Pink or Yellow Tomatoes: Alternatives for Sensitivity and Intoleralance

For some the thought of eating a tomato is simply horrifying – with images of itchy, red inflamed skin plaguing their thoughts. For others, like myself, a tomato is pure summer joy. A big, red, juicy, warmed-by-the-sun tomato screams picnics and warm, happy days for me.highly acid red tomatoes

But for my son, and for many others, tomatoes are usually best avoided. For some, they can’t properly digest tomatoes either with a tomato sensitivity or with the more general nightshade vegetable intolerance, some may have a true tomato allergy (which I believe is rare), or more commonly the highly acidic tomato is just too much for those with allergic conditions (allergies, asthma, eczema) and they irritate the skin or any other part of the body, lungs included.

There is hope!

Forget what you know about tomatoes. Did you know they are not all red? Did you know there are low acid varieties that are more gentle and can be very well tolerated by those with allergic conditions and tomato sensitivities?

Red tomatoes are usually very acidic and can really irritate eczema, and even asthma for some. Red tomatoes triggered my son’s eczema to flare up horribly if he ate them one day, if consumed a second or third day in a row, his skin continued to worsen. But then we tried the less acidic yellow tomatoes and the strangest thing happened – no flare. None. There is quite a bit of controversy on this subject online as it seems there really is no such thing as a “low acid tomato” and that all tomatoes contain the same amount of acid. They claim some tomatoes are sweeter and therefore the sweetness masks the acidic taste in some tomatoes. But, I beg to differ as I saw a noticeable difference when my son ate a regular red tomato vs a “low acid” tomato.

Looking for a low acid tomato sauce or diced tomatoes? I found diced yellow tomatoes at my local grocery store, imported from Italy. They were great and again, no eczema flare up for my son. I’m sure you can find tomato sauces and pastes made with low acid tomato varieties. It will be easiest just to look for a variety made from pink or yellow tomatoes.

Are you interested in trying a lower acid tomato? Try a yellow, orange, or pink tomato, not too difficult to find, especially in the warm summer months.

Do tomatoes affect you or your child? Do you find red is more harmful than the other color varieties?

5 Comments

  1. En on August 30, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    We have just worked out, every time our 2 Year old eats any thing with tomato in his skin goes red and turn into eczema straight away!

    • Jennifer on September 3, 2013 at 9:32 am

      Oh no! Have you tried the different colors of tomatoes to see if you notice a difference?

  2. Stephi on August 18, 2015 at 5:06 am

    I thought for a long time I was allergic but then I got the diagnosis of having a histamine intolerance! Couldn’t eat many food like sauerkraut, tomatos, red wine etc. for many years. Then I read in a online forum sth about a dietary supplement called Daosin. I bought it and now I’m sooooo happy. It’s avoiding the allergic reaction if I eat sth histamine rich..!

    One more question Jennifer,
    have you ever thought about histamine intolerance or only tomato allergy/intolerance?

    • Jennifer Roberge on August 24, 2015 at 2:29 pm

      Thanks Stephi – yes, I believe I may have a histamine intolerance, but I’m able to control it easily through diet. Thankfully! Thanks for the information!

  3. William Watt on October 12, 2021 at 9:06 pm

    I react to fresh tomatoes if i eat more than 3-4 cherry tomatoes. I sneeze and have to blow my nose several times over over a half hour period. I notice that if the fresh tomatoes are not completely ripe they disagree more strongly than ripe ones. Rotten tomatoes cause symptoms but less than ripe tomatoes.
    I just tried eating a half pond of sun dried Turkish red tomatoes and had only a little nasal drip.
    I think that sun ripening breaks down what bothers me.

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