Anyone Know About Nightshade Vegetables?

[Ellie11]

hi! ive been gluten free for about a year and a half. previously to working out that was the probablem i was extreemly unwell, losing about 20kg and almost having to be hositalised for malnurishment, despite eating 3000 calories a day! anyway that is all better now and i am a healthy weight however I still occcasionally get bad stomach aches, a swolen belly and bad gas. i just read that nighshade vegetables (pepper, tomato, eggplant etc) can upset people who are celiac since the leptins(or something..) in them are a similar structure to gluten.

Im not sure if this is true and if its worth testing out a diet free from them as well as gluten.

Has anyone also heard this/have this problem?

anyother ideas of what could be causing this continued problem would also be really appriciated!

Thanks!

[mushroom]

hi! ive been gluten free for about a year and a half. previously to working out that was the probablem i was extreemly unwell, losing about 20kg and almost having to be hositalised for malnurishment, despite eating 3000 calories a day! anyway that is all better now and i am a healthy weight however I still occcasionally get bad stomach aches, a swolen belly and bad gas. i just read that nighshade vegetables (pepper, tomato, eggplant etc) can upset people who are celiac since the leptins(or something..) in them are a similar structure to gluten.

Im not sure if this is true and if its worth testing out a diet free from them as well as gluten.

Has anyone also heard this/have this problem?

anyother ideas of what could be causing this continued problem would also be really appriciated!

Thanks!

Count me in the camp of the nightshade intolerant. I had always suspected green peppers and avoided dishes like fajitas, etc., but was not truly a believer (my favorite side dish used to be ratatouille, forevvvins sake). Because I have psoriatic arthritis the bulk of the evidence seemed to suggest that these were inflammatory foods and best avoided, so I did a gradual withdrawal from them. A couple of months ago, on a couple of occasions, I had half of my husband's baked potato. Each time I awoke at about 4:00 a.m. itching like crazy. Okay, so no more potatoes. But wait, that means (as I started to think about it) no more potato starch flour (ouch!!). So once I cut that out, all my residual itchies which I had been promising myself I would track down and eliminate some day) went away. Yeay!! But that now means no gluten, soy or potato flour (again, ouch!!)

Positive side to this story: We have locally in Christchurch a gluten free bakery. Wonderful place, but they use potato starch in their flour mix for all their baked goods. So I went in today having just returned from U.S. to buy some bread for my husband and explained how, reluctantly, I would not be consuming any of their products any more. Wendy was very sweet and asked which bread I liked; I told her the buckwheat. She went and talked to the bakers and they are going to make a batch of "Neroli bread" (after experimentation) without the potato flour, and freeze it for me so that when I can get in there next and subsequently I can have my own special "Neroli bread"! Are these nice folks or what????

But back to your question: they are not called the deadly night shades on a whim; they are really not good for those who are especially susceptible to them (and maybe not so good for others either, I don't know.) I would never have discovered the problem if I had not challenged myself with those baked potatoes.

[txplowgirl]

Hi Ellie11,

Yes maam, I have a problem with nightshade vegetables.

Have always had a problem with bell peppers. Stomach pain very bad, jalapeno peppers and paprika give me bloating and D bad. Potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant cause my joints to hurt really bad as well as extreme fatigue. Baked potatoes are my favorite food. I would eat at least 4 to 5 a week and I wonder why I always hurt and felt tired.

When I learned about the gluten and food allergies that's when I learned about my bakers. Took them all out and Oh man, I think that made me more upset than finding out about the gluten.

[boysmom]

i just read that nighshade vegetables (pepper, tomato, eggplant etc) can upset people who are celiac since the leptins(or something..) in them are a similar structure to gluten.

Wow, I'm new to this and this is news to me, anyone have a link that explains this connection? I'd read that some celiac/gluten sensitive folks also had other food sensitivities but hadn't heard of a connection based on similarity of the makeup of the foods.

I've been avoiding gluten since the beginning of June. In the past I've had some d crop up after eating green peppers and had just come to the conclusion that I was reacting to the wax the grocery used to shine them up. It didn't seem to happen every time I ate them, and sometimes it happened even after I thought they were thoroughly washed, but I just assumed I hadn't really gotten it all off.

Early in the process of learning to eat gluten-free I had decided one day to eat a plate of zucchini and eggplant slices with grated cheddar cheese melted on top. I was SICK!! I blamed the wax again, assuming they'd shined up the eggplant.

Since I've been gluten free the joint pain and inflammation that were a constant part of my life had virtually disappeared. I had noticed that when I ate potatoes I had stomach bloating and joint inflammation again, so decided to avoid nightshades for a while to see what happened. I'd already stopped eating hot peppers (cayenne, jalepenos, etc) because of esophagitis and reflux that started this journey for me. I have found that potatoes do cause bloating and inflammation when I eat them in large quantities (like for a main course) but a small side once or twice a week, or a slice of bread made with potato flour hasn't been too bad. Tomatoes don't seem to cause the bloating but still cause me to retain water and joints to inflame a bit if used in large quantities or often.

I am wondering now whether this is an emerging sensitivity that will grow worse like the gluten has, or whether it's a temporary one that may abate as my body adjusts to being gluten-free, so I'd be very interested in reading information on the science of any connection.

Thanks for brining the question up!