Nic in Food

[spaceystacey]

Just for those fighters for the cause of nicotine PV out there. Remember to tell people that daily they get small doses of nicotine in tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers, eggplant, and califlower. Nicotine is also used on farms as a pesticide. So everyone is getting nicotine in their diet and shouldn't be criminalized because we want to vape. I don't want second hand smoke, if they ban these or make them like cigarettes we'll be put back outside to die, hence the change won't matter. Lets stop them from hurting our change and the change of the face on smoking being healthy, cause its here and now. A healthy smoke is at hand, lets shove it down their throat. I hate spicey food it hurts my throat, but its popular so its being shoved down my throat, so why would I want to ban something cause I can't injest it without major pains. I don't and they shouldn't either. Fair is Fair. We all do things a bit bad for us, nicotine is addictive but no more or less than caffenine. So the upsest with vapor. A coffee pot vapors. They going to close off the coffee section cause of vapor, no that makes no sense. But I get allergies from caffenine, and the vapor of coffee does nothing, just like nicotine vapor. Lets stop bans and criminalizing everything, and save our healthier habits that aren't harming anyone but their eyes.

 

[MissVapor]

So is nicotine naturally found that produce or is because pesticides were used on them?

 

[soundasleep]

It occurs naturally. Most pesticides used these days are 100% synthetic. Nicotine occurs in many types of peppers and is also present in cured meats.

 

[Stubby]

Nicotine is in foods from the nightshade family but in much smaller amounts then from tobacco. There is also the questions of absorption. Nicotine is a base but the stomach is very acidic. If any nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream from food, and it's doubtful if it is, it would be such a small amount as to be insignificant. Very likely below anything we can measure. The whole issue becomes bogus. No one is going to get addicted to nicotine by eating tomatoes or potatoes, etc.

 

[rolygate]

Nicotine is a normal part of the diet
Nicotine is part of the diet and in one form, nicotinic acid, is a vitamin: vitamin B3 or niacin - nicotinic acid vitamin. Everyone tests positive for nicotine in the bloodstream unless they eat no vegetables. The levels are low, just as they are for most other food ingredients and nutrients, but are present nevertheless.

Because everybody tests positive for nicotine in the blood (by GC nicotine assay for example) or in the urine (by the urinary cotinine test for example), a 'nicotine test for smokers' has to have a minimum level set or in fact everyone would come up as a smoker. Smokers have a much higher level. See this smoker's test results:

www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/medical-research/30623-blood-test-lab-results-nicotine-levels.html

The earliest wide-scale test was perhaps that of 136 people in 1982, a mix of smokers and non-smokers, and all tested positive for blood nicotine. This test is famous for the fact that the medics did not know nicotine is a normal part of the diet, and therefore assumed that everybody is exposed to second-hand smoke. It also clearly points up how nutritional knowledge has never been seen as part of mainstream medicine.

More recently the CDC tested 800 people, a mix of smokers and non-smokers, and all tested positive.

See this page for a list of the references - numbers 8, 8a, and 9 at the foot:

Tobacco Harm Reduction UK

It is impossible not to consume nicotine unless you exclude all vegetables, tea, condiments and so forth. You would then be short of several nutrients, one of them being nicotinic acid or Vitamin B3. Nicotine is a normal part of the diet, and this may be why some need more than others.

It is of course only present in very small amounts in the blood, like any other food constituent or trace nutrient. Tobacco use multiplies this amount by a factor of hundreds. The amount in plants other than tobacco is probably too small to extract commercially (at a reasonable cost).

 

[Stubby]

The whole issue is nothing more then mental .........ion. Nicotine is a natural substance that is in many foods...... so what. You would have to eat bushels of tomatoes or potatoes and you still wouldn't get enough to make a difference.

It's of mild intellectual interest.... and that's about it. To use it as an argument against the antis will get you nowhere as it's a dead end.

 

[rolygate]

Agreed. It's just there in tiny quantities and that's that.

However, it is certainly worth noting that fact, as some people have attempted to demonise nicotine and turn it into some form of deadly poison. It's a poison like vitamin D is - useful in tiny amounts, deadly in very large amounts. The only difference is the dose.

Also it may be of more use in some countries than others to have this fact noted. It is no use in the US of course, but in a country where the government may go to law to assert that nicotine is a deadly poison, or that nicotine is a significantly active drug that must be licensed, it may help to point out that those arguments are rubbish, it is a normal dietary ingredient and everyone tests positive for it. Since this has famously caught out senior medical professionals before, it's worth noting.

This is of absolutely no consequence to US residents but possibly of great interest elsewhere. That fact also needs to be pointed out.

 

[chet]

Very informative thread. Thank you.

 

[Vocalek]

Nicotine is in foods from the nightshade family but in much smaller amounts then from tobacco. There is also the questions of absorption. Nicotine is a base but the stomach is very acidic. If any nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream from food, and it's doubtful if it is, it would be such a small amount as to be insignificant. Very likely below anything we can measure. The whole issue becomes bogus. No one is going to get addicted to nicotine by eating tomatoes or potatoes, etc.

I've never heard of anyone becoming addicted to nicotine by exposure to second-hand smoke. That's why the suggestion that our exhaled vapor (that contains a lot less nicotine, if any at all) could turn bystanders into nicotine addicts is so ludicrous.