Page 49 - Spring2010

Why should you care about this? It’s likely eaten three times per day, in multiple combina-
that you enjoy eating these foods and can’t imag- tions. It’s very hard to avoid the nightshades,
ine that they are bad for you in any way. Well, believe me, it’s a lot of work! This can be easily
if you suffer from inflammation, joint pain and demonstrated by reading the menu at any res-
cracking, avoiding nightshades will lessen your taurant—nightshades have become ubiquitous.
pain, whether or not the nightshades are the true Nightshade sensitivity, in terms of the vigilance
source of the pain. Are you sensitive to weather needed to keep them out of the diet, is almost as
changes? This can be an indication of nightshade bad as gluten sensitivity!
sensitivity. Muscle pain and tightness, morning For those of you who think you have tried
stiffness, poor healing, arthritis, insomnia and “everything” for your arthritis pain, tried this
gall bladder problems—these can all be caused and tried that but haven’t tried avoiding night-
by nightshades. Nightshades can also cause heart shades—in my opinion, it’s something you
burn or GERD—a lot of people already know do need to try. I can tell you as a naturopathic
they react this way when they eat peppers or doctor that I have tried many different remedies
tomatoes. for my middle back pain. Nightshade avoidance
Like soy, most nightshades are relative new- got rid of 90 percent of it. If you’re one of those
comers to European/Western diets. The tomato people whose pain treatments (be it chiropractic,
came to North America in the very early eigh- acupuncture, laser, energy medicine, whatever!)
teenth century. It was termed the “love apple” provides only a day or two of relief, you’re quite
and grown first as an ornamental. That means possibly nightshade sensitive.
people grew it because it is pretty, yet they did A physical therapist once told me that if a
not eat it. Why did they not eat it? They thought patient isn’t responding to treatment, one of the
the tomato was poisonous. The leaves of the first things to consider is nightshade sensitiv-
nightshade family are indeed overtly poisonous ity—there is simply nothing else that anyone can
(livestock farmers know this well) and people do to help somebody in pain when nightshade
avoided the fruit as well. sensitivity is the cause—because once they eat
During a famine in 1782, Scottish high- some nightshades again, their pain will return as
landers complained of dropsy (an old term for it was before. Sad but true, as I have witnessed For those
edema or swelling, often associated with con- many times in my practice.
gestive heart failure) when they ate abundantly of you who
of potatoes. Russian prisoners of World War II CALCITRIOL IN NIGHTSHADES think you
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returned with advanced cases of dropsy, which The nightshades are considered a “calcino- have tried
was blamed on heavy potato consumption. An genic” plant; that is, they cause calcinosis, which
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old saying in New Hampshire in 1719 was that is a toxic calcification of soft tissues when eaten “everything”
the white potato shortened men’s lives. by animals. This happens because they contain for your
Eggplant was also first grown as an orna- calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D), the most arthritis pain,
mental, a decorative plant. It was not eaten until active form of vitamin D. Please note that cal-
relatively recent years in North America. Ac- citriol is not vitamin D (cholecalciferol). This is tried this and
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cording to Dr. Norman Childers, author of The an extremely important distinction, as you will tried that
Arthritis Diet, peoples of the Mediterranean area see. but haven’t
previously believed that the eggplant would cause In humans, calcitriol is normally the end
insanity if it was eaten daily for a month, in fact, product of vitamin D metabolism, so let me start tried avoiding
3 nightshades—
it had the nickname of “mad apple.” How many at the beginning. Cholecalciferol, or vitamin D ,
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foods that you eat have a reputation like that? is produced in the skin by the action of sunlight in my
It’s extremely easy to overdose on night- or can be consumed in food or supplements. In
shades in Western culture, especially if you are the liver, vitamin D is transformed into calcidiol opinion, it’s
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a foodie. Let’s say you have salsa on your eggs (25-hydroxycholecalciferol, the compound that something
at breakfast, potato salad at lunch, and eggplant we test in the blood as a measure of vitamin D you do need
with peppers along with other spicy dishes at status); then the kidneys transform calcidiol into
dinner. This is a large amount of nightshades, calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D). to try.

SPRING 2010 Wise Traditions 49