I have heard that some foods containing salicylates are not excluded from the Feingold diet. Why?
There have been a few different studies of salicylates over the years, and they do not always agree. The amount of salicylate in apples, for example, not only depends on the variety of apple, but also on where it was grown. Experience has shown that while fresh pineapple contains salicylate, canned pineapple is well tolerated by most members. It is, therefore, allowed on Stage One. On the other hand, while cranberries do not contain salicylate, but rather benzoate (a related chemical), they are often not well tolerated, and so in recent years they have been excluded during Stage One. Certainly, more research is needed to determine why the relative amounts of salicylate do not necessarily determine which foods are best tolerated by an individual. There may even be another important but unrecognized chemical that “travels with” salicylate or interacts with it. Meanwhile, the list of foods eliminated on Stage One as salicylates follows the recommendations of the best currently available r
