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Attack of the killer tomatoes

Vegetarian Times, Nov, 1998 by Lee Reilly

My sister says that I could relieve my arthritis if I avoid eating nightshade foods. What are those? And is she right?

Food's role in

aggravating arthritis (an umbrella term for more than 100 conditions involving joint inflammation that affects approximately 40 million Americans) is starting to be understood by healthcare practitioners. Several studies involving arthritis patients, including a 1991 study by the University of Oslo in Norway, determined that during fasts, arthritis symptoms disappear, leading researchers to conclude that the condition is exacerbated by particular foods.

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Other studies have focused on specific ones, namely animal products. The Atlanta-based Arthritis Foundation has begun publicizing studies that indicate a correlation between red meat consumption and arthritis pain. Diets rich in animal fats, according to Joseph Pizzorno, N.D., a naturopathic physician and president of Bastyr University in Bothell, Wash., stimulate production of pain and inflammation-producing hormones known as prostaglandins. Switching to a vegetarian diet reduces the volume of these prostaglandins in the body and decreases discomfort. "Dietary changes aimed at losing weight or eliminating animal fats and focusing on plant-based foods are likely to be associated with improvement in arthritis," says Michael Loes, M.D., director of the Arizona Pain Institute at the University of Arizona in Phoenix and coauthor of Arthritis: The Doctors' Cure (Keats Publishing, 1998).

But not all fruits and vegetables are considered beneficial for arthritis sufferers. Many alternative health practitioners believe that the Solcanacea family of nightshade plants, which includes tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, peppers and tobacco, may cause arthritis pain as well. No controlled studies have been done to demonstrate a connection, but anecdotal evidence seems to support the theory that nightshades contain vitamins and other chemicals that intensify arthritis symptoms.

Norman Childers, Ph.D., a professor of horticulture at the University of Florida in Gainesville, founder of the Arthritis Nightshades Research Foundation, and author of Arthritis: A Diet to Stop It (Horticultural Publications, 1995), began advocating a nightshade-free diet for arthritis sufferers in the 1970s after he reduced his own arthritic symptoms by cutting them out of his diet. He believes nightshade consumption overloads the body with vitamin D, which may cause "a gradual destruction of the bones and tendons," especially in areas previously stressed by injury. This deterioration can be a precursor to joint inflammation. (Childers also suggests limiting dairy products, which are frequently fortified with vitamin D.)

Another suspect: the druglike alkaloids, such as tomatine in tomatoes and nicotine in tobacco, that naturally occur in the nightshade plants. "These are cholinesterase inhibitors," Childers says. Cholinesterase is an important neurotransmitter that fosters full range of motion.

An additional theory holds that nightshades cause the body to deposit calcium in the joints, thereby causing extra wear, tear and pain, according to Ed Ecko, a macrobiotic counselor, teacher at the Becket, Mass.-based Kushi Institute and author of Macrobiotic Cooking for Everyone (Japan Publications, 1980).

A simple way to determine if nightshades are the source of your arthritis pain is to stop eating them and see what happens. "Elimination diets are the way to go because you cannot identify a specific allergen unless you take it out of your diet," Lees says. "Elimination diets really allow you to determine what the culprit is."

Joan Vogel, a Fairfax, Va.-based sculptor with crippling arthritis that prevented her from working, playing the piano, even hooking her own bra, found her pain evaporated when she gave up nightshades. "Before, when I'd stand up, I'd have to pause to recover from the pain. Then, one day, I noticed that I didn't have to pause anymore."

Lee Reilly is a freelance writer based in Chicago.

Attack of the killer tomatoes

Vegetarian Times, Nov, 1998 by Lee Reilly

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