Overview
About Lychee
Lychee grades E for excess fructose and D for polyols, which puts it at E overall on FODMAPs and makes it one of the tropical fruits most likely to produce bloating, wind and loose stools.
It also grades E for low-fermentation SIBO protocols. On food chemistry it is mild: low histamine, only a slight liberator effect, low salicylate and low nickel, so a lychee reaction is almost always about the sugars rather than about amines. The other thing people search for is whether lychees are dangerous, after the acute encephalopathy outbreaks reported in litchi-growing regions of India and Vietnam. That risk is specific and worth stating precisely: it involves unripe fruit eaten in quantity by undernourished children who had skipped their evening meal, not ripe lychee eaten as part of a normal diet.
Sensitivities
How Lychee scores
Watch for
What trips people up
- Very high in excess fructose (E), with more fructose than glucose, so a handful of lychees delivers a fructose load that a sensitive gut absorbs badly
- High in polyols (D) on top of that, which is what pushes it to E for total FODMAPs. Lychees are also easy to over-eat because they are small and sweet
- Poor fit for low-fermentation SIBO diets (E), where the combination of fructose and polyols is exactly what those protocols are built to limit
- Unripe lychee contains hypoglycin A and MCPG, natural compounds that block the body from making glucose from fat. They are the documented cause of hypoglycaemic encephalopathy outbreaks in undernourished children who ate unripe fruit on an empty stomach. Ripe fruit eaten alongside meals is not that scenario, but there is no reason to eat green, unripe lychees
- Canned lychee in syrup and dried lychee concentrate the sugars, so the processed forms are heavier on fructose than the fresh fruit
Diet fit
Where it fits
Swap ideas
More alternatives
FAQ
Common questions about Lychee
Is lychee low FODMAP?
No. Lychee grades E for excess fructose, D for polyols and E for FODMAPs overall. It is one of the higher-load fruits, and portion creep is a real factor because lychees are small and get eaten by the handful. Passion fruit and clementine are far gentler on the same sugars.
Why do lychees give me stomach ache and diarrhoea?
Because they carry two poorly absorbed sugars at once. Fructose in excess of glucose is absorbed slowly and incompletely, and polyols are barely absorbed at all. Both draw water into the bowel and are fermented by gut bacteria, which produces the cramping, gas and looseness. It is a dose effect, so a couple of lychees may be fine where a bowlful is not.
Are lychees toxic or dangerous?
Ripe lychee eaten as a normal food is not dangerous. The serious cases reported in the medical literature came from litchi-growing districts in India and Vietnam, where undernourished children ate large quantities of fallen, unripe fruit and skipped their evening meal. Unripe fruit is high in hypoglycin A and MCPG, which block the body from producing glucose when it has no food reserves left, causing a sudden drop in blood sugar. The risk needs the combination of unripe fruit, a large amount, an empty stomach and poor nutritional reserves. The sensible takeaway is to eat lychees ripe and with food, not to avoid them.
Is lychee high in histamine?
No. Lychee grades clean for histamine content and only a mild liberator, with low salicylates as well, so it is generally workable on a histamine or salicylate plan. Its problems are the fermentable sugars, which is a separate issue entirely.
References
Read the background
Ratings reflect the Triggerbites ingredient database and may vary with portion size and preparation.