Can eggplant be eaten raw?

Can eggplant be eaten raw? Many people think it can be eaten raw, so here is a detailed explanation for you:

Eating raw eggplant is popular in cities

On the morning of the 5th, Ms. Zhang, a resident who is trying to lose weight, bought a bunch of purple eggplants. After washing and cutting the raw eggplants into strips, she began to eat them with egg sauce. Ms. Zhang told reporters, "Fried and roasted eggplants are very oily. It is unhealthy to eat so much fat with the eggplants. After eating eggplants raw, they enter the body and absorb a lot of fat in the gastrointestinal tract. Eating eggplants raw must have the effect of losing weight and lowering blood lipids."

Mr. Wu, a retired cadre of Daoli District Government, is 65 years old this year. After retirement, he has always paid attention to health care. Apart from being overweight and suffering from high blood pressure, he has basically no other health problems. Half a month ago, he heard from his neighbor that eating raw eggplant can not only lose weight, but also lower blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids. So he and his wife who suffers from heart disease started to eat raw eggplant on an empty stomach every morning. The two elderly people have persisted for more than ten days. Now the first thing they do every morning after getting up is to eat raw eggplant. According to Mr. Wu, his and his wife's health has not changed much due to eating raw eggplant. But the old couple believes that long-term persistence will definitely have good results. Their son told reporters: "My sister, brother and I have repeatedly persuaded our parents not to eat raw eggplant, but the old couple did not listen and still insisted on eating raw eggplant every day. I am worried that they will get sick!"

The reporter then interviewed several citizens on Central Street, and they all expressed their opinions on eating raw eggplant. Mr. Yang, a citizen who has been engaged in health preservation for a long time, said: "Eating raw food is actually a healthy way of health preservation. Many nutrients are easier for the human body to absorb when eaten raw. Many people abroad eat raw food. However, eating raw food should be done under the guidance of experts. Not everything can be eaten raw."

Two other women working in education said that they had heard that eating raw eggplant was good for health, but they were not sure whether it could really help with weight loss, lowering blood lipids, lowering blood pressure, or even fighting cancer. They just saw some people around them eating raw eggplant. One of the women's mother-in-law now eats raw eggplant every night.

Can eating raw eggplant really help you lose weight?

The reporter recently interviewed relevant experts on whether eating raw eggplant is good for health and whether it can help lose weight, lower blood pressure and blood lipids. Some health experts questioned the weight loss method of eating raw eggplant.

According to nutrition experts from the School of Food Science at Northeast Agricultural University, the substance that can absorb oil in eggplant is mainly dietary fiber, and whether eggplant absorbs oil has little to do with whether the eggplant is raw or cooked. This is because oil absorption is accomplished by dietary fiber, and temperature does not change the physical and chemical properties of dietary fiber. If you need to put a lot of oil in roasting or stir-frying eggplant, you can also eat steamed eggplant. There is no need to eat raw eggplant.

Experts pointed out: "The most important thing is that eating raw eggplant is easy to cause poisoning. Raw eggplant contains a toxin called solanine, and sprouted potatoes also contain more of this substance. Generally, part of solanine will decompose when exposed to heat. Usually, eggplant is cooked by steaming, stewing and other cooking methods to decompose it and remove the toxicity." The harm of a very small amount of solanine to the human body may not be obvious, but if too much solanine is eaten at one time, symptoms such as itching in the mouth and throat and upper abdominal pain may appear after 15 minutes to 3 hours. If the symptoms are mild, they will heal themselves through their own detoxification function after 1-2 hours. If the amount eaten exceeds the range of the self-detoxification function, the symptoms will be very severe, manifested as fever, repeated vomiting, and even difficulty breathing, blood pressure drop and many other discomfort symptoms.

Li Chunming, director and chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology at Harbin No. 1 Hospital, said that not all vegetables can be eaten raw. Some vegetables can easily cause poisoning or even produce carcinogens when eaten raw. Generally speaking, the content of solanine is higher in old raw eggplants. If you eat tender ones and eat less, you may not experience obvious acute poisoning symptoms. But not