As we all know tomatoes are very beneficial and provide us with a large number of benefits. You can eat tomatoes as well as apply tomatoes on your skin. Tomatoes are very healthy. Tomatoes help us in getting a brighter skin, spot-free skin. It also keeps us healthy internally.
But what about eating tomato leaves. Can we eat the leaves of a tomato plant also and are the leaves healthy?
You can eat the leaves of a tomato plant and are healthy also. Tomatoes come from the nightshade family. Chilli pepper and eggplant are also from this family. Nightshade family is famous for containing the plants that are very poisonous for humans like foxglove, larkspur, oleander, etc. So, because of this various myths are there that various parts of tomato plant like leaves are poisonous and are not edible.
Another myth is that tomato leaves contain alkaloids which are toxic. But according to science, every green vegetable contains alkaloids. Alkaloids are present in plants as a defence so that the plant is well protected from viruses, fungi, insects, and many more. So, alkaloids are present in every green vegetable and we are eating them also.
Various alkaloids are there like cocaine and nicotine, these are very much harmful. But various other alkaloids are there like caffeine, theobromine. These alkaloids can be good or bad as per your view.
Another myth is that eating tomato leaves are toxic as tomato leaves are used to make pest killing sprays.
Various sprays are made to kill pests by taking tomato leaves and soaking them in water.
Tomatoes contain various fungicidal properties and hence by extracting the pest killing property, you can easily make sprays.
But the stem also contains tomatine and hence you can use stem also to make pest killing sprays.
Tomato leaf sprays will never harm humans and they are used as a natural way to kill pests. Hence, this myth is also false.
If you will cook the tomato leaves tomatine and solanine will be destroyed. So, in case any toxicity is present, then it will be removed also.
If you take tomatine and solanine in for food in limited amount then it will be also good for you. Hence, eating tomato leaves will not harm you. Various study claims that tomatine contains antifungal and antibiotic properties which can prevent cancel also. But these things are in research, so we can not say anything about that.
Green fruits like immature tomatoes can also be toxic
Various study says that immature tomatoes contain toxic alkaloids. As these alkaloids can be harmful so it is advised to not eat immature tomatoes.
However, you can go for green tomatoes but not immature tomatoes.
As the fruit ripens the toxicity reduces and hence it will be safe to eat.
Tomato leaves can be toxic to some insects
Tomato leaves can be used to kill some insects by making sprays. However, if something is toxic to insects does not mean at all that it is toxic to humans also. Various people use this method to red rid of insects. But, that does not say that eating tomato leaves is harmful to humans.
So, tomato leaves are not harmful and you can eat tomato leaves. If you are taking tomato leaves in a normal quantity then no problem will be there. Believing in the myths is not a good choice. So, never waste tomato leaves, use them as per your convenience.
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