The Low Deuterium Food List: Which Foods Are Reported Highest and Lowest

Yavelle Journal · Diet & Lifestyle · 7 min read

This guide is the practical companion to our other deuterium articles. It explains where deuterium sits in food and gives you a clear high-versus-low list. As always, this is general educational information, not medical or dietary advice, and any significant change to how you eat should suit your own health needs and be discussed with a qualified practitioner.

Why Food Carries Deuterium at All

Deuterium is a naturally occurring heavy isotope of hydrogen, present in all water and, through the water cycle, in all living things. Plants take up that water and build it into the molecules they make. Researchers have proposed that deuterium ends up unevenly distributed between those molecules, and published measurements of foods follow a broad pattern: foods that are mostly sugar and starch tend to be reported higher in deuterium than foods that are mostly fat.

That is broadly why a sweet fruit or a starchy potato is reported high on the deuterium scale, while a leafy green or a spoon of olive oil is reported low. Reported figures put staples such as wheat flour around 150 parts per million (ppm), sugar around 146ppm and potato around 142ppm, in the same range as ordinary drinking water (Répás et al., 2025). Reported values vary by source, season and growing region, so treat them as approximate.

The Low Deuterium Food List

A rough summary of the reported values: fat and leaves are reported low, sugar and starch are reported high. The closer a food is to pure fat, the lower the reported deuterium; the sweeter or more starchy it is, the higher.

How This Connects to Our Recipes

You will find this principle running through the Yavelle recipe collection, where each dish is built from ingredients reported lower in deuterium. The food list above is the logic behind those recipes, so once it clicks you can see how any recipe was put together.

Food and Water Together

Diet and deuterium-depleted water are two sides of the same arithmetic rather than alternatives. Both food and drinking water carry deuterium, so people interested in their overall dietary intake tend to look at both.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which foods are lowest in deuterium?
Fats and oils such as coconut, olive and avocado, grass-fed animal fats, eggs and fatty fish, and non-starchy green vegetables. Foods with less sugar and starch are generally reported lower in deuterium.

Which foods are highest in deuterium?
Sugars, refined carbohydrates, grains, starchy roots and sweet fruits. Reported values include wheat flour around 150ppm and sugar around 146ppm, close to ordinary water.

Do people combine it with DDW?
Commonly, yes, because drinking water and food are the two dietary sources of deuterium. Whether to do so is a personal choice, and worth discussing with a qualified practitioner if you have any health condition.

Do I have to avoid all fruit and carbs?
No. The figures above describe the composition of foods, not a set of rules, and nothing here is a recommendation to eliminate a food group. Tailor any major change to your own health needs and professional advice.

References

1. Répás, Győri, Buzás-Bereczki, & Boros. (2025). The biological effects of deuterium present in food. Discover Food, 5, 57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44187-025-00327-4

This article is for educational purposes and describes the reported deuterium content of foods. Reported deuterium values vary by source and growing region and should be treated as approximate. It does not constitute medical or dietary advice.

• Our low deuterium recipe series