Monash University update: tomato and bell pepper limited low FODMAP

After lowering the low FODMAP amounts for strawberries and grapes not so long ago, Monash University has released a new update. And unfortunately, again no good news.

The quantities for tomato and bell pepper have both been adjusted downwards after new research.

Monash University says on Instagram:

“We occasionally like to retest foods from the past, to ensure that the information we provide to app users is up-to-date. Our most recently re-terst foods were red and green capsicums/bell peppers and tomatoes (canned and fresh). Our app has since been updated with this new data. Click “clear cache” in the settings in the app to see these new results. 

We recently did this with grapes and strawberries and found there to be differences in previous results for a whole host of reasons. These include climate change, fertilisers, storage and selective breeding of crops. interestingly, on average, canned tomatoes were fairly similar from previous results. 

We are working hard behind the scenes here at Monash FODMAP to ensure you are provided with the most accurate FODMAP information, and will continue to be transparent with our findings. We wrote a blog that helps to explain more about how FODMAP content in food can change over time. 

You can read their blog about it here. 

What are the new serving sizes? 

It was previously stated for red peppers and tomatoes that these products were unlimitedly low FODMAP and that you could eat them freely without limits. It had already been indicated with bell peppers that they contain capsicum and that this can cause complaints in some people. 

Tomatoes

The new serving sizes are: 

• Tomato, regular, raw: 65 grams is low FODMAP. 75 grams is orange and 91 grams is red.
• Tomato, cherry, raw: 45 grams is low FODMAP. 60 grams is orange and 75 grams is red.
• Tomato, vine, raw: 69 grams is low FODMAP. 75 grams is orange and 93 grams is red.
• Tomato, whole from a can with juice: 100 grams is low FODMAP. 138 grams is orange and 186 grams is red.
• Canned tomato, roma / plum with juice: 100 grams is low FDOMAP. 190 grams is orange and 250 grams is red.

There is also roma tomato in the app, but it does not state whether it has had an update. So I’m not sure if these quantities are up to date:

• Tomato, roma: 75 grams is low FODMAP. 250 grams is orange and 300 grams is red.

Bell pepper

The new quantities for bell peppers are:

• Bell pepper, red, raw: 43 grams is low FODMAP, 57 grams is orange and 75 grams is red.
• Bell pepper, green, raw: 75 grams is low FODMAP, 250 grams is orange and 310 grams is red.

Yellow and orange bell peppers have not been tested, so no quantities are known. 

What does this mean for you? 

Do you have the idea that tomatoes and/or bell peppers have bothered you? Then it is smart to stick to the above amounts and see if this reduces your complaints.

Do you always eat peppers and tomatoes without any problems? Then you can just keep doing that. Don’t unnecessarily restrict the things you eat if you don’t have to!

Recipes on Karlijn’s Kitchen

I now have hundreds of recipes on the blog and many of them contain tomato and/or bell pepper. Because it is impossible to change all these recipes in the short term, I have decided to add comments for now that the quantities have changed. So that you as a fodmapper are aware of this.

It takes me a lot of time to do this for all recipes, so keep in mind that you can still come across information in blogs that is not correct for now. 

If you come across something like this somewhere, you will help me enormously if you indicate this by commenting under this blog or sending an email to karlijn@karlijnskitchen.com. Then I will adjust it as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding :)