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5 Reasons Eliminating Tomatoes May Improve Health discusses plant compounds that cause sickness in humans, false information about tomatoes’ benefits and the dangers of eating tomatoes throughout one’s life. This article also discusses short term benefits from eliminating tomatoes — and tomato products, like tomato sauce.
1. Carotenoids in tomatoes
Modern research has forced us to rethink several plant compounds once assumed to be beneficial — particularly plant-derived forms of “vitamin A”.
These compounds have been linked in the literature to bone loss, fertility challenges, thyroid disruption, an increased incidence of type 2 diabetes, skin conditions, digestive distress, kidney strain and more.
Tomatoes contain these carotenoids, which raises additional questions for people sensitive to them.
2. Tomatoes and liver function
Tomato carotenoids may interfere with the body’s detox systems.
When these compounds accumulate, they can slow bile flow, one of the liver’s primary methods for removing toxins. Over time, impaired bile movement can contribute to inflammation, nutrient depletion and liver stress — often without people realizing food choices are playing a role.
Tomatoes are a nightshade plant
Tomatoes also belong to the nightshade family, a group of plants known for producing defensive chemicals called glycoalkaloids. In tomatoes, this includes tomatine.
3. Damage to healthy cells and digestive discomfort
Glycoalkaloids are widely recognized as toxic compounds meant to deter predators. While tomatine has demonstrated the ability to damage cancer cells, it can affect healthy cells as well.
This helps explain why tomato-based foods commonly trigger digestive discomfort. Acidity is part of the picture, but not the whole story.
Tomatine, esculeosides and solanine can irritate the lining of the GI tract, provoking inflammation, intestinal permeability and pain. Higher tomatine levels are present in heirloom and wild tomato varieties.
It’s no coincidence that digestive issues like reflux are widespread even in cultures, like Italy’s, where regular tomato consumption is considered normal and traditional.
Tomatine is particularly high in green tomatoes. Neither canning nor cooking reduces it. Green tomatoes should be avoided altogether.
4. Joint pain and nightshades
Joint pain is another overlooked consequence of eating tomatoes.
Nightshades are frequently reported as inflammatory, particularly in people with arthritis or chronic joint issues. Research has shown that patients with rheumatoid arthritis often identify foods like tomatoes as symptom triggers, likely due to compounds such as solanine that can aggravate bone and joint tissues.
Removing nightshades doesn’t cure disease — but symptoms often improve, sometimes dramatically.
5. Lycopene in tomatoes
Tomatoes are heavily promoted for prostate health because of lycopene. Yet the mechanism behind lycopene’s anti-cancer effects involves damaging epithelial cells — the same type of cells that line the prostate and urinary tract. In other words, the process that harms cancer cells can also injure healthy tissue, creating a kind of nutritional “collateral damage”.
No one ever talks about this.
In our own family, my husband has avoided tomatoes and followed a low–vitamin A diet for six years. He’s the only male in his immediate family line who has not developed prostate cancer. This isn’t proof — but it is a pattern worth noting.
Conclusion
When viewed as a whole, tomatoes aren’t just a benign “health food”. Like many plants rich in defensive chemicals, they place a metabolic burden on the body.
For many people, reducing or eliminating tomatoes can ease inflammation and pain, improve digestion and support healthier detox pathways — benefits that only become obvious once the food is removed.
What if you do want to keep eating tomatoes
If you don’t have digestive pain, joint pain and you’re not concerned about high vitamin A levels, consider eating tomatoes in season only, fully ripe and home grown.
Avoid eating tomatoes year round, and eat them in moderation.
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Dorothy says
I’ve found it to be true for me that I’m better off without tomatoes and tomato products. At one time we had a “bumper crop” of them in our garden and were eating them right and left. They didn’t seem to bother me much then, but now I avoid them almost completely. I’ve heard another way to reduce the toxins for those eating them is to peel them (blanching in hot water makes peels easier to remove), and to remove the seeds.
Megan says
Hi Dorothy, thanks for sharing! It’s true that the peel and seeds contain certain toxins (like lectins), so that does help. I’m glad you mostly avoid them, so wise. Of course, I do believe in moderation, and occasionally may work for some people (who don’t have symptoms), as we should have pleasures.