Tomatoes were once considered poisonous by leaking lead in tin alloy plates.(Photo: glamcheck. com) It all began with the fact that the rich Europeans always used tin alloy dishes, which contained high levels of lead, to store food. Because natural tomatoes are highly acidic, when they are put into tin alloy containers, they will lead to lead and often lead to acute lead poisoning.
You might be asking “Are tomatoes toxic?”
Some sources claimed while it’s true that tomatoes are members of the nightshade family, they actually produce a slightly different alkaloid called tomatine. Tomatine is also toxic but less so. However, when ingested in extremely large doses, it may cause gastrointestinal problems, liver, and even heart damage.
Another popular query is “Are Tomatoes Bad for the environment?”.
Tomatoes were also listed as #12 on the Environmental Working Group’s annual Dirty Dozen list this year. This means that tomatoes are among the produce most likely to have contamination from pesticides when grown conventionally, compared to other types of produce. So tomatoes are a good crop to grow yourself or buy organically grown if you can.
Well, like many fruits and vegetables in the Solanaceae family, including eggplant, tomatoes are rumored to be not only toxic but also tempting. According to the new book entitled “Tomatoes in the Americas: Food History, Culture and Food Processing”, public skepticism towards tomatoes is even more serious after a 1957 publication.
So, is it safe to eat a tomato?
One article stated that No, thank you! The tomato, of course, is not poisonous, but the Europeans were right to be wary of it. There are plenty of fruits, vegetables, tubers, and other plants that we heartily consume that are, secretly, dangerous to our health if prepared or eaten improperly.
Why were Tomatoes considered poisonous in the past?
They were considered poisonous because people ate them off plates made from lead . The acid in the tomatoes broke down the lead, causing lead poisoning. This was often the cause of people being buried alive by mistake.
Are tomato plants poisonous?
Today, tomatoes are touted as extremely healthy food sources in large part due to their high concentration of lycopene, an antioxidant that has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and macular degeneration.
This of course begs the question “Are nightshade tomatoes poisonous to humans?”
One source stated many Nightshades are toxic to varying degrees, the popular ‘Big Three’ are Mandrake, Henbane, and Belladonna, but even tomatoes and potatoes contain small amounts of toxic compounds. When confronted with a new and alien food from far across on distant shores, Europeans compared the tomato with plants they.
A member of the deadly nightshade family, tomatoes were erroneously thought to be poisonous (although the leaves are poisonous) by Europeans who were suspicious of their bright, shiny fruit. Native versions were small, like cherry tomatoes, and most likely yellow rather than red. The tomato is native to western South America and Central America.
One more inquiry we ran across in our research was “Do Tomatoes really have lead poisoning?”.
Here is what my research found. the tomato didn’t get blamed just for what was really lead poisoning . Before the fruit made its way to the table in North America, it was classified as a deadly nightshade, a poisonous family of Solanaceae plants that contain toxins called tropane alkaloids.
One thought is that For nearly 200 years by the end of the nineteenth century, most Europeans, especially those of the upper classes, avoided eating tomatoes because they believed that the nickname “apple poison” caused illness and died .. After a long period of stigma, scientists finally discovered that tomatoes were the victims of a simple misunderstanding.
Are tomato worms poisonous as a rattlesnake?
Around the same time period, a man by the name of Dr. Fuller in New York was quoted in The Syracuse Standard, saying he had found a five-inch tomato worm in his garden. He captured the worm in a bottle and said it was “ poisonous as a rattlesnake” when it would throw spittle at its prey.
What happens if you eat too many tomato seeds?
Tomatine and solanine alkaloids can irritate the gastrointestinal system and even affect brain neurotransmitters like acetylcholine. Tomatoes can also worsen acid reflux and heartburn conditions in many people and the seeds can be very harmful to those who are prone to diverticulitis (an inflammatory disease of the large intestine).