8. The Potato Problem
Reports of potato poisoning are uncommon, yet persistent incidents—particularly of mass poisonings ((“Horrific Tales of Potatoes That Caused Mass Sickness and Even Death”))—are reported...
11. The Autoimmune Plot Thickens— Tobacco and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Autoimmune diseases are poorly understood. The elevator pitch explanation is that your immune system gets confused and overactive, and then attacks your body—a very...
12. The Chemical Complexity and Relatedness of Other Nightshades
Tobacco is clearly the nightshade with the thickest rap sheet with respect to human health problems. Tobacco smoke is known to contain more than...
6. Norman Childers and the Anti-Arthritis Diet
During the peak of his professional life Norman Childers was an esteemed professor of horticulture, eighteen years the head of department at Rutgers University....
1. The Trouble With Nightshades. Maybe.
A Field Guide to the Curious Clues of Nightshade Sensitivity
My family has been cooking without potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers for 10 years now. I...
2. Nightshades—Just Side Effects?
Medical science doesn't yet fully recognize or understand nightshade sensitivity. With a little logical thinking, we can skip over this gap and still grasp...
9. The Lectin Hypothesis
Potatoes and other nightshade vegetables—and actually most vegetables—have yet another complicated class of molecular ingredient: lectins. These are proteins that bind to carbohydrates. Like...
Nightshade Sensitivity, a Nutritionist’s Perspective
Talking with Carolyn Denton, MA, LN
After years combing digestive health research and finding almost nothing about nightshade sensitivity, it was a relief to finally...
4. Glycoalkaloids & Tropane Alkaloids
Early chemical discoveries
Unknown to the ancients, some interesting chemistry underlies the mystical properties of nightshades. Glycoalkaloids are complex organic molecules that tend towards high...
7. The Complex Cost/Benefit Chemistry of Tomatoes
James Roddick produced much of the nightshade focused research of the 70s and 80s. Over the last 20 years the undisputed leader of nightshade...