How are Potatoes and Benzo Drugs Connected?

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Lucas Aoun

Founder @ BYB

July 23, 2021

What are benzo drugs?

Benzodiazepines are some of the most commonly prescribed medications in the world. These sedative-hypnotics can provide rapid relief for symptoms like anxiety and insomnia but are also linked to a variety of adverse effects (whether used long-term, short-term, or as needed (Guina et al., 2018). Aqueous acid extracts of wheat grains and of potato tuber were found to contain a series of compounds displaying a high affinity to the central type benzodiazepine receptor (BZR) in mammalian brain. The potato tubers contained diazepam, N-desmethyldiazepam, delorazepam, lorazepam and delormetazepam (Wildmann et al.,1988).

Key Facts

Do you feel sleepy after potatoes?

 

Potatoes are rich in starch, which raises serotonin, causing sleepiness, fatigue and brain fog. But now we may have another mechanism at play?

 

The concentration of the benzodiazepines (BZ) found in potato was extremely low, however, their biosynthesis most probably takes place in the plant tissue.

 

The availability of BZs in plant nutritive points to a possible source for the previously reported presence of BZ in brain and peripheral tissues of several animal species and man.

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