Tomatoes and Joint Pain: Exploring the Connection

The effects that tomatoes have on joint pain is up for debate. Some believe that eating tomatoes triggers joint pain. Others believe that eating tomatoes and increasing vitamin C in the body can help ease joint pain.

Joint Pain

• A number of medical conditions can cause joint pain, ranging from infection to gout. Arthritis is one of the most common causes of joint pain.

Vitamin C

• Tomatoes contain the most vitamin C out of any vegetable. Vitamin C is essential for growth and repair of tissue in the body.

Effects

• According to a study at Boston University Medical Center, arthritis sufferers with a high vitamin C intake are three times less likely to injure their joints. A study at Duke University, on the other hand, found that prolonged exposure to vitamin C can worsen arthritis.

Nightshades

• Tomatoes, along with potatoes and eggplants, are part of a group of foods which grow during the night, known as nightshades. Nighshades contain solanine, which is said to have a negative impact on calcium balance that results in joint pain, according to Norman F. Childers, a former professor of horticulture at Rutgers University.

Tomatine

• According to Dr. Mendel Friedman of the Federal Department of Agriculture, tomatoes are safe and don't even contain solanine, but a separate alkaloid known as tomatine. He and his colleagues conducted a study in 2000 in which lab animals ingested tomatine and it all passed through the animals unabsorbed.