I am not thirty yet. But in the last couple of years I have felt the occasional annoyance of joint pain, especially in my left knee. There is nothing that makes you feel more old than joint pain. But if I cut out a certain food group, it all magically goes away. Nightshades, which include peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes, can actually cause joint pain, or at least aggravate an inflamed condition. I am very thankful that I knew this, otherwise I would have definitely felt like I was 27 going on 100.
Why should you care about this? It’s likely that you enjoy eating these foods and can’t imagine that they are bad for you in any way. Well, if you suffer from inflammation, joint pain and cracking, avoiding nightshades will lessen your pain, whether or not the nightshades are the true source of the pain. Are you sensitive to weather changes? This can be an indication of nightshade sensitivity. Muscle pain and tightness, morning stiffness, poor healing, arthritis, insomnia and gall bladder problems—these can all be caused by nightshades. Nightshades can also cause heart burn or GERD—a lot of people already know they react this way when they eat peppers or tomatoes. Nightshades, Garret Smith
When I was reading Lark Rise to Candleford
What do you want to do if you want to see if nightshades are the root of your aches and pains?
Cut them out completely for 6 weeks and see if it improves. Just be careful that you cut all sources of nightshades from your diet!
The ones that concern us in the Western diet mainly include tomatoes, potatoes (not sweet potatoes or yams), eggplant and peppers—this means all peppers including chili peppers, habenero, cayenne pepper and paprika (not peppercorns, see sidebar). Paprika is a sneaky one, showing up in lots of flavoring mixes and often under “spices” on ingredient labels. Other nightshades include goji berries (the new darling of the antioxidant crowd), ashwagandha (an adaptogenic herb from Ayurvedic medicine), Cape gooseberries (not normal gooseberries), ground cherries and garden huckleberries (not blueberries). Nightshades, Garret Smith
Personally, I find that small amounts of nightshades cause no problem. It’s only when eating large amounts consistently that I start feeling it in my poor knee. So, I still eat nightshades right now, just not everyday.
Garret Smith also explains why some people may be more sensitive to nightshades.
But the real question is, why are some people more sensitive than others? Nutrient deficiencies certainly come into play. For example, if you don’t have enough magnesium, you will be more prone to calcinosis. Deficiency in vitamin D may exacerbate the problem. The speed at which one’s liver and kidneys detoxify these compounds plays a huge role, and this is dependent both on genetics and nutrition.
A key nutrient is vitamin K2—Dr. Price’s famous Activator X. I love this study on vitamin K2: The Effect of Vitamin K2 on Experimental Calcinosis. 18 They gave rats calcinosis by giving them way too much vitamin D2. D2 tends to cause calcinosis anyway. What did they find? A high dose of vitamin K2 suppressed experimental calcification of soft tissues induced by vitamin D2. So if you want to avoid problems with nightshades, be sure to eat goose liver, cheese, fatty grass-fed meats and pasture-fed butter—and take your butter oil.
Besides avoiding nightshades all together, you could also explore why you are sensitive to them, if that proves the case.
Has anyone else experienced a sensitivity to nightshades? Or, do you wonder if current stiffness and aches could be related?
Photo: photon_de/Flickr
Latest posts by KimiHarris (see all)
- 2 Ingredient Peppermint Bark - December 21, 2022
- Herbal Hibiscus Lemonade (Keto, THM) - March 16, 2022
- Creamy Curry Red Lentil Soup - December 8, 2021
I just began the PHD on 1/1/13 and am feeling like a new person, for the good in most ways, but have began this awful, joint/muscle/bone pain. Especially in my legs, I am a long distance runner and this is very frusterting. I think the nightshades maybe the problem because I rarely ate potates prior to beginning this diet. I am gonna try to eliminate them! If you know any other websites please let me know I am very interested in this.
Two weeks ago I stopped the most common nightshade veggies and fruits and have had wonderful results. Absolutely wonderful. I never felt mine was joint pain.. but instead unrelated pain that had nothing to do with any damage or reasonable issue with movement or illness. The pain would come and go seemily at random. It was responding to my having eaten certain items! And it did not hit right away. With some food items it seems it had to digest (maybe 24 hrs before i felt it) So I have been so successful with great result avoiding these allergens (to me) that I want to do research to make sure i remove possible hidden sources of these ingredients from my diet. Any help will be appreciated! This problem is real and I have so many issues, gastric reflux and I was eating BLAND potatoes to help myself and did not know why two days later I was at deaths door unable to sleep, sick sick at my gastric reflux and horrible nerve pain.
Thank you for this article it is very informative and pertinent, especially in a time where so many people are experiencing autoimmune conditions that continue to confuse modern doctors. If it were only that easy to ask people to cut out one ingredient in their diet for 6 weeks to see if they feel better! I have done it and I have seen miraculous changes. For many years (since adolescence) I have suffered from numerous conditions, TMJ, IC, Fibromyalgia, among others. If that was not bad enough I had severe bone loss in my right jaw and never got my 12 year molar on that side, nor did I get wisdom teeth. I am 33 years old now, and as you said I was feeling more like 100 years old with the amount of joint/muscle/connective tissue pain that I was in, plus I never slept because I was constantly going to the bathroom, my bladder was inflamed, the surrounding muscle tissue was stiff and the nerves were being affected.
I am so thankful that I tried this small change in my diet. After 6 weeks I am noticing that I am able to chew equally on my left and right side jaw, something I have never been able to do. I am sleeping more soundly, not getting up to go to the bathroom due to the pain of an inflamed bladder. I have more endurance when I exercise. I am better able to regulate my mood.
The bone loss issue in my case is something that really stands out. I have started taking Vitamin K2. I have also started a Facebook page for people that are interested in talking more about this. While this may not work for everyone, if it helps some people, I will be grateful. I also think that it shows an important point, modern medicine does not have all of the answers, sometimes we must look at the most mundane details of our lives to find balance and to restore health. I hope that everyone who suffers from chronic pain can find a simple answer. Life is not easy when it is experienced behind a wall of pain.
“Christina Cooks” says if you roast a red Pepper (blacken outside and pull skin off) it takes away the chemical that causes achy joints. I have RA – this works for me. I do this with all nightshades successfully
WOW I had o idea the term nightshade for produce n herbs. I do have spinal issues & inflammation of the joints I will be researching these nightdhade classed food items & see what happens… The recipe TOMATOELESS TOMATOE SAUCE will deffinately become a perfect replacement as all the ingredients are loved by me… Thanks for this article 🙂
Thanks for this article. It really made a lightbulb go off for me. When I would talk to others about food and nutrition I would say that I seemed to get aches in my back and one shoulder (weird, huh?) and knees when I ate certain foods. They would inevitably say they never heard of such a thing. Apparently I’ve been talking to the wrong people, LOL.
I used to also mention to people that I could eat all the apples, apple pie, and anything with apples in it and drink all the apple cider I wanted but if I drank any brand of apple juice I would have all-over muscle pain for days. Again, people would give me that look, like I was making it up or something. So it is really encouraging to have articles that explain and discuss these types of symptoms.
Dorita’s comment about “random pain” also struck a chord in me because sometimes the pain would show up right away and other times it would be the next morning.
Stephanie’s comment about roasting the red peppers is very encouraging also.
Thanks again.