Nightshade Plants: Good or Bad? Potatoes, Pepper, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Tobacco, Wolfberry, Belladonna

Some nightshade plants are poisonous, others are renowned for their healing and restorative properties.

What is a Nightshade?

Nightshade is a term used to describe the Solanaceae family of plants. Solanaceae includes the famous psychoactive "deadly nightshade" or belladonna, as well as some of the most common edible plants. Members of the nightshade family include:

Problem Nightshades

Holistic practitioners often recommend avoiding nightshades in the diet, especially to patients suffering from arthritis or other types of pain and inflammation.

"Foods from the nightshade family tend to exacerbate any inflammatory conditions you might have," says Tom Woloshyn in The Complete Master Cleanse (2007). "They may also cause headaches and trigger migraines in some people."

The nightshades most often warned against are tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes and eggplant. Avoiding tobacco, another nightshade, goes without saying in health-conscious circles.

Nightshades, Inflammation and Pain

How and why do nightshades contribute to inflammation and pain? Nightshade plants are known for producing a range of alkaloid chemicals, which may be toxic – from irritating to lethal. These chemicals can also contribute to allergic reactions.

As a group, nightshades have a bad reputation in alternative health circles and many practitioners recommend avoiding tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant, or eliminating them from the diet entirely – especially if you are seeking to eliminate chronic pain symptoms or headaches.

Healthy Nightshades

Despite their bad name, there are two nightshades renowned for their nutritional healing properties: wolfberries and cayenne pepper.

Cayenne

Ground from the pods and seeds of capsicum peppers, cayenne is recommended by herbologists and healers as a catalyst. It breaks down mucus and toxins, warms the body, boosts metabolism, and increases the strength of other herbs it is combined with. (Woloshyn, 2007)

Cayenne pepper is one of only four ingredients in the master cleanse, a liquid monodiet used to cleanse the body of stored toxins, inflammation, and to boost energy and vitality.

Wolfberries

One of the three most famous healing plants in China, wolfberries have only recently been brought to North America, where they have swept across the wellness market.

The berries, especially the variety grown in Ningxia (the Ningxia wolfberry), are famous for their high content of protein, vitamins and minerals and for their ability to aid in fighting almost any disease condition.

Wolfberries have been researched for their ability to boost energy, strengthen the pancreas and reverse diabetes, and to reduce cancerous tumors – all due to the long wolfberry polysaccharides (complex sugars). (Young, Lawrence and Schreuder, 2005)

Both cayenne and wolfberries, however, are the exception to the nightshade rule: Neither has significant toxicity and despite warnings about other nightshades, both wolfberries and cayenne pepper are universally recommended for health.

Reference

Young, Gary, Ronald Lawrence and Marc Schreuder, Discovery of the Ultimate Superfood. Essential Science Publishing, 2005.

The copyright of the article Nightshade Plants: Good or Bad? in Holistic Nutrition is owned by Victoria Anisman-Reiner. Permission to republish Nightshade Plants: Good or Bad? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Sep 10, 2008 6:07 AM

Guest :

I have been suffering for almost one year with my left ankle. The ankle was swollen to over twice its normal size. The Mri showed it was inflamed tru the intire joint, bone, and bone marrow. The condition was extremely painful. Inflamatory medicine, gout medicine, and meds to supress by immune system were not working. I read about the chance that the nightshade plants could be a possible link. I normally eat those plants 2-3 times a day, (pizza, salsa, hash browns, cocktail sauce, etc). I stopped eating the nightshade plants one week ago, within 12 hours most of the pain was gone from my ankle and swelling diminished. This is the conclusion of one week and my ankle looks normal and pain level is very low, also I have not had one migraine headache during this test period. I have suffered from migraine since before I was 8 yrs old and I will be 52 in a couple of weeks. You dont know the joy I am feeling to have this nightmare ending. I could barely walk every step was agony compounded with migraine headaches. This year the doctor bills have exceeded over 12,000 with the ankle. I feel like I have a new lease on life.

Jan 28, 2009 12:16 PM

Guest :

"This year the doctor bills have exceeded over 12,000 with the ankle." Too bad that more people cannot see that this is precisely why the conventional medical establishment does not want people to know that they can cure (and prevent) themselves of many, if not mostly all ailments they may encounter. The medical industry would come to a screeching halt if this were to happen. I feel sorry that you were duped out of all this money. However, I am happy that you finally learned how you could help yourself for free simply by eliminating a few key foods from your diet! (~_~)

Apr 8, 2009 1:04 PM

Guest :

I have been avoiding the nightshades for years now.I recently started taking turmeric capsules 800 mg per dose 2 to 3 times per day which has helped my wrist and thumbs.I also soak blond raisins in cheap gin on the counter for a week until all gin is absorbed. The raisins do NOT taste like gin but are sweet and wonderful.I take 12 or so in morning & in evening depending on how I am feeling.I have done this for years & it has been a huge help.They can be kept on the counter in a plastic container. The raisins have helped with the arthritis in my fingers. When I first found out about nightshade foods, I only had to eliminate potatoes from my diet. Later tomatoes started to make my wrists feel like something was ripping inside them every time I moved. I have a horse so it was impossible to live with that. The turmeric has really taken care of that particular pain. Don't know why the raisins work on one thing and the turmeric works in another. If someone knows, please let me know. What is it that the nightshades have in common that they cause arthritis pain? Thanks.

Sep 11, 2009 12:14 AM

Guest :

I have eczema and the nightshades make it worse. I really have not tested all the nightshades to be doubly sure, but I am positive that just being around cigarette smoke makes it worse. Also peppers, even cayenne pepper, make it worse. A friend of mine who also has eczema has told me that she definitely cannot eat peppers or tomatoes. When I realized that nightshades can be harmful for people with eczema or psoriasis, I cut them out of my diet. My eczema has been slowly improving.

Sep 14, 2009 10:14 AM

Guest :

The nightshade family is not bad as a whole, but overall could be considered good. From the potatoe to tomatoe you will get certain healing substances like lycopene that increase longevity. Even mandrake(if prepared properly has amazing benefits to the human mind). Only tobacco and belladonna are the bad seeds of the nightshade family.