Tomatoes do not appear to be an inflammatory food. A 2022 meta-analysis of 7 randomized trials found that eating tomato did not change CRP or IL-6, and it lowered TNF-alpha. A 2017 review of 21 trials found lower IL-6 with tomato products. For nightshades as a group, human trials are still missing.
Why tomatoes got a bad name
The nightshade family is huge. It has over 2,000 members, and the ones on your plate include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and white potatoes.
These plants make natural defense chemicals called glycoalkaloids, which protect them from being eaten. Lab studies have shown these compounds can disrupt the lining of the gut. That is where the worry starts.
People with arthritis also notice patterns. In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), patients often link foods like tomatoes and eggplants with feeling worse. To test it, researchers change what people eat and then check their blood for CRP (C-reactive protein), IL-6 (interleukin-6) and TNF-alpha (tumor necrosis factor alpha), proteins that rise with inflammation.
Are tomatoes an inflammatory food in trials?
A 2022 meta-analysis (a study that pools the results of many others) gathered 7 randomized trials with 465 people. Eating tomato did not meaningfully change CRP or IL-6. It did lower TNF-alpha.
In 7 trials, eating tomato did not raise CRP or IL-6.From a 2022 meta-analysis in Clin Nutr ESPEN
A 2017 review looked wider, at 21 trials of tomato products or lycopene, the red pigment in tomatoes. Tomato products were linked to lower IL-6 and lower LDL cholesterol, and to better function in the lining of blood vessels.
The newest review, from 2026, pooled 11 trials in people with overweight or obesity. Tomato foods led to a small drop in waist size, about 1 cm, but no clear change in weight. The authors called the benefits modest.
The single trials point the same way. In 2013, 106 women with overweight or obesity drank either 330 ml of tomato juice or water every day for 20 days. In the juice group, two inflammation signals, IL-8 and TNF-alpha, fell compared with the water group.
A 2025 trial tried a different setup. Thirty-nine healthy men ate the same high-fat meal twice, once with 100 g of tomato puree added. With the puree, TNF-alpha and IL-6 in the blood came out lower, and so did inflammation genes in their body fat.
These are small, short trials, and the 2022 review asked for longer ones in more kinds of people. Still, if tomatoes were inflaming people, some of these trials should have caught it. None did.
Do nightshades make arthritis worse?
Here the honest answer is that nobody has finished the test.
A trial plan published in 2024 says there is a lack of randomized trials on nightshades in people with RA. That team set out to put 40 people with RA on a nightshade-free diet or a comparison diet for 8 weeks, and called it the first such trial. Its results were not part of the research we reviewed.
What we do have is a survey. In 2017, 217 people in an RA registry answered questions about 20 foods. About 1 in 4 said food affected their symptoms: 15% said some foods made them better and 19% said some made them worse. The foods most often blamed were sugary soda and desserts.
Diet patterns as a whole show more promise than cutting one family of plants. A 2021 meta-analysis of 7 trials with 326 people with RA found less pain on diets such as Mediterranean or vegetarian than on ordinary diets. But every study in it had a high risk of bias, so that evidence is very weak.
Two real exceptions worth knowing
Gout. Gout is an immune reaction to uric acid crystals in the joints. In a 2015 study of 2,051 New Zealanders with gout, 20% of those who named a trigger food named tomatoes. In three large US studies, each extra weekly serving of tomato was linked to a slightly higher blood uric acid. The authors said their data could not prove tomatoes trigger attacks.
Gut conditions. A 2023 review raised the idea that nightshades might worsen symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), possibly through immune cells in the gut. The authors called the existing research limited. That makes it a question worth studying, not a reason for everyone to give up tomatoes.
A 2019 overview called tomatoes generally quite safe to eat, and listed heartburn and allergies among the possible problems for some people.
What this means for you
Tick what you'll try this week. Your picks stay on this device.
you have gout, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis or IBS and plan to cut out a whole food group; you have a known food allergy; or you are thinking of a strict elimination diet that removes several foods at once.
One tap. Results appear once 50 readers have voted, and the count is always real.
The bottom line
The nightshade worry has real roots: plant defense chemicals, a lab finding about the gut, and people who feel worse after certain meals. But when researchers gave people tomato and checked their blood, the markers held steady or dropped.
The claim that tomatoes are an inflammatory food is not supported.
