You might be surprised to learn all the chemical compounds that occur in foods. Perhaps most shocking is the fact that many of our most beloved foods, like eggplants, have nicotine in them.
You’re probably most familiar with nicotine as the chemical found in cigarettes. It’s one of the things that makes cigarettes so addicting, and as such, has a negative reputation.
Because of this, you might be wondering why eggplant has nicotine. Furthermore, you might be asking if the presence of nicotine makes eggplant bad for you.
We’ll discuss the presence of this chemical compound in this article, as well as the effects it has on your ability to consume eggplant.
Quick Answer: Why Does Eggplant Have Nicotine?
Nicotine is a naturally occurring chemical compound. There isn’t any specific reason why it’s in eggplant – it just happens to appear in the fruit completely by nature.
This might seem kind of scary, given the negative reputation nicotine has, but rest assured that it’s normal for it to occur in eggplant.
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What is Nicotine?
Before we answer any further questions about the nicotine content in eggplant, we’ll pause to give you a quick overview of what exactly it is. In general, most people only know that it appears in various tobacco products, but they know little else about it.
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Nicotine is a chemical compound that occurs naturally in the nightshade family of plants. Of course, it’s also in cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, and e-cigarettes, which is where it’s most well-known.
In large enough doses, it can be addictive. That’s because it causes a bit of an adrenaline rush when consumed, making the user feel excited.
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Are Eggplants Addictive or Bad for You Because of the Nicotine?
Ask anyone to explain what nicotine is, and they’re almost guaranteed to tell you first that it’s found in cigarettes. You’d also probably hear that it’s addictive and therefore bad for you.
By that reasoning, you might assume that eating eggplant also runs the risk of being addictive. But more likely than not, you’ve never heard of anyone having withdrawals from eggplant.
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That’s because the amount of nicotine in each one is tiny. You’d need to eat twenty or more pounds of eggplant at once to get the amount of nicotine equal to what’s found in one cigarette.
In other words, eggplant isn’t addictive…unless you eat huge amounts of it. And if you were eating that much eggplant in one day, you’re more likely to have to have problems with the massive amounts of fiber you’d be getting before you had any problems with the nicotine intake.
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Other Foods Which Contain Nicotine
Eggplant isn’t the only popular food that has nicotine in it. As we mentioned above, it occurs frequently in plants from the nightshade family.
Tomatoes and potatoes each have nicotine in them. Nicotine even makes an appearance in cauliflower.
Regardless, all the aforementioned foods are perfectly healthy for you. There’s no reason to cut them from your diet simply because they have nicotine in them.
Wrap Up
While it is true that eggplant has nicotine in it, it’s nothing to be afraid of. The trace amounts are so small, you’d have to consume a lot of eggplant at once to rival what you’d find in your average cigarette. Don’t feel as if you need to avoid the nightshade family of food – you can safely continue to eat tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant without worrying.
Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
