I've pretty much noted that over the past 4 months, I invariable get a headache after eating apples. I bought some today to see if it still held true, and as usual, got a headache right after.

I always eat organic ones from Whole Foods, can't remember the type of apple.

Without criticizing whole foods or the relative merits of organic produce, has anyone heard of headaches from apples?

I've noticed some claim pectin helps with mercury issues... Could it be related to this? I don't think it's a sugar issue; I ate cake yesterday and was fine.

It's sonly since I had some health 'event' in January that I've noticed this.

Funny that you said that. I noticed this morning that I got a headache after eating an apple. Hope that someone posts that might have some helpful info on this.

intolerances to food or could be sugar related.

That is strange. It could well be an allergy, or as you suggest the pectin may have something to do with it too. No it won't be the sugar if you do ok eating cake!

What are you like eating tomatoes, cucumbers, etc? because some apples are very high in salicylate which is some kind of natural chemical present in certain fruits/vegetables and can cause a real reaction.

It's interesting that you mentioned this because I used to have something like that that occured when I ate an apple also and I think it was that chemical that did it. I also had amalgams at the time, so I wondered if mercury may have had something to do with Salicylate sensitivity or something or yes the pectin possibly increasing some kind of detox reactions.
It's strange I'll say that. Sometimes you don't know if it's a detox reaction or a genuine allergic reaction.

If it's organic, then it's certainly nothing that is ON the fruit. So whatever that apple contains, must set things off.

It could also be certain types of apples perhaps.

You could try another high fructose fruit or something high in it. I believe the pathway for it is the liver. So maybe your liver does not like it, I think a few headeaches can be contributed to issues with your liver but thats a personal opinion.

I know apple pectin influences the gall bladder and liver and apples are reccomended to eat before doing a liver flush to encourage the body to release more stones the next day. I believe it increases bile production--which helps in pushing out the stones.


Possibly, your liver or gallbladder is a bit congested and the apple pectin is actually doing it's "stuff" for those organs- but the congestion is causing the headache.

It is true that headaches are a detox symptom, and occur when one isn't getting enough fluids to flush the toxins released from detoxing out. I've had this happen to me also.

Maybe the pectin in the apples is pushing out toxins, or even stones---probably in the liver, gallbladder area-- but your body isn't able to release them efficiently. Even if you have had your gallbladder taken out- there are still gallbladder stones pocketed in the liver area of most of us.

Wow- I just found this interesting paragraph from another post here from a Doctor that was quoted:

Another important point worthy of mention here is that, before we start to mobilise any toxin from the body we must make sure that the exit gates, i.e. excretion channels, are open, otherwise we will have a problem. This means work on supporting the liver, the colon and on the kidneys."


This is what I was trying to say-- One of the symptoms if toxins being immobilized but not being able to exit properly is a migraine or any other type of headache. Apple Pectin is very cleansing and detoxifying- especially to the liver.

I concur. I always get a headache when I am constipated. Though I am rarely constipated these days because I learned from you all how to use flax seed meal in preference to fiber.

Works wonderfully and very good for us all too. I read somewhere that flax seed has something in it called lignens or lingens or something like that... anyway on top of everything else supposedly it also helps clear excess estrogen like toxins from your system. I do know it's top of the list for things I have found that help make me feel real good. The regularity helps in that also.

Of course I prepped well with a couple colonics a month or so ago, am probably due for another.

I love apples. No headaches here from them. I do sometimes get a delayed reaction from too much sugar, headaches a day or two afterward. i stay away from sugar. Of course that bottle of homemade wine my neighbor gave me last week was probably loaded with it and would explain the headache I suffered for 2-3 days afterward.

Apples stimulate the release of bile along with liver toxins.

I would experiment and take Algin 6 hours and then 3 hours before eating an apple and see if the effect is minimized. If so, the headache may be the effect of reabsorbed heavy metals in the intestines.

This type of headache could also be caused by a simple sugar low. Try taking GTF Chromium 30 minutes before eating an apple and see if the effect is minimized. If so, this may indicate a hyper-insulin condition. (Don't use chromium picolinate. It is useless for most people.)