Certain studies show that vegetables in the nightshade family cause some people to experience pain and or make their arthritis worse. Even though nightshades are some of the most popular foods around the world and nightshade vegetables are considered healthy, can they actually be bad for your health?
There are different schools of thought when it comes to what foods are healthy or unhealthy for us. Since not everyone is alike, some foods can cause health problems for one person and not in another. I have wondered about nightshades considering macrobiotics teaches us not to eat any nightshades.
List of Nightshade Vegetables
The list of nightshade vegetables is a long list of popular foods that include:
- Peppers (Except black pepper or peppercorn, they are not nightshades).
- Tomatoes
- Potatoes (Sweet potatoes and yams are not considered nightshades).
- Eggplant
- Tomatillos
- Garden huckleberry
- Pimentos
- Tabasco sauce
- Paprika
- Cayenne
- Goji berries
The History of Nightshades
Nightshades are considered New World plants since they weren’t discovered until the Americas were discovered, so they are fairly new to humans as food. Nightshades were first found and introduced to humans in the 16th century and at that time, most of them were only grown for ornamental purposes and most thought they were all poisonous to eat. Nightshade vegetables were considered a poison and tobacco was once used as a pesticide. Most if not all of the leaves of nightshade plants are poisonous. Jimsonweed, a very poisonous plant to both animals and humans is also part of the nightshade family.
Before the 1600s, nightshades like belladonna, mandrake, henbane, and thorn apple were restricted to medical purposes only as a sedative, anesthetic and some used them for witchcraft. Armies and warriors used them as a poison against their enemies.
Why Nightshade Vegetables Could be Bad for Our Health
Nightshades contain alkaloids. Alkaloids in plants are a part of the plant's defense system that protects the plants from insects eating them. Though, when I think of all the bugs on my tomato plants some summers, I wonder about this.
There are health problems that have been associated with nightshades, especially in people who are sensitive to nightshade vegetables and fruits. The list of health problems includes:
- Arthritis is the most common health problem talked about in relation to nightshade foods
- Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis
- Aches, pains and joints popping
- Chronic pain
- Acne
- IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
- Headaches and migraines
- Gout
- Acid reflux
- GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease) can especially be caused by tomatoes
- Crohn’s disease
- Autoimmune diseases
- Eczema, especially in children can be cleared up by avoiding nightshades
- Psoriasis, cystitis and lupus symptoms can be relieved by avoiding nightshades
- Chronic fatigue
- Delayed healing of muscle, tissue and bone healing
I've read stories from people with arthritis, aches, and pains, joint popping, and arthritis say that they have felt better after eliminating all nightshades from their diet for 6-12 weeks. Most doctors say it can take up to six months of complete avoidance of nightshade foods.
It does appear that potatoes (not yams or sweet potatoes) seem to be the worst of the nightshade foods when it comes to health problems. When you think about how popular the white potato is in our diets with all kinds of potato side dishes, potato chips and French fries with ketchup, maybe there is something to this.
When avoiding nightshades foods completely, you also have to be aware of the nightshades as ingredients in foods, like mustard and some foods that list “spices” since that could mean paprika.
Survey of Nightshades and Arthritis
A book was published that included the “No Nightshade Diet” in it. The book included a post card so a survey could be done with 434 volunteers returning the survey card. The volunteers, age 20-80 had been diagnosed with some form of arthritis.
Quitting Smoking and Nightshades
Some doctors who advise people about how to quit smoking tell them they should not eat nightshade vegetables because all nightshades have some amount of nicotine in them [3].
Food Alternatives to Nightshades
Nightshades are such a huge part of our daily diets and taste good, so they are not easy to give up. If you do suffer from any of the above health conditions, it could be well worth giving them up for at least three months to find out if your health problems go away.
Alternatives to potatoes can be sweet potatoes. Sweet potato fries are very good as are mashed sweet potatoes. Mashed cauliflower is healthy and tastes good.
Giving up tomatoes is not easy. There is a product called Nomato that contains no tomatoes in their products. They make alternatives to ketchup, barbeque sauce and marinara sauce.
If nightshades do bother you but only mildly, try cooking the nightshade vegetables which can lessen the effects of the alkaloid content by up to 50%.
Nightshades Conclusion
There are not many studies about nightshades and our health, but there seems to be enough real-life stories concerning nightshade vegetables and certain health problems.
It could be the alkaloids in nightshades or it could be that some people have a bad reaction to nightshade vegetables and fruits much like some people have intolerances to wheat and gluten.
If you do have any of the above health conditions, it could be worth it to avoid all nightshades for several months and see if your conditions improve.
About the Author
Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Copyright © 2012-2019 Sam Montana
Resources:
[2] NoArthritis - An Apparent Relation of Nightshades (Solanaceae) to Arthritis by N.F. Childers, Ph.D., and M.S. Margoles, M.D. Journal of Neurological and Orthopedic Medical Surgery (1993) 12:227-231
[3] American Chemical Society (ACS) – Nicotine Amounts in Nightshade Foods
