Potatoes and fibromyalgia?

[seestorcoo]

Jeff - Hi. I've been (more or less) following the plan for almost 3 years. Before it, I was in significant pain, all day every day d/t fibromyalgia. My symptoms disappeared within a week of starting McDougall and have varied over the last 3 years according to how closely I've followed the plan.

About a week ago, after about 6 months of being "off plan" more than I would like, I started Mary's Mini using potatoes as my main starch. I mostly ate yukon golds with an occasional sweet potato thrown in. Within days, I was in severe pain all over my body. I ate nothing else to excess except regular potatoes. I went on nutritiondata.com and saw that potatoes are pretty inflammatory but sweet potatoes are not.
Yesterday, I ate no regular potatoes and just sweet potatoes (plus green vegies and fruit). Today, my pain is greatly improved - I'm almost back to normal.

I've not had any problems with eating a regular McDougall amount of potatoes - it only started when that was the only starch I ate.

Have you every heard of this reaction to potatoes? And why only when I ate a lot of them? What is up with this?

Thanks for your time.

[JeffN]

Jeff - Hi. I've been (more or less) following the plan for almost 3 years. Before it, I was in significant pain, all day every day d/t fibromyalgia. My symptoms disappeared within a week of starting McDougall and have varied over the last 3 years according to how closely I've followed the plan.

About a week ago, after about 6 months of being "off plan" more than I would like, I started Mary's Mini using potatoes as my main starch. I mostly ate yukon golds with an occasional sweet potato thrown in. Within days, I was in severe pain all over my body. I ate nothing else to excess except regular potatoes. I went on nutritiondata.com and saw that potatoes are pretty inflammatory but sweet potatoes are not.
Yesterday, I ate no regular potatoes and just sweet potatoes (plus green vegies and fruit). Today, my pain is greatly improved - I'm almost back to normal.

I've not had any problems with eating a regular McDougall amount of potatoes - it only started when that was the only starch I ate.

Have you every heard of this reaction to potatoes? And why only when I ate a lot of them? What is up with this?

Thanks for your time.

Greetings.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

A few comments.

While nutritiondata.com is a decent site to look up foods, their nutrient density and inflammatory scale are proprietary and so no one knows how they are coming up with their results, so I do not put much value in it.

Public health information should be public and not proprietary.

If you think you are reacting to any single food, then you may want to avoid it, regardless of what that food is. Potatoes are not usually inflammatory and we have several Star McDougallers who live on them (including the white ones) who have overcome their inflammatory conditions.

Also, Mary's Mini does not ask you to consume more starch than the MWL or the regular program, but just to make all the starch you do eat, come from one starch. Therefore, make sure you are including enough vegetables and fruits also!

It is also possible that you may be reacting to a chemical on the potatoes or solanine which can grow on potatoes. Solanine has been shown to trigger inflammation and pain in those sensitive to it.

In Health
Jeff

[seestorcoo]

I'll look up the solanine. I haven't had issues with potatoes before but I haven't eaten them in quite that quantity before and that is the only thing I can think of that has changed. The potatoes came from 3 different sources too - not all the same.

Thanks!

[Daffodil]

Try to avoid the russet potatoes that have a greenish cast. If you buy a bag and they all seem to have that green tinge, take them back and get a bag that doesn't have it.

[talkingmountain]

Round here they've always told me that any potatoes (russet or otherwise) with a green skin can make you feel really bad. And it's pretty common to find greenish-skinned potatoes being sold so I wouldn't think it would be hard to end up with some.

[seestorcoo]

Some of the potatoes were frozen hash browns, some were baked yukon, one was a baked russet at a restaurant. The only ones that could've had the green were the yukons and I'm pretty diligent about peeling that off if its there.

[seestorcoo]

the solanine - looks like there is some in potatoes and tomatoes (even when the skin isn't green) just less of it. And it really affects arthritis. Which I have also. So, a MM amount of potatoes (solanine) plus my arthritis = pain.

Thanks Jeff and others for the info to help me track down the problem. You rock.

[Burgess]

Do potatoes cause arthritis? I used to have arthritis so bad that I could barely walk.
http://anti-itisdiet.blogspot.com/2007/ ... ation.html

I switched to a diet of fruit, vegs, and potatoes.
http://anti-itisdiet.blogspot.com/2007/ ... ution.html

My arthritis (and other inflammation problems) went away completely. (Posture exercises got rid of the last stubborn bit.)
http://anti-itisdiet.blogspot.com/2007/ ... erapy.html

I eat about 25 pounds of russets per week. No problems.

Each individual is different. Each one has to make decisions based on his own experience and knowledge.

[seestorcoo]

Thats why I thought I was crazy at first.

And, I don't have enough evidence yet to totally say thats what it was - but I can't do a repeat experiment until next week because I'm heading into my work week and I have to be able to move my body for that. But Jeff mentioned solanine and when I googled it, I found many references (of various reliabilities) connecting the solanine (in POTATOES) to arthritis.


I totally get that saying potatoes are causing my pain is like attacking something sacred here - I completely believe in McDougall - I'm not a troll seeking to screw things up. I'm just saying that I was on Marys Mini, eating nothing but potatoes (the equivelant of maybe 5-6 a day) and I had a really bad flare of joint/muscle pain like I hadn't had since starting McDougall. 800mg q4hr kinda pain without relief. It lasted for days - until I switched to sweet potatoes and then the pain went away. I have not had that kinda pain on a normal amount of potatoes.

Go figure.

[JeffN]

Just for the record, the solanine is not always present and so it is possible to consume white/yellow potatoes and not consume any solanine.

It can be avoided and while usually easily detected by the green tint, not always so because of the various ways we may be consuming it.

In Health
Jeff

[hayleyscomet]

I can chime in as a botanist with what I know.

Plants in the family that potatoes and tomatoes are a part of, Solanaceae, produce solanine and other compounds. Some species within the family produce compounds that are poisonous. In fact, when Europeans first came across tomatoes in the New World, they were afraid to eat them for a long time because they figured they were poisonous, like the solanaceous plants they were used to.

While most people are fine with potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers (which are also in that family), other people seem to have a greater sensitivity or an allergy to one of them or even to the entire family. I've known a few people who have bad reactions to peppers (bell peppers or all peppers), for example. So it seems like it's not at all unusual to have the reaction that you did, even if the majority of people would not react like that.

(And sweet potatoes are not in the Solanaceae family.)