Your book advises to introduce tomatoes and their sauces in the salicylate challenge and I was wondering how this works when tomatoes are also high in amines?
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This is an interesting question. There are a number of reasons for seeing tomato as primarily a suspect food because of salicylate. Its role in amine tolerance can still be important to some.
The initial low salicylate diet used by dermatologists and Feingold in the 1970s excluded tomato, but did not attend to amines at all. Now we know that those who are sensitive to salicylates also often react to amines. Those people who reacted to tomato in my research also reacted to herbs and spices, mint toothpaste, rockmelon, berries and commercial pear juice [ ie the salicylate in pear peels ], and apples, which are all thought to cause reactions because of salicylate.
Reactions to tomato, especially tomato sauce, were very often reported in the ADHD group.
The salicylate content of tomato found by Dr Anne Swain’s analysis was significant.
I note in my research thesis amines were not considered as being present in tomato in the early 1990s, whereas some work had been done in Australia on salicylate content of tomatoes.
There are various amines and each sensitive person varies in which are important to them. Someone sensitive to chocolate and red wine may tolerate browned meat or home made gravy. It is important that after initial clarification of the role of chocolate that other amines are tested one at a time to maximise the number of foods still included in the diet.
Tomato is certainly a food that is often reported as not tolerated in clinical research.
It is known that amines increase with ripening. This is reflected in decreased tolerance of, especially, bananas, pawpaw, paypaya, broccoli, and cauliflower, whereas tolerance of tomato is not reported in families to be related to ripeness; it is related to concentration [see pages 151 and 188 in ‘Are You Food sensitive?’ ].
Note the work I did on amines “Amines in food – the position in 2000” shown in one article on the other home page www.ozemail.com.au/~breakey
It is known that where a reaction to salicylates occurs it will clear faster with use of a urinary alkaliser [ such as bicarbonate of soda, plain white Eno’s, or products made for Urinary Tract Infections e.g Ural or Citravescent in Australia. [One to three teaspoons on the day of the reaction, not taken near meals.] The slightly more alkaline blood pH allows increased excretion of salicylates and similar compounds which include artificial colours and flavours, but not amines. Families who reported a faster clearing of reaction symptoms after a tomato meal have been annoyed that they did not get the same improvement after a chocolate reaction.
Do have a look at the discussion on natural chemicals in Chapter 3of Are You Food Sensitive, and the ideas on single food trials from p 145. It is of interest what the suspect chemical in a food is, but since there is individual variation in the amount present in various varieties, and with degrees of ripening, it is wise to test individual foods and note tolerance in your own particular situation. This is part of what makes “Diet Detective Work” so interesting. Good luck with testing in your family!