On Mar 05, 2007, at 10:37 pm, Paleo Phil wrote:

> Yes, every plant contains toxins. The animals that eat certain  
> plants have
> generally adapted to be able to digest the plant without being  
> harmed by the
> toxin, usually by developing sufficient levels of an enzyme(s) to  
> neutralize
> the plant toxins. Presumably, humans have developed sufficient  
> enzymes to
> digest and neutralize the plants that we've eaten for hundreds of  
> thousands
> to millions of years and the human system has presumably not had  
> time to
> adapt to the plant types that are more recent additions to our diet.


I guess I knew all that lol... I was just taken by surprise by the  
articles that say how deadly parsnips are (!).  I suppose to put it  
in perspective, grapes are fatal to dogs in any quantity, but they  
seem to me like just about the most harmless food you could eat.  I  
guess that's in the same way that mistletoe berries are poisonous to  
humans.  In future I'll apply some common sense - I imagine if I did  
enough reading I'd find that carrots and apples are lethal too.

Incidentally, poisonous fruit has always puzzled me.  I thought fruit  
was meant to be eaten so the seeds could be spread.  Are poisonous  
fruits trying to stop us eating them (if so why?), or to stop insects  
eating them, and we just haven't evolved to eat certain natural  
pesticides?

Ashley