Dr. Norman Childers of Rutgers University says that people who are sensitive to the nightshade group of foods may react with painful joints or muscles, or even outright arthritis. He estimates that approximately 10 percent of the American population is sensitive to these foods which include white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, all kinds of peppers including cayenne, pimento, paprika and chili, and tobacco. Omitting these foods from the diet may bring total or partial relief of symptoms. The person must be strict in the diet, and it may require several months of total abstinence before the benefits of the diet become apparent. Some yogurts and baby foods may contain potato starch as thickeners.
Some herb teas contain pepper, and some cheeses contain paprika.
The daily intake of asparagus, beets, spinach or rhubarb may produce symptoms, but use of these foods every second or third day does not. Women who walked had shorter labors, required less pain medication, and the fetus was in better condition at the time of birth. Apgar scores of babies whose mothers had been allowed to walk were higher at both one and five minutes, and there were fewer fetal heart rate abnormalities. In most cases studied the appendix had been removed during childhood or early adulthood. Up until about the age of 30, the appendix is richly endowed with lymphoid tissue, which researchers feel may be an antibody producing tissue.