Overview
About Nickel
Nickel sensitivity looks at higher-nickel foods — such as chocolate, oats, legumes, and nuts — that can trigger reactions in people with a nickel allergy.
Nickel is a metal found in many foods including chocolate, nuts, and leafy greens. People with nickel allergy (often showing as contact dermatitis) may also react to dietary nickel, causing skin and digestive symptoms.
In the data
Where you will find nickel
- High in nickel (grade D), a common trigger for systemic nickel allergy and dyshidrotic eczema
- High in nickel, cocoa is one of the classic foods that flares systemic nickel allergy
- Moderately high in nickel, a common trigger for systemic nickel allergy flares
- High in salicylates and a high-nickel food, extra triggers if you react to either
Examples
A few ingredients either way
Grading
How we grade nickel
Every ingredient in the database carries one grade for nickel, and this page, the checker and the app all read that same grade. It describes the ingredient as it is usually eaten. Portion size and preparation move it.
Practical
Working with nickel
- Avoid stainless steel cookware - use glass, ceramic, or cast iron instead.
- Vitamin C may help reduce nickel absorption
- Avoid cooking acidic foods in stainless steel cookware
- Canned foods often have higher nickel content
- Chocolate, nuts, and legumes are common high-nickel foods
- First-draw water from taps may be higher in nickel - let it run
Method
Test it with a diary
Most people find their own triggers by logging meals and symptoms for a few weeks and reading the result back. Three steps.
- 1Log every meal for a few weeks. Type it, say it out loud, or scan a barcode, and it lands as a list of ingredients.
- 2Rate how you feel through the day on whatever you are tracking, whether that is bloating, headaches, skin or sleep.
- 3Read the pattern back. Every ingredient you logged is scored against the days you felt worse, and the result ranks nickel against everything else you eat.
Questions
Questions people ask
Is nickel sensitivity the same as a peanut allergy?
No, and it matters to keep them apart. A peanut allergy is an immediate IgE reaction that can cause anaphylaxis and requires strict, total avoidance. Nickel sensitivity is a delayed reaction to the nickel in the food and is dose-dependent, so some people manage it by limiting high-nickel foods rather than banning them. If you have a diagnosed peanut allergy, ignore the nickel angle and avoid peanuts completely.
More about peanut butterAre chickpeas high in nickel?
Yes. Chickpeas sit among the higher-nickel legumes, so on a low-nickel diet for systemic nickel allergy they are usually limited. Rinsing canned chickpeas can help slightly, but the nickel is largely in the bean itself.
More about chickpeasAre oats high in nickel?
Yes, oats are graded high (D) for nickel, along with other whole grains and legumes. If you have systemic nickel allergy, lower-nickel grains such as rice, millet or sorghum are gentler swaps.
More about oatsIs dark chocolate high in nickel?
Yes. Cocoa is one of the highest-nickel foods, so dark chocolate is a common flare food in systemic nickel allergy syndrome. The higher the cocoa percentage, the more nickel and oxalate it tends to carry.
More about dark chocolateAre green peas high in nickel?
Yes. Like most legumes, peas are among the higher-nickel plant foods. If you have systemic nickel allergy syndrome, regular pea-heavy meals can add to your dietary nickel load and contribute to flares.
More about green peas
Read next
Where to go next
References
Nickel sources
Where the nickel grades come from: food composition databases, clinical guidelines and patient organisations.
3 sources from peer-reviewed research, regulatory bodies, and clinical guidelines.
Get started
Tracking nickel?
Log what you eat and how you feel, and the app finds the pattern for you. Or look an ingredient up here first.
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