Can eggplant make you sick

Answer 1

If prepared incorrectly, yes, eggplant can make you very sick.

Eggplants, like tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and several other species are members of the nightshade family.

All eggplants contain certain amounts of the toxin Solanine but younger fruit has higher concentrations. Reactions to this poison are usually gastrointestinal and range from mild nausea to severe and convulsive vomiting and diarrhea. Other symptoms have been reported such as burning of the throat, cardiac dysrhythmia, headache and dizziness. Hallucinations, loss of sensation, paralysis, fever, jaundice, dilated pupils and hypothermia have been reported in more severe cases. In large quantities, solanine poisoning can cause death. One study suggests that doses of 2 to 5 mg per kilogram of body weight can cause toxic symptoms, and doses of 3 to 6 mg per kilogram of body weight can be fatal. The acceptable limit of solanine in foods is 20mg/100g. However, ingestion of less than 20mg has been known to cause severe reactions in healthy adults. Symptoms usually occur 8 to 12 hours after ingestion, but may occur as rapidly as 30 minutes after eating high-solanine foods.

Heat has absolutely no effect on solanine. The best way to avoid poisoning is to prepare it yourself and 1)choose only very ripe eggplants/aubergines, 2)soak for a couple of hours in very salty warm water, rinse and soak again in tap water, 3)cook until the eggplant is very well-done (this has nothing to do with exposure to heat but rather to the breakdown in fibers and leeching out of poison this causes). Another precaution is to peel the skin.

See more information at the following wiki.answers:

What is solanine?

Are potatoes poisonous?