Experts say it's negligible

Business News Agency on September 12 recently, there was a rumor on the Internet that "tomatoes contain nicotine", causing many people's panic Experts said that the content of nicotine in tomatoes was "very small" and almost negligible In fact, not only tomatoes, but also many foods contain nicotine In addition to tobacco, a large number of Solanaceae plants contain nicotine "In fact, in addition to tobacco, people have long found that other Solanaceae plants also contain nicotine." Fan Zhihong, an associate professor in the Department of nutrition and food safety at the school of food science, China Agricultural University, said that there are many varieties of Solanaceae plants that are loved and cultivated by human beings in large quantities, such as eggplant, tomato and sweet pepper, the favorite pepper of condiments, potatoes that are regarded as the staple food by Europeans, and medlar, which is known for its health care Even as early as 1852, nicotine was found in rotten potatoes Since then, some scholars have determined the content of nicotine in food According to the calculation of dry weight, the content of nicotine in potato skin can be as high as 14.80mg/kg, while the content in peeled potato is lower than the detection limit (1mg / kg) The average content of tomato fruit is 2.31mg/kg, eggplant is 2.65mg/kg, green pepper is 3.15mg/kg Because the data is calculated by dry weight and the water content of tomato is nearly 95%, the actual content is divided by 20, which is 0.12mg/kg After processing and cooking, the content of nicotine in tomato and potato products is lower than the detection limit, which can be ignored basically Li Guangping, a national second-class public nutritionist, said the online report exaggerated the harm of nicotine to human body In fact, even people who prefer certain vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes and peppers don't have to worry For example, taking tomatoes as an example, the nicotine consumed by eating dozens of kilograms of tomatoes at a time will do harm to human body, as well as eating tomatoes raw Li Guangping explained that tomatoes contain a large number of ingredients that are beneficial to human body: lycopene, vitamin C, carotenoids, etc., which can enhance the body's immunity, antioxidant, anti-cancer, hypolipidemic and other functions, without panic due to the tiny amount of nicotine contained in them Fan Zhihong pointed out that according to the toxicological data, the half lethal dose of nicotine to human body is 0.5-0.1mg/kg According to the lower limit of 0.1, people with 50kg body weight need to take 5mg to have life risk, which is about the same as the content of nicotine in 50kg tomato The amount of peeled potatoes is lower Even if you eat potatoes with skin, because the proportion of skin is very low, the average content is still very low Therefore, there is no need for citizens to worry about nicotine poisoning caused by eating tomatoes and potatoes Moreover, the metabolism and degradation rate of nicotine in human body is very fast, and it will not accumulate in human body for a long time One and a half cups of tomato juice a day can also protect pregnant women fan Zhihong, some studies have shown that some mushrooms contain high levels of nicotine According to the research data received by EFSA, the concentration of nicotine in wild mushrooms such as Boletus and truffle is as high as 0.5mg/kg However, further research shows that nicotine is the natural metabolite of the fungus itself, not the pollution residue of nicotine insecticides Given the low daily intake of fungus food, nicotine is unlikely to pose a threat to human health It has also been proved that tomato juice can also protect the baby of pregnant and lactating experimental animals exposed to second-hand smoke It was found that at 42 days after birth, the lung capacity and alveolar thickness of the newborn mice would be significantly reduced under the influence of 1 mg / kg BW of nicotine If tomato juice was used at the same time, the adverse effect would be eliminated, reaching the same level as the unpolluted animals According to the amount of tomato juice used in the study, just one and a half cups of tomato juice (about 375 ml) a day is enough to provide enough lycopene to protect a 60 kg pregnant adult woman Therefore, tomato not only does not bring nicotine harm, but also can protect people and reduce the risk of being poisoned by tobacco Dong Jinshi, Secretary General of the International Food Packaging Association, pointed out that in addition to tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers, yams, broccoli and tea also contain nicotine The nicotine content of people's daily diet is only 1 / 500 of that of a cigarette Only a small amount will enter the blood after the decomposition of the human digestive system Generally, the content is very small at this time, which will not cause harm to the human body Li added that potatoes also contain nicotine, most of which is in the skin In view of the fact that some families have the habit of using potatoes as their staple food, it is recommended to peel potatoes before eating them Digital nicotine is a toxic substance Dong Jinshi pointed out that the nicotine content in a cigarette is about 1mg / kg The nicotine content in a cigarette can poison a mouse The nicotine contained in 20 cigarettes was purified and injected into cattle at one time, and its toxicity could lead to cattle death A single dose of more than 50 mg of nicotine can lead to adult death, which is equivalent to the nicotine contained in 40-60 cigarettes The focus of repeated large-scale intake, nicotine is very easy to addict "Many chemicals exist as natural components of plants, such as mushrooms containing fluorescent whitening agent has a certain harm to human body, fried food contains carcinogen acrylamide, nicotine also exists in many plants." Dong Jinshi, Secretary General of the International Food Packaging Association, said that as long as the content of these chemicals does not exceed the standard and the human body does not consume them in large quantities, they will not pose a threat to health, just like carcinogens exist in our living environment Fan Zhihong, an associate professor in the Department of nutrition and food safety at the school of food science, China Agricultural University, said that the smell of cigarettes can keep animals and insects away because they instinctively know that tobacco is poisonous But nicotine is also a strong addictive ingredient Smokers are so addicted to smoke because of it It increases blood pressure and is harmful to the cardiovascular system Dong Jinshi further explained that from the perspective of pharmacology, nicotine can paralyze nerves and relieve pain General chemicals can be metabolized within 24 hours after entering the human body, and excreted in the form of feces, sweat, urine and other natural excretion In addition, nicotine contains addictive ingredients If it is repeated and ingested in large quantities, nicotine will accumulate in the human body and make the body dependent and then addicted, causing anorexia, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms Nicotine will also affect the digestive system of the human body, causing endocrine system disorder, and even death.