Tomatoes enhance any meal, whether raw or cooked.
But, are the edible only fruits of the tomato? Most people are confused about the edibility of tomato leaves because it is perceived as “weird” to eat leaves.
Can you eat the leaves of a tomato plant?
Actually, yes. Tomato leaves are edible and safe for humans. However, large quantities can become harmful.
How toxic the tomato leave might be will depend on the individual’s physical health and habits. Tomato plant leaves contain water and chlorophyll that may be beneficial for overall physical health.
At the same time, tomato leaves contain tomatine, which can cause diarrhea or other complications. If someone has a nightshades allergy, tomatoes generally cause issues.
What is unconventional about eating tomato leaves?
Why People Don’t Like Tomato Leaves
It’s uncommon to see people consuming tomato leaves for the following reasons.
Tomato leaves contain toxic alkaloids
Tomato leaves tend to have a bad reputation because they contain alkaloids like tomatine and solanine.
Alkaloids serve a purpose to tomatoes and other edible plants. They help protect plants from larger animals, insects, and microorganisms like bacteria and fungi. Some people think of them as toxic.
Note – While there is plenty of evidence that tomatine can be harmful, the issue is often overstated. It would only create side effects if a person ingested one pound (about 450g) of tomato leaves – but who would eat that many?
In reality, mammals absorb glycoalkaloids so poorly that most of it passes through the gut with little or no absorption into the blood streams and kidneys and too the rectum (the poop chute) to leave the body.
Some people are sensitive and will experience slight stomach upset, but they will have eaten a ridiculously large amount of tomato leaves for this to happen anyway.
Tomato leaves are harmful to dogs
Everyone knows that dogs can die when they eat tomato leaves or unripe tomatoes.
Tomatine is lethal to dogs, especially if they consume a lot. This usually corresponds to dogs that are strays and whose owners don’t monitor what they eat.
Tomatine’s symptoms are more reliably evident in small dogs.
The symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea. Sometimes you will need to see your veterinarian. But are the symptoms the same in humans?
Humans and dogs have different digestive systems.
Here are the same foods that we eat that are diabolical to dogs.
- chocolate
- garlic
- grapes
- onions
- and raisins
Tomato leaves might be deadly to dogs, but they don’t have similar effects on human beings.
Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family
The nightshade family has its variety.
There are things you eat, like eggplants, peppers, potatoes, tomatillos, and tomatoes.
But there are also toxic plants such as black henbane, belladonna (deadly nightshade), foxglove, larkspur, and mandrake.
Though “belladonna” indicates “deadly” it is not totally deadly. The toxic part of the plant comes from the berries.
The stem and leaves are apparently used in herbal medicine for gut issues, for improving beauty, and for relaxing muscles.
That said, tomato leaves do not contain the “deadly” toxins that the belladonna berries do.
Tomato leaves make insecticides
Tomato leaves are used by organic farmers to manage aphid infestations.
Some may equate this with the idea that tomato leaves contain the same chemical pesticides that are harmful to insects they use in conventional farming practices.
Tomatine is a glycoalkaloid with antifungal properties, so tomato leaves contain tomatine and can be used as a practical organic pesticide.
The stem can also be used as it has a higher concentration of the chemical. The tomatine in tomato leaf juice is harmless for whatever reason as long as you don’t have an allergy to tomatoes.
Tomato leaves are unavailable commercially
Tomato leaves do not appear in many recipes like the plant’s fruits.
You won’t find it easy to pinpoint a place that sells tomato leaves. This doesn’t mean they are poisonous.
How to Use Tomato Leaves
Here’s how you can use tomato leaves.
Cooking
Tomato leaves are best used as an infusion that concentrates flavor from tomato fruits.
For example, you can infuse leaves in fish sauce and use it to garnish rice or fried fish.
Also, you can fry tomato leaves and use them as a pasta and pizza topping. Dried tomato leaves can also be used to flavor noodles, pizzas, and other pastries.
Tomato leaves have a strong aroma and work well in a spiced mix of tomato leaves, basil, mint, or other herbs.
Medicine
Research indicates that polyphenols can be found in the leaves and stems of tomatoes.
