Starting a Low Nickel Diet

Yesterday, I officially started a low nickel diet. 

Prior to this, I’ve been eating a lot of items on the high nickel diet, as an informal test case I suppose.  I wanted to see if increasing my nickel intake would indeed increase my symptoms.   It did.  Very much!  So, now I’m testing the low nickel diet.  I’m tired of being itchy! 

Researching a low nickel diet is not the easiest thing – there is a lot of conflicting, random information on the internet.  This is what I’ve verified so far:

Nickel is naturally found in many food sources, predominantly plant-based food sources.  The amount of nickel in any given plant will vary based on growing environment – soil conditions, fertilizers and pesticides used, etc.  However, on average, nickel content is naturally higher or naturally lower in certain plants.

Cocoa is naturally high in nickel.

Incredibly high levels of nickel can be toxic for humans, but the trace amounts found in food and the environment are not dangerous to the average person (and are debatably beneficial).   But we’re not average, are we?!  I’ve found multiple conflicting values for what the “average” daily intake of nickel is, but in test cases performed in a Danish study in 1984, an oral intake of 600-5600µg of nickel provoked eczema in nickel sensitive patients.^[1]  I take that to mean that to reduce my chance of symptoms, I want to keep my nickel intake to below 600µg/day.

That same Danish study lists the nickel amounts in common foods (common to Denmark, unfortunately).  This gives me an idea of what I’m dealing with.  Lots of sites simply list “don’t eat this” information, or “eat in moderation”, but what does that actually mean?   I mean, let’s face it, if we all knew how to “eat in moderation”, there wouldn’t be so many diet commercials on TV!  So, I wanted real numbers. 

The chart below lists some of the worst offenders.  Remember, to make sense of this, you have to take into account how much you would actually eat.  For example, although oatmeal has less nickel per gram than cocoa, you would typically consume a larger amount of oatmeal at once than you would of chocolate (hopefully!).  One serving (1/2 c) of oatmeal is about 40g, giving you 70µg of nickel.  One cup of hot chocolate is about 5g of cocoa, giving you 49µg of nickel.  Both amounts are still very high, so with a little math, it’s easy to see how quickly your daily intake can surpass 600µg.

Nickel content	mean µg/g
Cocoa	9.8
Soy beans	5.2
Soy products	5.1
Soy products	5.1
Walnuts	3.6
Peanuts	2.8
Oatmeal	1.76
Dried legumes	1.7
Spinach	0.52
Canned beans	0.45

Doing all that math every time I sit down to eat, though, isn’t really my idea of fun!  Your doctor should be able to provide a low nickel diet list for you.  It is best, in the beginning, to follow the “eat this, don’t eat that” rules provided by your physician.  Once your symptoms are under control, you can experiment with other foods.  That list should also be more specific to your geographic area or culture. 

For reference, the Penn State Hershey Medical Low Nickel Diet patient handout can be found on the internet at: http://www.pennstatehershey.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=0888ec6e-3d2f-4766-833e-b38bd920ffcd&groupId=102184

[1] Flyvholm, Mari-Ann, Gitte Daslgaard Nielsen and Allan Anderson. "Nickel Content of Food and Estimation of Dietary Intake." Zeitschrift für Lebensmitteluntersuchung und -Forschung A, 1984, Volume 179, Number 6, Pages 427-431.

Comments

[Amy]

Thanks for this post. I was just diagnosed this week and have been scouring the internet for information. The limited information I have found so far is ALL already included here in your blog! I wish I had found this first!

The Penn State link you provided above is the best list I have found so far of foods to avoid and safe foods, but it's still so vague. Wouldn't it be great if there was a more comprehensive list that showed nickel content by actual serving size, just like you computed above for the oatmeal? If you ever find one, please post it!

[janet]

I appreciate your posting --- thank you very much --- I have just been diagnosed and should I find additional information, I will certainly share

[Wendy]

I am newly and severely allergic for five weeks. Diet is obviously a key to management. Lists, like the Penn State one, are not reliable in my experience so far. I have another list equally not definitive, and there are many foods to avoid on it, like cauliflower, that are on the Penn State "OK" list. Based on the Penn State list, I spent a whole week eating cauliflower and potatoes and having severe reactions. Unfortunately, nothing but cornflakes and cottage cheese for several days was the cure.
I wish there was some more help out there for this life changing problem. Not only has my work as a tailor been effectively shut down, I'm afraid to eat anything. Anaphylaxis several times in one month is nothing to play with. The allergist I saw had never seen this but looked at all my research and said, yup, you're right. So what would you like me to do for you?

[Janet]

I'm new at this nickel diet, and finding someone to help has been, well you know. One site says an item is low and another say the same item is high or medium. It's taken me months and months to get rid of the rashes, and for almost one month, I was rash free. Then I added a little cooked carrots ( six baby carrots) and a couple time eating them, here came six tinning rash spots at different spots on my body. So no more carrots for me. You gave a resp. with Asparagus, and my info I've been able to find says it's a High nickel. Also how do you do the math, so you can track the ug??

[IHateNickel]

HI Janet - Carrots don't cause a reaction for me, I'm so sorry to hear they do for you! Asparagus is also ok for me as long as I don't eat a lot. I've recently been looking at the Danish list again, and I'm starting to make sense of some of it. I haven't yet found a good way to calculate the ug per serving though; I'll let you know if I do!
The Danish list can now be found online: http://www.foodcomp.dk/v7/fcdb_foodcomplist.asp?CompId=0072