Toxins in Food

The list of foods that contain toxins of various kinds may be surprising to some people.  The presence of toxins in plants is the reasoning behind Kurt Harris’ (paleonu.com) “defenseless when dead” premise, and is another reason to consider using veggies more as condiments than as a main course.

Here’s a list of food toxins derived from one that I found in "Chemical Sensitivity Volume 2"; by William Rea, including notes taken from the text; I've added a few comments of my own to the author’s.

[[MORE]]Humans have evolved to handle low levels of toxins from food and the environment.  However, the side-effects of poor overall nutrition, combined with widespread exposure to low-level environmental toxins, and food from depleted soils and over-industrialized agriculture is low levels of the micronutrients the body needs to property detoxify them.  As a result, the less well you are, the more important it is to avoid them.

So it’s not too surprising to note that some well-known "healing" diets, such as macrobiotics, eliminate nearly all of these foods (from the following list, strict macro only allows cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and legume, which are all listed together in one group below).

Nightshades (potato, tomato, eggplant, green pepper, tobacco): nicotine, glycoalkaloids, chaconine, cholinesterase inhibitors

Chaconine and solanine are steroidal glycoalkaloids and potent cholinesterase inhibitors (which are poisons).  They are found in especially high levels in white potatoes.  Potatoes exposed to light, resulting in greening, and those that are diseased or bruised, can have levels high enough to result in human illness.

Cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, sweet potato, legume: glucoinolates, goiterogens, cyanogens

Peanuts (a legume) also often contain aflatoxin (from the aspergillus mold), which is one of the most potent carcinogens known

Cheese, banana: pressor amines
Orange, citrus fruit: flavonoids quercitin

Although quercitin also appears to have some beneficial properties, it can be toxic, and may be carcinogenic to the general population.  See "Fecalase: A model for activation of dietary glycosides to mutagens by intestinal flora", G. Tamura, et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1980, 77:4961:4965.

Derivative of sassafras, black pepper: safrole, estrogole, methyleugenol

Safrole is mutagenic and carcinogenic in rodents.  Black pepper also contains piperine, which is related to safrole.  Extracts of black pepper have been shown to produce tumors in various sites in mice.

False morel: hydrazines
Cotton seed, Okra:  gossypol (contraceptive), cyclopropenoic acids (steroic and malvalic acids) (toxic fatty acids)
Alfalfa: canavanine (toxic arginine analogue) (lupus-like syndrome)

See Merck #1745.  Canavanine is present in alfalfa seeds and sprouts at about 1.5%  of dry weight.  It is an arginine analog, which is what enables it to be a potent growth inhibitor of many organisms.  It is toxic to mammals, and can induce hematologic and serologic abnormalities characteristic of systemic lupus in monkeys.

Celery, parsnip, parsley, fig: furocoumarins such as psoralen, (damaged DNA induces skin tanning)

When activated by sunlight, psoralen may damage DNA and induce tanning when placed on the skin. Furocoumarins are mutagenic and carcinogenic.

Rhubarb, blue grape: quinones, natural phenols
Coffee: catechol (chlorogenic acid), (catecholamine), (cardiomyopathy)
Coffee, tea, cocoa: theobromine (DNA damage, testicular atrophy, sperm cell)
Honey, some herbs: pyrolizidine alkaloids (lung and liver lesions)

Present in a large number of plant species; they are mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic.

Fava bean: vicine, convicine (bad in g-6-phosphatase deficiency)

These also accentuate glutathione deficiencies found in blood cells.

Oil of mustard, mustard seed, horseradish: allyl isothiocyanate

Allyl Isothiocyanate is also called "volatile oil of mustard".  It’s not related to onions or garlic.  It’s the principal component of mustard gas. It's also present in raw cabbage, where it is a weak goitrogen.  It's also used as a fungicide, an insecticidal fumigant and as a repellant for cats and dogs.

Egg white, tomato, tuna, salmon, crustaceans, strawberry, pork, chocolate: histamine liberators

This doesn't refer to allergies, rather to things like ovo-mucoids in eggs.

Pineapple, papaya: proteolytic enzymes (bromelain, papain)

Bromelain and papain are also histamine liberators.  Pineapple and papaya also contain alcohol from acetaldehyde.

Some tropical fish, dinoflagellates: fish toxins, saxitoxin
Spinach: natural nitrates (methemoglobin and hepatic disease)

The original sources referenced are:
"Toxicants of Plant Origin, Vols 1-4", P.R. Check, 1989, CRC Press, and
"Not to Worry", J. Tierney, Hippocrates, 1988, Jan/Feb, 29-30.