Polyphenols are important micronutrients that assist plants in maintaining their health and fighting pathogens.
The really good news is that tomatine also inhibits cancerous cell growth. Specifically, tomatine inhibits tumors of the breast, colon, liver, and stomach, and sometimes kills cancerous cells.
In other words, tomatine helps combat cancer. Since tomato leaves are safe for most people to eat, consumption of tomato leaves decreases the likelihood of getting this deadly disease.
Pesticide
As previously mentioned, tomato leaves are excellent natural pest deterrent for aphids and other pests.
To make the pesticide:
- Chop and soak the leaves in water 24 hours.
- After that, spray on the infested plants.
- Tomato leaf pesticide is much better than standard insecticides.
It is organic and pesticide free and does not pollute the environment or put pesticide residues on your vegetables.
Symptoms of Tomato Leaf Poisoning
The leaves of Tomatoes are quite aromatic and hairy and deter most animals from eating them.
That’s not the case for some adventurous pets, like puppies, who may decide to nibble on one out of curiosity.
In that case, they will likely begin to vomit or have diarrhea. Similar to human effects, the more a pet consumes, the more severe the symptoms.
The leaves of the Tomato contain mild alkaloids; besides tomatine, such as atropine.
The atropine increases the chance of stomach upset, especially when combined with hot peppers and strong spices.
There is anecdotal evidence that both atropine and tomatine make people more susceptible to arthritis.
In general, if you are sensitive to alkaloids, it is more prudent to avoid tomato products.
Heads Up! Some medication and dietary restrictions also recommend against the use of Tomatoes. Please consult with your doctor or dietician before taking the leaves.
People also ask
Are tomato leaves poisonous?
Tomato leaves have mind toxins – atropine, tomatine, and solanine – which have rapid onset in dogs and smaller animals.
Tomato leaves require at least one pound to see symptoms in a human, which is not practical.
Does cooking destroy toxic substances?
Some people say that cooking destroys solanine and tomatine, ultimately making tomato leaves toxic to everyone.
Actually, that’s not the case. Both are stable and difficult to break down, even with the highest cooking temperatures.
However, they are water-soluble. So, if you boil the leaves and drain the water, that’s a good way to cut down the potency of the toxicity.
What are the benefits of tomato leaves?
You can enjoy tomato foliage as part of your meal. You can enjoy it as an herb or other seasoning. Tomato leaves also have health benefits.
They can inhibit the spread of cancer cells and destroy cancerous tumors. Lastly, tomatine and solanine can contain antifungal agents that attack farms pests.
What are the side effects of tomato leaves?
Consuming a large quantity of tomato leaves may result in vomiting and diarrhea.
All of these effects are dose-dependent, with smaller persons experiencing the most severe effects. In addition, tomato leaves may elicit allergic reactions more pronounced than the gastrointestinal side effects in sensitive individuals.
Should you eat tomato leaves?
It’s totally up to you. Tomato leaves aren’t as colorful or juicy, but they contribute flavor to baked goods and fish.
In addition to consuming leaves, it helps to reduce cancer effects and lowers the risk of cancer.
Final Words
Tomato leaves are often overlooked because of the notion that they’re poisonous. But, this is untrue.
The belief that tomato leaves are toxic is based on multiple factors. First, tomatoes do have alkaloids.
Second, tomatoes are members of the nightshade family as well. Other factors included the use of pesticides, effects on dogs, and availability in grocery stores.
With other “toxic” plants, tomato leaves can cause you harm, provided you eat large, impractical amounts. It may take at least one pound of tomato leaves, for example, to begin experiencing diarrhea or vomiting.
In addition, the agitation will clear up within a few hours, and rarely someone would be hospitalized.
Eating reasonable amounts of tomato leaves is good for you! The leaves have some pretty powerful antioxidants, and can improve your health.
Research says that the leaves can help suppress or even kill cancer cells. You can also incorporate the leaves into dishes to help enhance flavor and seasoning.
However, it might be best to talk to a doctor or a nutritionist if you are on medication. Since the leaves can alter the effectiveness of the dosage.
You should also definitely avoid them in the event of an allergy to tomatoes.