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The 5 main food groups

Acetylsalicytic acid is used in the preparation of many medicines (the most well-known is common aspirin), but it is also present in high quantities in many food preparations and varieties of fruits and vegetables.

It is not present in grains, meat, fish, milk, eggs or cheeses (apart from which contains a minimal quantity that must be considered, nevertheless).

The diet for salicylates doesn’t require the total exclusion of the substance, but just a limited use (as explained further on). Below you will find an alphabetical listing of foods containing this substance and the quantity of it that they contain (expressed in milligrams per 100 grams of edible substance), taken from the fifth edition (1994) of Food Composition and nutrition tables by Souci, Fachmann e Kraut, published in Italy by OEMF, Milan.

For example, it’s interesting to point out the presence of salicylates in various foods such as tea, mint herbal tea and other drinks, pepper, cloves, honey, foods deriving from fruit (jam, fruit juice, wine, vinegar), nuts and seeds, green-leafed vegetables, tomato (fresh or sauce) and many types of fruit and vegetables (see list).

With regard to medicines, those that contain the highest content of acetylsalicytic acid are: Aspirin, Aspro, Cemerit, and Flectadol, but there are others that contain it as well and therefore the use of any medicine should be discussed with your doctor beforehand.

It’s not rare to find that persons who have already had allergic reactions to an analgesic, also show reactivity to acetylsalicytic acid during the DRIA test.

The opposite is not always true, however: a person who proved negative to the salicylates test could have an allergic reaction to medicines anyway (this is something to keep in mind for any type of medicine).

On the other hand, if a person shows reactivity to the DRIA test for salicylates, he must always use caution when taking analgesics. Any symptoms relating to the use of these products must always be communicated to a doctor. (the reactivity to salicylates is often a cause or concomitant cause of vasculitic or urticarial types of phenomena. For further information, click here and here).

How to regulate your intake of natural salicylates

Unless specified by a doctor, it’s not usually necessary to totally eliminate the substances that contain natural salicylates, but it’s indispensable to restrict the quantity that is consumed to an acceptable limit.

People may develop irritations (like a reaction to strawberries that causes itching...) if they exceed a dosage of 12-15 mg per day.

Therefore, an occasional leaf of lettuce or a spoonful of tomato sauce won’t create the problems that would occur with their continuous and repeated consumption.

Only in particular cases will a doctor prescribe the complete elimination of these foods for a limited period.

Following the test performed at the DRIA centers, the patient receives a form on which the doctor prescribes the maximum daily dosage of salicylates, in the following terms:

“The quantity of salicylates that you may consume during the active diet days must not exceed 2,60 mg per day or .............. . (instructions given by the doctor, who may vary the dosage according to the clinical schedule). During free days, instead, the quantity that may be consumed is unlimited.”

Note

According to E.H. Corder (Journal of Allergy Clinical Immunology Vol 89 N 1 Part 2 p. 347) the lowest dose of aspirin that can cause disturbances in highly sensitive subjects is 0, 8 mg per day, while the dose for natural salicylates is 2,60 mg.

List of salicylate content in various foods - ascending order

(quantity expressed in milligrams per 100 grams of food)

List of salicylate content in various foods - alphabetical order

(quantity expressed in milligrams per 100 grams of food)

Alternatives

Below we have gathered a variety of alternative foods that do not contain measurable quantities of salicylates and can therefore be eaten freely. 

Vegetables: artichokes, celery, radicchio (chioggia or trevigiana), chard, Jerusalem artichokes, parsley, Chinese lettuce, fennel, green cabbage, white lettuce, Belgian endive, dandelion greens, beans, soy sprouts, porcini mushrooms, truffles, peas.

Fruit: pears, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, gooseberries, bananas, limes, lychee, prickly pears, cantaloupe, coconut, chestnuts. (Although fresh citrus juice like orange, grapefruit and lemon contain less salicylates than the whole fruit, these beverages must be excluded from the diet. They may be admitted again in moderation at a later stage, but only with your doctor’s consent.)

Beverages: beer, cider (whiskey and cognac do not contain ASA)

Seasonings: chilli pepper (in small quantities), fresh lemon juice, horseradish.

How to read this form

Considering the need to restrict the consumption of salicylates, it’s a good idea to keep in mind a few guidelines and be wary of some pitfalls.

If a person drinks a glass of wine at dinner (that means roughly 200 grams, equal to 1,20 mg of salicylates) and eats a small orange at breakfast (2,40 mg) he has already greatly exceeded the daily allowance of 2,60 mg.

In the same way, even if you abstain from eating any other food that contains this substance, it would be sufficient to eat 6 dried dates (60 grams equal to 2,70 mg) or a bunch of grapes or a handful of raisins or 6 teaspoons of honey or 3 apricots or a dish of raspberries; is it worth the trouble?

On the other hand, when a food has a high content, as in the case of tea that has 3,70 mg, you need to remember that we’re talking about 100 g, so a cup of brewed tea only amounts to 0,20/0,30 mg.

Similarly, it might be helpful to think of the ratio between volume and specific weight of the various foods; a vegetable like radicchio contains as much as 1,00 mg per 100 grams, but that amount makes for quite a nice salad, whereas 2 boiled zucchini can contain as much as 3,50 mg of salicylates.

It could be useful to reason as if you were at the supermarket. Imagine that the data on the chart represented the cost in dollars per 100 grams for the foods on the list. If you assign yourself a budget of $2.60 (of salicylates) per day, it’s clear that 300 grams of potatoes cost only 36 cents while 2 tablespoons of honey cost $1.50, and one half of an orange and a glass of wine, together, amount to a cost that exceeds your budget.

Additional information about rotational diets can be found in the books by Attilio Speciani “Le allergie. Cause, diagnosi, terapie”[Allergies. Causes, diagnoses, therapies] (with Marina Speciani Necchi), “Resistere all'inquinamento” [Surviving in a polluted world] and “Superare le intolleranze alimentari” [Overcoming food intolerances] (with Francesca Speciani), all published by Tecniche Nuove, Milan.

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© This food profile is copyright of SMA Srl Servizi Medici Associati, Via Ariosto 28, 20145 Milan, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Health director: Dr Attilio Speciani, M.D., Clinical allergist and immunologist. This material may not be used or reproduced without the publisher’s permission.

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