Nightshade vegetables are tomatoes, potatoes, green and red peppers and eggplant. A few rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (1-2%) say they feel better if they eliminate these nightshade foods from their diet. Can there be anything to this claim?

Maybe!

Nightshade plants contain solanine. In large amounts, solanine is toxic. It can affect heart rate and blood pressure. It can also cause drowsiness and sweating. In smaller amounts solanine can cause headache, nausea, and a gastrointestinal upset that can last several days. Green tomatoes and the green "eyes" and skin of potatoes contain the most solanine. In potatoes, solanine is created when a harvested crop is exposed to light. Light stimulates the production of chlorophyll. Solanine is a byproduct of this process. Solanine can be avoided by simply paring away the "eyes" and green skin of potatoes and by avoiding the other plants when they are unripe. With these precautions, most people are not bothered by these foods. But what about people with RA? Should they completely avoid the nightshade vegetables? Some people think so.

Certainly, it can't hurt RA patients to stay away from nightshade foods. There are plenty of other vegetables to choose from! It's not so easy to completely avoid nightshade veggies, however. Catsup, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and other common American foods contain nightshade plants, especially tomatoes.

References

First published April 1, 2000
Last updated December 16, 2002
Copyright © 2000 Accordant Health Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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