If one food seems to bother you, believe your own records and share them with your doctor. For everyone else, the tomato can stay in the salad.
Common questions
Are tomatoes inflammatory for arthritis?
Nobody has shown it in a finished trial. A 2024 trial plan noted a lack of randomized trials on nightshades in RA and set out to run the first one. In a 2017 survey of 217 people with RA, the foods most often blamed for worse symptoms were sugary soda and desserts. Gout is different: tomato intake is linked to slightly higher uric acid.
Do tomatoes reduce inflammation in the body?
Some trials suggest small drops in some markers, but not all. A 2022 meta-analysis of 7 trials found tomato lowered TNF-alpha but not CRP or IL-6. A 2017 review of 21 trials linked tomato products to lower IL-6. In a 2025 trial of 39 men, adding tomato puree to a high-fat meal lowered TNF-alpha and IL-6.
Are nightshades inflammatory foods?
For most people, the evidence does not show it. Nightshades include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and white potatoes. Their defense chemicals can disrupt the gut lining in lab studies, and a 2023 review asked whether that could worsen IBS or IBD. It called the research limited, and trials in people with arthritis are only starting.
Does tomato juice lower inflammation?
In one trial, it helped some markers. In 2013, 106 women with overweight or obesity drank 330 ml of tomato juice or water each day for 20 days. IL-8 and TNF-alpha fell in the juice group compared with the water group. That was a short trial in one group of young women, so it is a clue, not proof.
Ask the Research Desk
Heard something about inflammation you want checked? The best questions become articles, credited by first name only if you say yes.
How this article was made
Researched and written from 11 peer-reviewed papers. Our automated check matched every claim against the exact words of its source, confirmed every paper exists in PubMed, and found none retracted. Checked October 30, 2026. Not individually reviewed by a doctor. Photos are illustrative; the people in them are not patients or readers.
Grades run Strong, Moderate, Emerging, Early and Not supported, and the grade decides the words we may use. How we grade evidence · Medical disclaimer
Sources
- Meta-analysisEffect of tomato consumption on inflammatory markers in health and disease status: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials.Widjaja G, Doewes RI, Rudiansyah M et al. Clin Nutr ESPEN, 2022.PubMedFull paper
- Meta-analysisTomato and lycopene supplementation and cardiovascular risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Cheng HM, Koutsidis G, Lodge JK et al. Atherosclerosis, 2017.PubMedFull paper
- Meta-analysisImpact of tomatoes and tomato-derived products on obesity and cardiometabolic health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Sani L, Mounien L, Landrier JF Food Funct, 2026.PubMedFull paper
- Randomized trialTomato juice consumption reduces systemic inflammation in overweight and obese females.Ghavipour M, Saedisomeolia A, Djalali M et al. Br J Nutr, 2013.PubMedFull paper
- Randomized trialTomato Puree Enrichment in a High-Fat Meal Reduces Postprandial Plasma and Adipose Tissue Inflammation Biomarkers in Healthy Male Adults: A Crossover Randomized Controlled Trial.Sani L, Astier J, Ould-Ali D et al. Mol Nutr Food Res, 2025.PubMedFull paper
- ReviewNightshade Vegetables: A Dietary Trigger for Worsening Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome?Kuang R, Levinthal DJ, Ghaffari AA et al. Dig Dis Sci, 2023.PubMedFull paper
- Randomized trialThe evaluation of nightshade elimination diet (NED) on inflammatory and rheumatologic markers of rheumatoid arthritis patients: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Golmohammadi A, Hosseinikia M, Sadeghi MK et al. Trials, 2024.PubMedFull paper
- StudyDiet and Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms: Survey Results From a Rheumatoid Arthritis Registry.Tedeschi SK, Frits M, Cui J et al. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken), 2017.PubMedFull paper
- Meta-analysisEffect of Anti-Inflammatory Diets on Pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Schönenberger KA, Schüpfer AC, Gloy VL et al. Nutrients, 2021.PubMedFull paper
- CohortPositive association of tomato consumption with serum urate: support for tomato consumption as an anecdotal trigger of gout flares.Flynn TJ, Cadzow M, Dalbeth N et al. BMC Musculoskelet Disord, 2015.PubMedFull paper
- ReviewBeneficial effects and potential risks of tomato consumption for human health: An overview.Salehi B, Sharifi-Rad R, Sharopov F et al. Nutrition, 2019.PubMedFull paper
