Smoking is seriously harmful to health. They told us millions of times that the nicotine is toxic, this is well established. But how is it?
And what exactly is nicotine?
What is Nicotine
Nicotine is above all an alkaloid, that type of toxic substance that living organisms, especially plants against herbivorous animals, produce to defend themselves.
A exemplary list of alkaloids could understand morphine (opiate drug), the stricnina (famous rat poison), la scopolamina (present in the stramonium), the solanine (typical of solanaceae), the psilocybin (responsible for visions due to hallucinogenic mushrooms), the mescaline (psychoactive substance contained in peyote and other cacti), theergotina (from which LSD derives) but also the Serotonin dopamine and dimethyltryptamine, also produced in animal organisms.
Nicotine has a relaxing and exciting effect at the same time, acting on blood pressure and mood through the dopamine.
Create a strong addiction, like all other drugs, and a consequent one withdrawal symptoms, which in milder cases still manifests itself with brief moments of daily restlessness.
It is known that nicotine is among the substances capable of causing cancer, a fact demonstrated by both in vitro and in vivo experiments.
Food nicotine is significantly different from what is assumed by smoking tobacco, and should not necessarily be identified as an enemy: indeed, it could be an ally to combat abstinence… why not eat more nicotine-containing foods instead of smoking?
What damage does the cigarette cause?
What foods is nicotine found in?
Many people think that to avoid nicotine it is enough not to smoke and they ignore the fact that this alkaloid is also present in some foods, in proportions to be taken into account if our body suffers from contact with this substance.
First nicotine is found in many solanacee, especially in tomatoes greens (the more the fruit ripens, the less nicotine it contains), which in addition to nicotine contain another similar alkaloid, called tomatina.
The same goes for the potatoes, with nicotine and solanine also in the peel, especially in the presence of green sprouts.
Remaining in the Solanaceae family, it must be recorded without a doubt eggplant, which after tobacco is the second natural source of nicotine (10 kg of aubergines contain the same dose of nicotine as a cigarette).
A low dose of nicotine is also contained in moles pepperoni And in the chili Peppers (the rule that nicotine is concentrated in the less mature green specimens applies as for the other solanaceae), and more in the tea, be it black or green.
Negligible traces of nicotine are also found in cauliflower.
Which foods fight nicotine?
Many foods, on the other hand, are able to fight food nicotine and expel it from the body, or rather, to help the natural processes of expulsion of nicotine toxins.
Paradoxically, in eggplant described as the major food source of nicotine, we find the nausina, a substance particularly effective in fight the oxidative processes and more generally the effects of nicotine.
However we find in citrus fruits the best enemies of nicotine: the Vitamin C in an easily assimilable form it helps to expel the alkaloid.
Vitamin B9, highly contained in spinach, for example, it is also helpful in this work. Another great ally is it fresh ginger.
Il carrot beta-carotene is definitely a good help if we intend to quit smoking and fight addiction expelling residual nicotine.
Also helpful are the pomegranate and wheat germ which, respectively, help the blood circulation and improve cardiovascular elasticity.
We can conclude this short list by quoting the cabbage black, which contains special isocyanates capable of expelling residual nicotine toxins that the body usually stores in the lipid tissues.
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