Every summer we eat tons of fresh tomatoes, enjoying all the varieties and colors. We prefer them mostly cut up on a plate with drizzled olive oil, salt, garlic powder and fresh basil. But after about 4-5 weeks my husband complains of joint stiffness and some pain and has to cut back. This year is especially bad as he has a new knee since April and bone on bone in the other one. Suddenly the stiffness became really acute and he had a major set back in his daily walking routine. We attributed it to weather, tomatoes and eggplant. After stopping the tomatoes he is improving.
Have any of you tomato lovers experienced problems with too much nightshade, which is known to exacerbate arthritis? It is very sad for him (he’s 84) because I am harvesting some real beauties still like the best Midnight Sun ever and some late producing large Italian red ones which he can only eye lovingly and regret!
Any solutions for this besides abstinence?

Interesting. My 89yo mom has been complaining of pain and fatigue more than normal for the last couple of months, which coincides with the tomato glut. We've been assuming it's just age, poor sleep quality, humid weather, and maybe the medicines she has to take. Hard to sort out what exactly is causing problems when you get older. Maybe I'll suggest she try a break from tomatoes for a week or so. Or we'll pay attention to whether things improve when tomatoes end in another month (although weather will have changed by then also). I hope your husband's pain continues to improve, and that maybe he'll be able to reintroduce tomatoes to his diet in smaller quantities later. Sometimes that's possible with dietary sensitivities.

Personally I haven't noticed an increase in arthritis pain or any other pain, but digestive issues that were a problem last summer and went away over the winter have returned, coinciding with tomato season. I think I have my answer on that one.

Personally I haven't noticed an increase in arthritis pain or any other pain, but digestive issues that were a problem last summer and went away over the winter have returned, coinciding with tomato season. I think I have my answer on that one.

Yeah, I do notice more stomach issues on the days when I eat too many fresh tomatoes. Snacking on cherries while working outside, and then generous helpings of raw tomatoes during meals will do it to me. It's hard to limit to one small helping a day though, when the tomato season is in full swing. I have not noticed my arthritis acting up more than normal, except in my finger joints this summer. I put that down to old age and heredity, both my mom and sister had very gnarled hands due to arthritis in later years. I already have two knee replacements and one shoulder replacement due to arthritis and bone on bone. Sometimes I wonder if I am starting to feel deterioration in my "good" remaining shoulder, but it's probably the after effects of dragging around hoses and heavy buckets.

I'm sorry your husband seems to be affected, each person is different in their body chemistry and tolerances. Hopefully cooked tomatoes won't affect him, so he can still enjoy the pasta type dishes.

This is really alarming, since the main reason for growing tomatoes is to please my 89 year old, immune compromised mother! Who also has arthritis, although there has not been any flare up associated with tomatoes (or other nightshades) to my knowledge.
The solanine exposure issues, well I can see it for us tomato growers and plant handlers, more so than the eaters of fruit. Potato is a bigger hazard for solanine by eating, and I'm very strict about rejecting any green on potatoes. We rarely see eggplant, but quality issues with that are pretty common, due to the bitter peel.
There doesn't seem to be any science to positively support a nightshade-arthritis causality, but they do suggest for personal sensitivity screening, to re-introduce the foods that have been eliminated for several weeks, one at a time, to assess their effects.
https://arthritis.ca/living-well/2021/n ... -arthritis

WRT allergens in tomato, the skin and seeds are where known allergens are localized, and the allergen in seeds is persistent in a simulated digestion:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.0c06949
So you might try removing the seeds and/or the peel, and cooking these beautiful tomatoes, for their benefits without harm to your sensitive DH. This would for sure be worth a try, if he's already been without them for a couple of weeks. If there's no flare up, you have your answer, and a way for him to still enjoy those lovely fruits.

I'm not familiar with tomato induced arthritis flare-ups, but my first thought was that maybe the day your husband cut out tomatoes was an especially bad day and the subsequent return to a more normal state would have happened anyway. Only repeated reintroduction and abstinence would prove that tomatoes really are the cause.


That being said, of course everyone has to do what they feel is best for themselves and probably shouldn't listen too much to some random people on the internet, especially if it is about health concerns.

I haven't dealt with that issue, but the toxin in overripe eggplant does seem to make me sick. I had better success with eggplant after switching from Diamond to Aswad, picking them in time, and skinning them before consumption.

If flares are triggered by the tomato chemical called tomatine or similar, then the impact would probably be greater with wild tomatoes, many cherry tomatoes, less ripe tomatoes, and uncooked tomatoes. It's possible that skinning, seeding, and cooking the tomatoes first might also make a positive impact (in addition to letting them get quite ripe). Whether this would be enough to reduce the impact enough to make it so he could eat tomatoes, I don't know.

If it's caused by a plant protein allergy, that's another matter.

It also may be that something else is triggering it instead of tomatoes, such as garlic, olives, or basil, if you tend to eat them together.

I used to think I was metal-sensitive to our pans or something, because I got sick whenever we ate soup, but it turned out that it seems to be rosemary and lentils that were the problem. I stopped eating those and the problems stopped.