Green Potato Chips Are Poisonous

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I've heard you shouldn't eat green pototoes and I've seen green potato chips. I thought the green meant the potato was't quite ripe. Wrong, this isn't an old wives tale... .

 

From Montana State University: montana.edu

 

MSU's Dr. Bob tackles green taters and bans blooming rhubarb

 

 

When you reach into a potato chip bag, do you wonder if it's true that green potatoes are poisonous? Well, yes, but don't blame the green stuff, says MSU Extension Service horticulture specialist Robert Gough, best known as "Dr. Bob."

 

First, says Dr. Bob, the potatoes that we eat are not really roots. They are modified stems called tubers. When they are exposed to light, these stems can develop a green pigment called chlorophyll. It's the same green stuff we see in leaves and cucumbers--even in green tomatoes--and it's not considered toxic. In fact, because of its deodorizing properties, chlorophyll is used in some breath fresheners.

 

But when harmless chlorophyll builds up in potatoes, a less-friendly compound called solanine builds up too. This bitter, colorless and toxic alkaloid is also found in potato tops and sprouts and in the plants of tomato, pepper and eggplant. It's a powerful cholinesterase inhibitor and in very large doses can cause paralysis, shock and subnormal body temperature.

 

Don't toss that chip yet, though. You would have to eat, at one sitting, at least four and a half pounds of potatoes to get the first symptoms of solanine poisoning--drowsiness and itchiness behind the neck. Still, to be safe, don't eat green potatoes, potato sprouts or potato tops.

[ARMS 0]

I knew it!

[Odie 0]

It would seem everything is poisonous now.

[Korthedaharmaster 0]

I just ate some call 911