{"id":654516,"date":"2026-05-20T14:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/654516\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:13:19","slug":"debunking-the-shade-against-nightshade-vegetables-and-inflammation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/654516\/","title":{"rendered":"Debunking the shade against nightshade vegetables and inflammation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nightshade veggies and fruits are loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants, which neutralize harmful, unstable molecules called free radicals that can cause oxidative stress and damage to cells and other vital structures inside the body; consuming high amounts of antioxidants from food can reduce chronic inflammation in the body<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So where did the idea that it\u2019s harmful to consume nightshades come from? The answer is based on misinformation and erroneous assumptions about certain compounds they contain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been frustrating to me over the years why nightshades have been such a persistent concern,\u201d says Nate Wood, an assistant professor of medicine and director of culinary medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. \u201cLike all vegetables, nightshade vegetables are good for us and they lower inflammation. Like all foods, some people may have specific intolerances to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are nightshades\u2014and how did they get their bad reputation?<\/p>\n

Nightshades are from the Solanaceae\u00a0plant family, which includes more than 2,400 flowering plants<\/a>. It\u2019s a diverse family of plants\u2014some edible and some not\u2014that includes chili peppers, goji berries, tomatillos, pepino melons, spices derived from peppers like paprika or cayenne, and even tobacco. (Although potatoes are nightshades, sweet potatoes are not.)<\/p>\n

Many nightshades contain small amounts of nitrogen-based compounds called alkaloids, such as solanine, which protect the plants<\/a> from insects, fungi, and other threats to their survival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nightshade veggies and fruits are loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants, which neutralize harmful, unstable molecules called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97,282305,5003,282304,282301,282306,282302,282303,282307],"class_list":["post-654516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-how-to-reduce-inflammation-in-the-body","tag-inflammation","tag-inflammation-diet","tag-nightshade","tag-nightshade-plants","tag-nightshade-vegetables","tag-nightshades","tag-what-foods-cause-inflammation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}