What if the vegetables that you've been avoiding because they cause inflammation are actually

anti-inflammatory?

Today, we're clearing up a persistent nutrition myth about nightshade vegetables, a category

that includes some super nutritious options that you don't want to avoid if you don't need to,

and you probably don't want to avoid if you don't need to, and you probably don't.

Welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast, where we take a closer look at nutrition news,

research, and trends, so that you can feel more confident about what you eat. I'm your

host, Monica Reinagle, and today we're talking about nightshade vegetables, a topic that I get

a lot of questions about. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplant all belong to a botanical family known as the nightshades.

And depending on which corner of the internet you land in, you might hear that these vegetables

are a hidden cause of joint pain or digestive issues or inflammation.

This concern over night shades as a potential source of inflammation

gained traction in the 1980s, and it was largely due to a horticulturalist named Norman Childers,

who claimed that eliminating nightshades dramatically improved his arthritis symptoms. And he went on to collect

thousands of anecdotal reports from others who said the same. These reports were based on

personal experiences, not controlled scientific studies. And as we'll see, more recent and rigorous

research paints a very different picture.

The plants that are popularly referred to as nightshades belong to a large family of plants

called solenaceae. And they're called that because they contain a naturally occurring

alkaloid called solanine. This compound actually acts

as a natural insect repellent, protecting the plant from marauding aphids and beetles and other pests.

In addition to tomatoes and potatoes, although not sweet potatoes, that's a totally different family, but also

...