Alright, folks, let’s dive into something that’s been bugging me for a while: nicotine levels in tomatoes versus cigarettes. I mean, you hear all sorts of stuff, right? So, I decided to roll up my sleeves and see what’s what.
First off, I started digging around to see if tomatoes even have nicotine. Guess what? They do, but it’s like a drop in the ocean. We’re talking about 7.1 nanograms per tomato. Sounds tiny, right? ‘Cause it is. I mean all the vegetables from the Solanaceae family, like potatoes, eggplants, peppers have the nicotine, but really little.
Then I started to compare this to cigs. Now, this is where it gets wild. To even get close to the nicotine hit from one cigarette, I realized I’d have to eat about 15 kilos of tomatoes. 15 kilos! Can you even imagine? I sure can’t. I tried to eat one kilo, I almost throw up.
But hey, eggplants have more nicotine. Almost 100 nanograms. So I thought, “Maybe this is a better option.” Then I thought about it, it is the nicotine that make people get addicted to cigarettes, which means the nicotine is the bad guy here. So, I tried to find is there any vegetables that do not have nicotine. Sadly, at least for the Solanaceae family, all the vegetables have nicotine in them. So, I gave up on this idea.
So, here’s the kicker. I tried to figure out the nicotine in other vegetables from the Solanaceae family – you know, peppers, potatoes, eggplants. Turns out, they all have nicotine. Every one of them. But, again, it’s such a small amount that it’s practically nothing. The report said there’s no evidence that this tiny amount of nicotine can stimulate our brain, or get us addicted or something, so it is totally safe.
So, what did I learn from all this? Well, for starters, eating a salad isn’t going to replace your smoke break. Not even close. And yeah, while it’s interesting to know that these veggies have nicotine, it’s not something I’m gonna lose sleep over.
In the end, I’m just a guy who got curious and did a little experiment. No fancy labs, just me, my kitchen, and a whole lot of tomatoes. And you know what? It was kind of fun. Plus, now I can tell you firsthand that there’s no way a tomato can compete with a cigarette when it comes to nicotine. Case closed.
