AMS in Phytonutrition

摘要

Food as medicine-the notion is as relevant in our present age of phytonutrition, genetically engineered foods, and an increasing population of health- conscious consumers, as it was in the age of Hippocrate several millennia back. Popular conceptions of foods and plants, however, have transformed substantially over the centuries. Presently, plants are esteemed for their reputed health benefits and we speak of them using the lexicon of modem chemistry. In medieval times, though, plants were considered the residences of divinities or malevolent spiritual forces. An example of one plant's conceptual evolution is illustrated by the tomato plant. Today, a tomato is nearly synonymous with its bright colorant lycopene, the hydrocarbon plant pigment responsible for its red color and putative enemy of cancer. In medieval Northern Europe, reference to what was then called a tomato, would not imply any medicinal benefits, but more likely suggest images of witches and werewolves (Fig. 7.1). This fearful perception arose from the morphological resemblance of the tomato plant to poisonous members of the Solanceae family (particularly Belladonna), which were common "hexing herbs" of medieval witches. Old German folklore describes witches using plants of the nightshade family to evoke werewolves, a practice known as lycanthropy.