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Argumentative Speech On Nightshade

Decent Essays

Today, we have a new contender in nightshade lore. Edible nightshades - some very common in our diets - are said to cause inflammation. The following are members of the nightshade family that may be in your kitchen as we speak: Tomatoes White or gold potatoes Bell peppers Banana peppers Chili peppers Tomatillos Okra Red peppers used in seasonings (namely paprika) Eggplants Goji berries Aside from these, an herbal supplement or two belong to the nightshade family. Specifically, ashwagandha, a common adaptogenic supplement used for mental clarity, anxiety, and adrenal support. Now we’ve come to the moment of truth. Is one of nightshade deadly secrets that it does, in fact, cause inflammation? Personally, I’m leaning towards saying no, absolutely not. For one, there are no studies drawing any kind of link between the two. And for what it’s worth, none disproving the belief. Furthermore, the scientific community largely doesn’t see cause to perform future studies exploring this. For now, edible nightshades like tomatoes, and their link to inflammation remains firmly in the “myth” category. However, that doesn’t mean that they’re fine for everyone. Certain people can indeed be sensitive to nightshades. As usual, there are a few areas of discussion you’ll find around this. One is alkaloids. A lot of flowering plants contain natural alkaloids in the flowers and foliage, as well as the fruit. But when the fruit ripens, the alkaloid levels drop off. The purpose of the presence of alkaloids is thought to be as a protective agent for the plant in the wild. As a matter of fact, we extract alkaloids all of the time for drugs. Even in modern times, plants are still essential to medicine. For instance, morphine and nicotine are both alkaloids from plants (poppies and tobacco, respectively). Alkaloids are even the subject of study for use in easing depression, and can be part of cancer treatment. As we can see from the examples above, plant alkaloids can be either healing and harmful. From strychnine to novocaine, plant alkaloids can inspire very different reactions in humans. But with the common nightshades we eat, the primary alkaloids of concern are solanine, tomatine, and capsaicin. Capsaicin is the

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