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...
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...
Elimination Diets and Food Sensitivity
(A rough introduction to the intriguing, evolving, and sometimes controversial science of food sensitivity)
If you’re wary of elimination diets simply because of the word...
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...
5. James Roddick Explores Glycoalkaloids
For three decades beginning in 1970 James Roddick of the University of Exeter explored the biochemistry of nightshade glycoalkaloids. Beginning with alpha-tomatine in 1974,...
13. Pulling It All Together — A Nightshade Sensitivity Hypothesis
Back to the central question: Can humans suffer from nightshade sensitivity? I began this deep reading project because the evidence from my own family...
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....
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...
3. The History of Nightshades as Poisons
Only a few hundred years ago basic botanical knowledge was widespread. Before modern agriculture you had to know your plants if you were going...
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...