms is the most reliable way to find your personal limits. A food that's fine one day isn't always fine the next if your bucket is already full from other sources. Logging meals and symptoms helps you spot those patterns over time.

Track your symptoms and discover patterns with Histamine Tracker. Includes a database of 1,000+ foods with histamine ratings.