Essential amino acid
Histidine
The one they added late. Essential, but your body whispers rather than shouts about it.
10 mg/kg/dayAbout 700 mg a day at 70 kg
What it builds
Histidine is the raw material for histamine, which handles immune signalling, stomach acid production and a set of neurotransmitter roles. It is also half of carnosine, the dipeptide that buffers acid inside muscle, which makes it quietly interesting to sprinters and to anyone whose event ends in a burning sensation. And it is structurally embedded in haemoglobin, where it holds the iron that holds the oxygen.
Histidine was classed as non-essential for adults for a long time, on the grounds that short studies failed to show a requirement. It was reclassified once longer studies showed the body cannot make enough of it over time. It is the newest member of the list.
Where histidine actually comes from
Widely distributed. If you eat protein at all you are almost certainly covered.
Ranked by a realistic portion rather than per 100 g, because nobody eats 100 g of pumpkin seeds. Figures are digestibility-adjusted, so these are the amounts the app credits you with, not the amounts printed on the packet. Computed live from the 72 foods in the AminoLens recommender pool.
All foods
Every food in the pool, animal and plant.
| Food | Portion | Per portion |
|---|---|---|
| Pork tenderloin | 120 g | 1.29 g |
| Chicken breast | 120 g breast | 1.10 g |
| Beef (eye of round) | 120 g | 1.08 g |
| Lamb leg | 120 g | 1.02 g |
| Chicken thigh | 120 g | 842 mg |
| Turkey breast | 120 g | 833 mg |
Plant-based only
Vegan foods only. The list most people actually need.
| Food | Portion | Per portion |
|---|---|---|
| Soybeans | 120 g cooked | 490 mg |
| Tempeh | 100 g | 424 mg |
| Extra-firm tofu | 150 g | 340 mg |
| White beans | 150 g cooked | 333 mg |
| Lentils | 150 g cooked (1 cup) | 312 mg |
| Firm tofu | 150 g (half a block) | 307 mg |
Signs you might be short
Difficult to run short on if you eat protein in any form. Histidine is rarely the limiting line, and if AminoLens tells you it is, the likelier story is that your total protein is very low rather than that your mix is unusual.
Pairs well with
No special pairing logic. Fix your total protein and histidine follows.
See your histidine coverage
Photograph a meal and watch where the protein actually goes.
Analyse a meal