On Fri, 29 Sep 2000, Ben Balzer wrote:

> The solanine level in normal potatoes is close to the toxic level, which is
> why I think they are the most marginal of all foods in the diet.

What is the toxic level?

> Potatoes also have lectins and enzyme inhibitors in abundance.

I believe all the nightshades are high in lectins.  Not sure
about enzyme inhibitors.

> In the medical literature, there are over 30 recorded cases in of death from
> eating raw potatoes  (ref Loren Cordain, paleodiet list).

But I bet there are more than that from eating strawberries.

> Potatoes sure are not paleo!!!

I think their New World origin is sufficient to establish that,
lectins or no.  New World foods simply cannot have been an
important part of the ancestral diet.  But potatoes are edible
raw, if one knows enough to avoid green or bruised ones.  That is
not much of a caveat, since similar qualifications must be placed
on the edibility of, say, mushrooms.  I.e., you have to know what
you're doing.  I don't say this as a recommendation of potatoes,
which I don't much admire anyway, but only as another instance of
the tension between various definitions of what is paleo.

Todd Moody
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