Reader’s Digest interviewed Prof. Barry Micallef for an article about whether nightshade vegetables are as bad for your health as some social media influences and popular diet schemes would suggest.

Nightshades or Solanaceae, a plant family that includes eggplant, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes, have gotten a lot of negative press lately, said the article. Reader’s Digest reported that the veggies have been said to cause everything from migraine headaches to arthritis.

Micallef, a plant biochemistry expert in U of G’s Department of Plant Agriculture, said people might be confusing nightshade vegetables with deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), an inedible weed of the Solanaceae family historically associated with witchcraft, illness and even death when ingested. He said deadly nightshade has nothing to do with nightshade vegetables.

Micallef studies plant biochemistry, plant physiology and vegetable production.