In today's Curious Cook column I write about tomato leaves, which have an undeservedly toxic reputation. Like other members of the disreputable nightshade family, tomato plants do contain alkaloids, but the tomato alkaloid is poorly absorbed in the body and lowers LDL cholesterol levels. Tomato leaves have occasionally been used as a herb without any reported problems. Their flavor runs from viney to grassy to tea-like, depending on how they're handled.
Friedman, M. et al. Tomatine-containing green tomato extracts inhibit growth of human breast, colon, liver, and stomach cancer cells. J. Agric. Food Chemistry 2009, 57: 5727–5733.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf900364j
Friedman, M. et al. Protective effect of dietary tomatine against dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (DBP)-induced liver and stomach tumors in rainbow trout. Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2007, 51: 1485 – 1491.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.200700176
Friedman, M. Tomato glycoalkaloids: Role in the plant and in the diet. J. Agric. Food Chemistry 2002, 50:5751-80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf020560c
Burrows, G.E. and R.J. Tyrl. Toxic Plants of North America. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 2001.
Shlosberg, A. et al. Effect of feeding dried tomato vines to beef cattle. Vet. Human Toxicology 1996, 38:135-36.
Abudogupur, I.K., T. Tago. Method of effective utilization of tomato leave and branch. Japanese patent application JP2008142064 A, 2008.
Jeurissen, S.M.F. et al. Basil extract inhibits the sulfotransferase mediated formation of DNA adducts of the procarcinogen 1'-hydroxyestragole by rat and human liver S9 homogenates and in HepG2 human hepatoma cells. Food and Chemical Toxicology 2008, 46: 2296–2302.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2008.03.010
Comments