Domino's Cheese Pizza

Yes, a Domino's Cheese Pizza is high in histamine. The tomato-based pizza sauce is a histamine liberator and rates high, and the pizza cheese sits high as well, so the two toppings that define the pizza are the two that push it up.

Why domino's cheese pizza is rated high

Domino's publishes three components for this pizza: hand tossed crust, pizza sauce, and pizza cheese. The crust is wheat flour, which scores only moderate. The problem is what goes on top of it. Pizza sauce is a cooked tomato sauce, and tomato is one of the classic histamine liberators: it can prompt the body to release its own stored histamine, which is why a pizza that comes out of the oven hot and fresh can still set someone off. Cheese is the other half. Cheese is milk that has been cultured and ripened, and that process tends to leave histamine behind, so the pizza cheese adds a second high source. The combination of a liberator sauce and a cultured cheese is what lands a plain cheese pizza at high, even with nothing else on it.

What changes your risk

• The sauce is the liberator — pizza sauce is tomato-based, and tomato can trigger your own histamine release, which is why freshness out of the oven does not change the rating.
• The cheese brings its own histamine — pizza cheese is cultured dairy, and culturing and ripening are the processes that tend to build histamine, so the cheese contributes regardless of how it is baked.
• The crust is the mild part — hand tossed crust is wheat flour and rates moderate, so it is not what makes this pizza high.
• Baking does not clear it — heat kills bacteria but does not remove histamine that already formed in the cheese, and it does nothing to the liberator effect of the tomato sauce.
• Sitting in the box after baking — the cheese is a protein-rich dairy food, so a pizza held warm for a long stretch can, depending on handling, run a bit higher than one eaten right away; the sauce and cheese set the level either way.

Lower-histamine alternatives

A cheese pizza is a cheese-and-tomato food, and there is no lower-histamine pizza at Domino's in the published facts to swap in. The lower-rated items at Domino's are Plain Chicken Wings, Potato Tots, and Onions. They do not stand in for a pizza, but they are the choices on the menu that avoid both the liberator sauce and the cultured cheese.

How to lower the risk

Domino's publishes this as a fixed recipe of hand tossed crust, pizza sauce, and pizza cheese, with nothing listed as removable, so ordering it means ordering both of the high components. If you are ordering for a histamine-intolerant person, the options this index can point to are the Plain Chicken Wings and Potato Tots, and Onions if you want something from the topping list on the side. If you do go ahead with the pizza, eat it as soon as it arrives rather than letting the cheese sit warm in the box.

Common questions

Is Domino's cheese pizza high in histamine even with no meat on it?

Yes. The histamine sources here are the tomato-based pizza sauce, which is a liberator, and the cultured pizza cheese. Meat toppings would add more, but the plain cheese pizza already rates high on its own.

Why is pizza sauce a problem if it is cooked?

Tomato is a histamine liberator, meaning it can trigger your body to release its own stored histamine. Cooking does not change that, and it also does not remove histamine already present in the cheese.

Is the crust itself a histamine issue?

Not much. The hand tossed crust is wheat flour and rates moderate, so it is the mildest of the three published components. The sauce and cheese set the level.

What can I get at Domino's that is lower in histamine?

Among the items this index can point to, Plain Chicken Wings, Potato Tots, and Onions are the lower-rated choices at Domino's.