Tyramine is found in highest concentrations in aged, fermented, and cured foods. Aged cheeses, cured meats, fermented soy products, and certain alcoholic beverages top the list. For most people, tyramine in food is harmless. But if you take a type of antidepressant called an MAOI, or if you’re prone to migraines, knowing which foods are high in tyramine can help you avoid serious reactions.
How Tyramine Builds Up in Food
Tyramine forms when bacteria break down the amino acid tyrosine, which is naturally present in protein-rich foods. The longer a food ages, ferments, or sits at warm temperatures, the more tyramine accumulates. That’s why fresh chicken breast has almost none, while a slice of aged cheddar or a piece of salami can contain significant amounts. The common thread across high-tyramine foods is time: aging, curing, fermenting, and even just storing leftovers too long all allow bacteria to convert tyrosine into tyramine.
Aged and Fermented Cheeses
Cheese is the most well-known tyramine source, but not all cheese is a problem. The key distinction is aging. Hard, aged varieties like cheddar, Parmesan, Gruyère, Stilton, blue cheese, and Swiss accumulate tyramine over months of ripening. The longer the cheese has aged, the higher its tyramine content tends to be.
Fresh cheeses are a different story. Ricotta, cottage cheese, cream cheese, mozzarella, and fresh goat cheese contain little to no tyramine because they haven’t undergone extended aging. If you’re watching your tyramine intake, swapping aged cheese for a fresh variety is one of the simplest adjustments you can make.
Cured and Fermented Meats
Air-dried, aged, and fermented meats are consistently high in tyramine. This includes salami (including hard salami and cacciatore), pepperoni, mortadella, summer sausage, and other fermented sausages. Bologna, hot dogs, and processed deli meats that contain nitrates or nitrites also make the list. Pickled herring, salted dried fish, and chicken livers are additional sources worth noting.
Fresh, unprocessed meat and poultry that you cook and eat promptly are low in tyramine. The same goes for fresh fish. The rule of thumb: if the meat has been dried, smoked, cured, or fermented, treat it as a high-tyramine food.
Fermented Soy and Vegetable Products
Fermentation drives tyramine production in plant-based foods just as it does in animal products. Soy sauce, miso, and fermented soybean paste all contain meaningful amounts. One traditional fermented soybean product (thua nao, common in Southeast Asian cuisine) has been measured at 548 mg/kg, a notably high concentration. Teriyaki sauce and hoisin sauce, both soy-based, carry tyramine as well.
Tempeh and fermented tofu should be avoided on a low-tyramine diet, while non-fermented tofu is considered safe. Among vegetables, sauerkraut and kimchi are the main concerns because the fermentation process that gives them their tang also generates tyramine. Other fermented or pickled vegetables fall into the same category.
Alcoholic Beverages
Not all alcohol is equal when it comes to tyramine. Tap (draft) beer poses the greatest risk. A study analyzing 98 beer samples found that all bottled and canned beers had safe tyramine levels, with concentrations ranging from 0 to 3.16 mg per liter. But four of the tap beers tested had dangerous levels, ranging from 26.34 to 112.91 mg per liter. Those high-tyramine samples were all lagers produced through a secondary fermentation process.
Red wine is also commonly flagged as a tyramine source, particularly Chianti and other robust varieties. White wine generally contains less. If you’re sensitive to tyramine, bottled or canned beer is a safer choice than draft, and lighter wines are preferable to heavy reds.
Overripe Fruits and Certain Legumes
A few plant foods accumulate tyramine as they ripen past their prime. Overripe bananas, overripe avocados, and dried fruits are the usual culprits. If you eat these foods fresh and before they become overly soft or brown, tyramine levels stay low. Fava beans (also called broad beans) are often listed as a food to limit on a low-tyramine diet, partly because they contain other compounds that interact with MAOIs in similar ways.
How Storage Affects Tyramine Levels
Tyramine doesn’t just appear in obviously fermented foods. It also builds up in leftovers and improperly stored protein-rich foods. Research on canned seafood shows that tyramine content rises steadily over time, and warmer storage temperatures accelerate the process dramatically. Samples stored at 30°C (86°F) accumulated tyramine far faster than those kept at 4°C (39°F), with some exceeding recommended safety limits of 100 mg/kg.
The practical takeaway: eat protein-rich foods soon after cooking, refrigerate leftovers promptly, and don’t let cooked meat, fish, or eggs sit at room temperature. Foods stored in the fridge for several days will have higher tyramine than the same food eaten fresh, even if they still look and smell fine.
Why Tyramine Matters for Some People
Your body normally breaks down tyramine in the gut using an enzyme called monoamine oxidase (MAO). When this system works properly, dietary tyramine is neutralized before it can affect your blood pressure. But when MAO is blocked, tyramine passes into the bloodstream, where it triggers the release of large quantities of norepinephrine and other stress hormones. This causes blood vessels to constrict, heart rate to increase, and blood pressure to spike, sometimes dangerously.
This reaction is most relevant for people taking MAOI medications. The older, irreversible MAOIs (phenelzine, tranylcypromine, and isocarboxazid) require strict dietary tyramine restrictions because they block the enzyme completely. Some newer options carry less risk. Moclobemide, a reversible and selective inhibitor, does not require dietary changes even at doses up to 600 mg per day. A low-dose selegiline patch (6 mg/24 hours), used for depression, also comes without dietary restrictions, though higher doses do require them.
Tyramine is also a recognized migraine trigger for some people, even without MAOI use. If you notice headaches after eating aged cheese, red wine, or cured meats, tyramine sensitivity may be the reason.
Quick Reference: High vs. Low Tyramine Foods
- High tyramine: aged cheeses (cheddar, Parmesan, blue, Swiss, Gruyère), salami, pepperoni, mortadella, fermented sausages, soy sauce, miso, tempeh, sauerkraut, kimchi, tap beer, red wine, pickled herring, chicken livers, overripe bananas and avocados
- Low tyramine: fresh cheeses (ricotta, cottage cheese, cream cheese, mozzarella), fresh or frozen meat and poultry, fresh fish, eggs, non-fermented tofu, fresh fruits and vegetables, bottled or canned beer, white wine in moderation
When in doubt, freshness is your best guide. The fresher the food and the less it has been aged, fermented, or left sitting, the lower its tyramine content will be.